Design check
Also called Independent check, Category check
An independent review of a temporary works design carried out by someone not involved in producing the original design, to a level of scrutiny appropriate to the risk category of the works. The design check is a key control point before a permit to load or permit to use is issued.
In practice
Independence is the whole mechanism. The value of a check comes from a second person arriving at the answer without inheriting the first person’s assumptions — which is why a check by someone who helped with the design, or who is handed the spreadsheet to look over, is not the control it is recorded as. Scrutiny is scaled to consequence: heavier and more novel work is checked harder.
Where this comes from: UK contractor practice under a temporary works procedure; the check category appropriate to a given design is set within that procedure and not on site.
Where it matters on site
For crane matting the assumption most worth checking independently is the ground one. Reactions can be verified against the load chart, and a mat’s rating against published specification, but the allowable ground bearing pressure is usually the number carried furthest on trust — inherited from a report about a different part of the site, or from what was used last time.