COLISEUM PRESS BOX CALLED SAFE.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

Engineers told the Coliseum Commission on Wednesday that no cracks or other flaws have been detected in welds of structural steel holding up the new press box at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Testing has been under way by a team of designers, architects and engineers since Monday on the welded steel supporting the new structure that juts out above several hundred seats at the Coliseum.

Project Manager Don Webb said ultrasound testing was expected to be completed last night. But by midafternoon, with about 70 percent of the work completed, no problem welds had been found, he said.

A published report questioned the quality and workmanship of the steel used in the project, and it cited documentation showing 41 welds were rejected by quality-control engineers overseeing the project.

But the head of the company overseeing the welding work, James Partridge of Smith-Emery, said many of the welds were initially rejected at the fabrication plant because they were tested too soon after the work was completed.

The welds were later tested at the construction site and found to have no flaws, he said.

Relatively few were rejected because of cracks or bad welds, which Partridge said could be fixed, if proper procedures were followed, so they were stronger than the steel itself.

All the welded steel in the structure was eventually approved by his company's inspectors and is safe, Partridge said.

Representatives of the project's architects and structural engineer said they also believe the structure is safe. They said it was designed with even more safeguards than those required by recent changes in the city building code.

With a soccer exhibition at the Coliseum expected to attract more than 30,000 fans Wednesday, Partridge and structural engineer Nabih Youssef said they both certified the structure as safe in response to requests by the Los Angeles Building and Safety Department.

Webb said he plans to watch the game Wednesday night while sitting under the cantilevered section.

The commission expected to have an outside engineer's report detailing problems reviewed by a team of local academicians who specialize in construction and metallurgy. The report is expected to be done in a week, Coliseum officials said.