Estate Bridge Inspections

A recent story in the press highlights the need for a systematic inspection regime of farm and estate bridges

The story reports on a civil court case where a horse rider attempted to sue a local authority following an incident where the decking of a bridge, which was the responsibility of the local authority, failed.

The photo is taken from the Daily Mail online website who reported the case

The back end of the horse went through the decking causing injury to the horse and to the rider.

The Council’s successful defence was that they could demonstrate that the bridge was systematically inspected and at the time of the last inspection no defects were found.

They stated that since the last inspection, the timber decking had deteriorated to a point where it could no longer support the weight of a horse and rider.

The Council also claimed that the incident was caused wholly or partly by the negligence of the rider in not checking if the bridge was safe prior to crossing.

In this case the last inspection was some 2½ years prior to the incident.

We would suggest that an annual inspection by a member of estate staff be undertaken on all estate bridges, particularly those crossed by large animals, vehicles or machinery, and that a 5-yearly structural inspection is done by a qualified engineer.

All inspections should be recorded to demonstrate compliance.