Failures of suspended ceilings and execution errors

When observing the stability of suspended ceilings during operation, sometimes smaller failures are observed, up to disasters, even a few of considerable sizes and serious consequences. The aim of the article is to analyse the causes of damage to a suspended ceiling, with an area of approximately 500 m², as well as testing and checking the applied construction elements. In situ destructive tests as well as tests at the AGH laboratory were carried out. The analyses were carried out in accordance with PN/EN 13964: 2014 (E). It was found that the designed ceiling system solution was correct. Whereas in the performance, an improper spacing of hangers, even by more than 70% of the permissible spacing, and forbidden lengths of brackets from C60 profiles, were applied. Also, about 55% of the connectors had too small diameters of the ends of the mandrels, which allowed for the sliding of broken head and a sudden loss of carrying capacity of the hanger.