Building Collapse: An impediment to the growth of construction industry

Building Collapse: An impediment to the growth of construction industry

By: Muslihudeen Olayinka IBRAHIM

In less than 48hours ago, there were two cases of building collapse in Edo and Delta States respectively. Every laymen first thought when a building collapses is usually the Engineer that was in charge of the project, I do not take offence when people starts cursing because of the collapse! Since I am aware that mistakes bury us in the field of Civil Engineering, in contrast to other professions whose their faults are hidden.

You can get treated by first class Medical personnel and still dies!

Senior Advocate of Nigeria can defend your case and still bag jail term!

You can have the best Security Personnel and still got po!son£d or k!lled

As human being have life expectancy, if all things been equal, building equally has life expectancy if built in accordance with standard codes, quality materials, supervised by professional or a group of professionals.

For Clarity, Quality of Supervision, Usage and Occupancy, Quality of Construction, Architectural and Structural Designs, Environmental conditions, Timely maintenance and repair and Types of building are salient factors that determines if building lives up to it life expectancy or not.

* Residential Buildings 50-100years
* Commercial & High-rise Buildings 50-150years
* Industrial Buildings 20-50years
* Historical Buildings 100-500years
* Steel, Concrete, Mansory Buildings 50-200years

Do we have reported cases of building collapse this year 2024?

Definitely, infact we have had reported cases of 22 collapsed building between January to July 14th 2024, Lagos has 27.27%, Anambra and Abuja has 18.18%, Plateau and Ekiti has 9.09%, while Niger, Taraba and Kano states has 4.55% respectively. Source: COREN

Buildings does not collapse suddenly except it is hit by heavy equipment, landslide, earthquake, explosives, flood, e.t.c, there are potential signs of collapse, the building would have shown before it eventually come down except you did not notice.

Tilting of the building or structural members, Structural failure such as cracks in the walls, ceilings, floor, Foundation settlement, sagging roofs, leaking or floors sagging, unusual noises or sounds are all potential signs the building gives before it eventually collapses.

When building collapses, before you start cursing the Engineer, ask yourselves these reflective questions passionately;

What is the quality of materials used for the construction, have they not compromise the building design specifications? What about poor workmanship and faulty design? Do they have proper topography and Geotechnical Investigations report of the soil they were building on? What about the negligence and kickbacks syndrome of the enforcement agencies in the built environment? Hope the building does not come down because of the excess profiteering against safety? What about poor supervision arising from negligence and attention to details?

Ask!!!

However, reducing the rate of building collapse menace rest on the shoulders of the stakeholders in the built-in environment;

* Clients should avoid converting the building usage from initial design to a new usage without engaging the services of professionals. Live and Dead Loads of building defers, converting bungalow to a storey building is not a bad idea, the question is did you involve professionals? That was what happened in the collapsed building of a school in Jos.
* Clients should engage the service of competent Engineers
* Clients should offer commensurate pay that justifies the service rendered to avoid pilfering and thievery on site
* Contractor should equally avoid excess profiteering against safety
* Government agencies should do their job, thorough vetting of the building documents in accordance with codes and regulations, regular visit to the construction sites without notice, to maintain compliance
Engineers should avoid sharp practices, operate with the best ethics and codes of standard in Engineering, pay attention to detail, and if the environment become toxic, you feel your professionalism is questionable, your expertise and technical know how is no longer needed, please quit, tender your resignation to avoid eating undone beans at correctional facility.
Professional Bodies like COREN, NSE, NICE among others should up their game and intensify their efforts in curbing the quackery and stem the tides of constructing building projects with floors without certified Engineer in that field or area of expertise.

The loss of lives and properties, economic hardship and impacts, psychological trauma that comes with collapse building is enormous and can be mitigated if only the stakeholders play their respective roles accordingly.

Stop sharp practices and engage professionals…..

©️
Engr. Muslihudeen Olayinka IBRAHIM MNSE, MNICE, COREN R.Eng
ibrahimolayinka646@gmail.com