In this article, reprinted from our series in Fastener & Fixing Europe, John Muir, Technical Manager of the Construction Fixings Association looks at Competency in anchor applications. The major causes of anchor failures are incorrect selection and design of the anchor, incorrect installation, as well as the incorrect change of anchor specification.

The Construction Products Regulation replaces the Construction Products Directive on 1 July 2013 and places new requirements on how Construction Products may be placed on the market.  This article deals with one relatively straightforward aspect of the CPR but one which has caused a great deal of confusion and consternation among  some users and among distributors of fixings.

Which products actually need CE marking?

For a more detailed discussion of the implications of the CPR see an associated Article: CE Marking and Declaration of Performance under the Construction Products Regulation.

Under the new Construction Products Regulation, which replaces the Construction  Products Directive on 1 July 2013, any product which falls within the scope of a harmonised European standard or carries an ETA must have a Declaration of Performance published by the manufacturer or importer.  This article complements the first in this series "CE marking under the CPR - which products need it?" and goes into rather more detail in particular on the knotty subject of the D o P.

The CPR - initially it's confusing. CPR, ETA, ETAG, EAD, CE, DoP, AVCP . . . . . . eventually all will be clear, in the mean time.

The Construction Products Regulation replaces the Construction Products Directive on 1 July 2013. We know that European Technical Approvals will be replaced by European Technical Assessments (at least they will still be ETA!) and that European Technical Approval Guidelines (ETAGs) will become European Assessment Documents but what about CE marking and Declarations of Performance and then there's the  Assessment and Verification of Constancy of Performance?

This guide published by Orgalime, of which the CFA is a member via the CEO (Comitte Europeen de L'Outillage or European Tools Committee to you and me) offers a comprehensive guide to most of these issues. Sadly there are still quite a few imponderables but no doubt these will become clear in the coming months.

For shorter guides look to the other articles from the CFA on "CE marking.......". The CFA will update the various guides which it publishes as things become clearer.

Changing the specification of a fixing at the site stage is a common occurrence but we should not allow familiarity to breed contempt. It is of course acceptable to change the specification of a fixing if there is good reason but anyone carrying out such a change effectively takes on the responsibilities of the specifier and the liability should anything go wrong. This article sets out the procedure that should be followed in order to make sure such changes are made safely and without risking anyone's liability or anyone's life.

Fixing failures are rare but when they happen the consequences can be catastrophic - injury, death or just serious financial losses. If you are in the fixings chain as specifier, distributor, contractor or installer you may be involved in the aftermath if not the cause. The effect on those indirectly involved can be almost as serious as for those directly affected. This series of articles sets out some of the causes of fixing failures and the steps which can be taken to avoid them. See also "Fixing failures - Case Study 1, etc."

The "Big Dig" is a massive road tunnel construction project driving a major road under Boston USA. The failure of fixings made into the concrete roof structure and supporting heavy concrete ceiling panels in one of the tunnels caused the death of the lady passenger in a car travelling beneath. This article discusses the possible causes of this failure and while it goes into technical detail it concerns all in the fixings chain from specifier to installer including the distributor.

If you substitute a slightly shorter fixing for the one specified you might save 50p a fix. If that causes someone's death how will you feel? This article highlights two different potential causes of fixing failure - changing the fixing specification (and how to do it safely) and unexpected loads during erection/installation.

When a ceiling collapsed in a school in the West Midlands while the room was empty no one was hurt. Had the room been full of children it would have made headlines on the 10 o'clock news and the consequences for all in the fixings chain from supplier to contractor and installer would have been far worse than they were. This article delves into aspects of traceability of supply, which affects distributors, and the affect of fixing patterns which is of concern to both specifiers and contractors. This picture shows a correct fixing pattern with the first line of hangers set close to the walls.

In this article, reprinted from our series in Fastener & Fixing Europe, Mark Salmon looks at the complex problem that is corrosion from the stockists point of view. Well if this photo is typical that's not a problem - just an opportunity. New bolts please! And while you're at it - sort out that spacing, they're too close!

