Construction site management regulations

Recently, following a fatal accident, we heard of the launch of site management regulations. And immediately after, another avoidable construction accident happens! Luckily, no one got killed.

How long does it take us to realise that we are not prepared for this frenetic construction boom? The Maltese construction industry used to be more conservative in the past. Tradesmen were reasonably common 30 years ago when I started practising. I would admire the craftsmanship of the masons, how with one practised blow from a stone axe, they would split a stone blow smoothly. The mason's experience made up for the lack of modern tools.

Unfortunately, such tradesmen, who would be knowledgeable in most aspects of stone work and concrete construction, are a dying breed.

Nowadays, stone is used only decoratively and has been replaced largely by hollow concrete blocks. Even the mason's traditional tools are being replaced by the ever-present "chaser" and nail gun. The former to cut the blocks creating clouds of dust, and the latter to tie the blockwork to the concrete structure (hopefully, if they use it). The so-called mason can hardly be relied on to build walls that are straight, plumb and to the correct dimensions. Some mason's gangs are now foreign, so it is more likely to speak to a person in Maltese only for him to look at you quizzically. Mind you, I have nothing against these people as they can be quite hard-working.

In the past, buildings were two to four floors high, and uncomplicated. Construction machinery was relatively unsophisticated and not meant for large buildings. The buildings themselves were small units involving a simple exercise to incorporate the modern services we have come to expect in our homes today. This led to fewer opportunities for accidents, even because the pace of construction was more measured.

Nowadays, because of land restriction, real demand for more buildings, speculation because of disposable cash among some sectors of the population, and an ever-increasing number of contractors making the building industry foremost in the economic activity of Malta, buildings have increased in size and complexity, and the turnover is faster because of modern machinery.

However the fact that buildings have increased in size and complexity has not led to a corresponding increase in the varied expertise necessary to design, build and manage such buildings.

The construction industry is sourcing its equipment generally from auctions organised to sell equipment after a major overseas project has been completed. One ends up purchasing off-road haulers meant to travel within large construction sites but not on the roads, large hydraulic breakers and mechanical shovels meant for large-scale excavation. The list is endless.

Thus one finds such monstrosities as a Cat 980 working on a six-metre wide site between inhabited buildings where the machine is barely two metres narrower than the site. You also get the so-called demolition experts who would use a hydraulic excavator to break out concrete slabs higher than the machine.

It is vital that the construction industry educates itself and that suitable safeguards are introduced so that only competent persons are allowed to carry out such work. Demolition works should only be undertaken following presentation of convincing method statements that prove that the person carrying out the work is competent and not a danger to himself and the people in the vicinity of the site. Some time ago, there were proposals put forward for legislation governing demolition and excavation works, but sadly we have not heard anything more about this matter.

There are several ways to demolish buildings and now it is high time to devise methods that create the least dust and disturbance and allow the recycling of most of the construction waste. There is a variety of demolition and excavation methods available in Malta but not in common use, such as diamond wire cutting and lifting out slabs of rock for crushing and disposal offsite and crushing of rock using a drum cutter and recycling the resultant waste on site as fill material. Both these methods generate much less dust and disturbance.

When it comes to the building itself, again technology has come in big time.

Thirty years ago, there were two concrete batching plants on the island. Today there are about 30 plants (I have been told as many as there are in the UK). Today, everyone gets plant-batched concrete rather than site-mixed concrete as was prevalent 30 years ago. This has eliminated one nuisance but introduced another: the scourge of overfilled concrete mixer trucks spilling a concrete trail on our new EU-subsidised roads. This is generally caused by uncalibrated batching plants and light aggregate which will yield more volume than required, causing spillages.

A simple expedient that I have seen adopted on some trucks is a hydraulically-operated cover to the mixer opening to prevent spillage. Maybe the authorities could make it obligatory for batching plant operators to have their trucks fitted in this way.

Nowadays, large spans have become common in buildings. Where previously the bulk of the poured concrete slabs were of the order of 150 to 200 mm thick, slabs are becoming thicker and thicknesses of 250 and 300 mm are commonplace. These heavy slabs require professional formwork systems. The problem is that most builders will only buy some of the components of a system, the ones they find readily available.

Besides, in Malta we are very quick to adapt something available to replace a particular product we do not have. This may lead to disastrous results. Bad practices abound, such as achieving the required propping height by using a scaffold prop sitting on an unsteady pile of hollow concrete blocks, sometimes placed on their side! To make matters worse, it is not customary for the architect to inspect the propping system, as this is normally the contractor's responsibility. But is the contractor aware of the pitfalls by his not knowing how to calculate the loads transmitted by the fresh concrete onto his propping system?

Buildings are getting higher and higher. As one builds, the building shell is a maze of unprotected openings into service shafts, lift shafts, floor-length windows, unlit stairwells... The list is endless. It has become commonplace nowadays to place bits of mesh reinforcement, bar reinforcements, odd bits of unwanted timber, or plastic warning tape across these openings. None of these methods would pass the test of a competent health and safety operative.

Unfortunately, contractors do not allow for safety measures in their rates to be competitive, and developers are not prepared to pay for something like this which they consider not to be their responsibility. Hopefully, the recent site management regulations will address this problem.