UKUSAR.com

	Shoring Operations
	Shoring operations in the UK are based on the FEMA shoring systems from the United States and use both metal and timber shores. The metal system selected for the UK USAR Units is the "ParaTech" shoring system. Timber shores are constructed on-site using timber carried on the USAR Modules and with both hand and power tools. All UK USAR Technicians are trained to utilise both systems, dependent upon the requirements of the situation.
	Shoring is the provision of temporary support to damaged buildings or structures using proprietary metal shoring systems or bespoke shores constructed on site from timber, which will provide:

		Temporary stability of structures/debris Sufficient protection from secondary collapse to enable search and/or rescue operations to proceed at reduced risk Support to vertical, horizontal or sloping surfaces Shoring forms the last resort of the hazard mitigation strategy. Only if a secondary collapse hazard cannot be avoided or removed, should it be shored or otherwise stabilised. The UK USAR shoring system incorporates a number of metal and timber shores and is documented with Standard Operating Procedures and other information.



	The timber shoring system, whilst based on the FEMA system, uses timber species, grades and dimensions found commonly in the UK. To ensure the system is safe and based on engineering principles a number of tests were commissioned in order to confirm the performance of specific shores. The tests were undertaken by Glanville Consultants and used facilities at the Coventry University campus in the Midlands and Water Weights in Aberdeen. To view the report, authored by Mr Steve Wilson, click on the link to the right. The report found that UK timber, compressed along its length as it would be in vertical shores, performed as expected and to the UK standards. However, timber compressed across the grain, as it would be in cribbing stacks, was more random in its performance and, as a consequence, timber stacks became unstable.


	In September 2001, a large passenger aircraft was flown into the Pentagon building in Washington DC. The attacks of September 11th presented new challenges to fire and rescue personnel and to the engineering community. During the subsequent search and rescue operation considerable parts of the damaged building were temporarily shored by the FEMA USAR Task Forces and specialist contractors. This became one of the largest and most complex shoring operations ever undertaken by emergency service personnel. This paper is a review of the shoring performed by the Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces during their deployment at the Pentagon. Click on the link to the right to see what is possible for temporary shoring systems.