In this article, Mirka Valovicova, Technical Manager of fischer fixings, decsribes the wide range of products available for fixing into this awkward base material including self-drilling and tapping, spring toggle and gravity toggle, umbrella type and universal fixings which work in other materials too.

Brickwork. One of the more awkward materials to fix into. This article discusses the merits of expansion anchors, still a good solution for some structures, before delving into the more fashionable resin solutions for brickwork be it solid or perforated. The positioning of anchors in brickwork can make all the difference so this is also discussed. First published in F & F magazine in May 2005.

First published in F & F magazine in January 2006 this article by Mark Salmon introduces distributors to an anchoring principle which spans general purpose anchoring in cracked concrete and earth quake resistant anchoring in nuclear power plants.

In some of our Guidance Notes we refer to the fact that some fixings - notably plastic anchors - are affected by creep and (occasionally) require different treatment as a result. This article explains this phenomenon for those who are interested. For those who are not - read no further. No anchors sold by Full Members of the Construction Fixings Association suffer from creep if selected and installed correctly.

In many construction applications such as temporary works, particularly for scaffolding, formwork and falsework, the use of anchors is of a highly repetitive nature. It is also clear that many anchor types are not suitable for re-use as the working principle for that anchor does not make this possible. The one anchor which has potential for re-use is the concrete screw, and a number of manufacturers have tested these anchors for such an application.

In this article, reprinted from our series in Fastener & Fixing Europe, John Muir looks at the world of post installed anchors into concrete and masonary.

In light of recent tragic events such as the fire at Grenfell Tower in London, John Muir, Technical Manager at the Construction Fixings Association looks at at how the buildings we construct perform in a fire.

In this article, reprinted from our series in Fastener & Fixing Europe, John Muir, Technical Manager of the Construction Fixings Association looks the common and increasing practice of on-site tension testing of anchors. However, there is often confusion regarding what type of testing is required, and under what conditions.

In this article, reprinted from our series in Fastener & Fixing Europe, John Muir, Technical Manager of the Construction Fixings Association looks at the launch of EN1992-4:2018, a historical moment in the design of post-installed anchors. For the first time in the long history of anchor design, the design provisions are published in an official European standard and not in guidelines or technical reports.

Ihe NHBC have recently updated their technical standards on the design, installation and testing of safety critical anchors for us on construction applications.

Full details of these standards can be found on the NHBC website www.nhbc.co.uk or you can download the NHBC bulletin, Technical Extra 26, which covers changes to a number of such standards on page 9.

In the construction industry today, it is a very common and increasing practice to carry out on-site tension testing of anchors. However, there is often confusion regarding what type of testing is required, and under what conditions.

In this article, written when he was Technical Manager of fischer fixings UK Ltd, Simon Poole explains how manufacturers are providing data to enable fixings to be specified in applications requiring fire ratings.

This article explains why tightening to a set torque is a good idea, how the torque relates to clamping force and introduces the concept of "load relaxation". It goes on to explain why the use of torque checks is not a substitute for load testing and briefly outlines the different types of wrenches that are available with some useful points to watch when using them. It was was first published in Fastener & Fixing magazine in January 2011 to cover the subject from the distributor's point of view but is equally interesting for specifiers, contrators, installers and testers.

In a previous article in this series "Tightening torques explained" not only are tighening torques explained but the concept of "Load relaxation" is introduced - so you may want to read that one first.

Here we discuss the way in which load relaxation makes its presence felt during load testing, why it may be confused with anchor failure and how to tell the two apart.

This article was first published in Fixing and Fastener Magazine (or Fastener and Fixing Magazine as they prefer to call it) in May 2011 so our grateful thanks to them for permisison to reprint and to the author.

The development in resin anchor technology continues apace and part of this story is the regular introduction of new resin formulations. Confused? Well, this article by Matt Cleaver of 2K polymer systems ltd, which describes the various characteristics of the main resin types, should overcome that.

Over the years a variety of delivery systems has been developed for resin anchors, resulting in a broader range of applications and, in some cases much cheaper unit costs. In this article John Burch, on behalf of 2K polymer systems ltd, explains the development of the various systems and their advantages.