Why do building failures occur?

It is universally acknowledged that many of the construction-related fatalities occur during actual building operations and are largely connected to building stability failures. In simple terms, works must be executed in a way as to ensure that all generated loads follow a safe structural path down to the foundations at all times.

Thus, the arrangement and mutual relation of parts of complex elements in a building must be arranged in a way as to ensure that the structure remains stable and unimpaired at all times. This forms the basis of structural integrity. If a load path is somehow impaired, there is a risk of structure instability, which, at worse, may lead to building collapse.

In this context, all construction-related works, including excavation, demolition, alterations to existing buildings and the erection of new ones, are always underlined by the above rationale. It, therefore, goes without saying that on-site workers pose a serious risk if they do not possess a sound understanding as to how the various structural elements of a building "work" together.

It is purely for this reason that excavation works demand extreme care on the part of operators and their site supervisors. Works should only proceed following an appreciation of the structural configuration and site conditions governing adjacent buildings.

The type of the selected machinery and equipment, and the manoeuvring of the said equipment, is equally fundamental to ensuring that standing buildings are not structurally impaired during operations. Even so, operators must desist with their operations should it transpire that the foundation characteristics of the site are in doubt.

On a parallel note, demolition operations should be executed in a manner that allows the phased removal of the various parts of a building ensuring that that no part of the remaining structure collapses without warning. On an equally significant note, alterations to existing buildings call for other structural implications, which vary widely, depending mainly on whether a building is of traditional type construction (such as core-filled walls and masonry slabs and arches) or whether a building is of more recent origin, built in masonry and reinforced concrete.

It is, therefore, a must that project supervisors, whose clients are now legally obliged to appoint in order to monitor ongoing works (a supervisor may not necessarily be the appointed architect unless there is a specific agreement), possess a sound knowledge in basic structural safety engineering.

Likewise, it is also important that contractors engage only skilled workers who have a basic understanding of how the various elements in a building "work" together.

The Building Industry Consultative Council will, in the coming days, be resuming its effort to make workers and project supervisors aware of the importance in understanding structural safety considerations when dealing with construction operations.

We will be providing a series of tailor-made courses, commencing on June 15 (and held in subsequent weeks), highlighting the importance of structural safety considerations typically encountered in Maltese construction. These courses will touch upon the salient aspects of structural safety relating to typical alterations for both old and recent construction, shuttering and concreting works, demolition operations and excavation works close to existing buildings.

Contractors will be only supporting their own cause if they are prepared to release their employees for 12 hours to enhance their knowledge in health and safety. A misguided assessment or a wrong decision may be conducive to a building failure. No amount of hours can ever match a human life.

Mr Musumeci, an architect by profession, is chairman of BICC.

www.bicc.gov.mt