By Ing Yayah A. B. Conteh
The term ‘construction industry’ can be broad-based. Put in simple terms, it is the industry that is involved in providing residential and non-residential facilities of a country.
In engineering terms, construction is usually associated with large structures like buildings, roads, bridges, railways, hydroelectric dams, seaports and airports, etc.
This article intends to explore that branch of the construction industry which deals with the building sector, and which is quite a rigorous one in terms of its range of manpower involvement.
It particularly takes into consideration the various factors associated with the collapse of buildings in most African countries including Sierra Leone and even beyond. It further suggests approaches as to how to eliminate this occurrence in order to save lives and properties.
The incidence of building collapse in most countries has become more prevalent in the last 15 years or so, incidentally at a time when more qualified professionals in the construction industry abound in these countries.
Scholars and experts in this industry anchor their discussions on the building collapse in particularly West and East African countries (Nigeria and Kenya in the lead), in which many lives and properties have been lost and several people injured.
The starting point is to recognise the fact that high-rise structures have always been at the highest risk of collapse due fundamentally to structural inadequacies and professional ineptitude on the part of the building developers.
Structures in general should be designed to support loads and to resist external forces without excessive deformation. The improper choice of materials, or the use of sub-standard ones, or even the misunderstanding of their properties at the time of planning, designing and eventual construction of these structures will provide room for collapse of same.
I advance such an argument because I have lately observed that a significant reduction has occurred in the original dimensions and quality of indispensable building and construction materials that flood our markets today, like iron rods for example, which readily comes to mind.
The width dimension of what used to be five-eighths inch (5/8”) iron rod can now easily be mistaken for that of the half-inch (1/2”) and the latter for that of the quarter-inch (1/4”) iron rod. This means with the shrink in size of these rods, a concrete supporting pillar of a high rise building that used to be constructed with, say, 5 lengths of 5/8” iron rods will now require almost double that number to withstand the strength and resistance of an overhanging beam in order to prevent collapse of that structure.
Are our engineers, architects, designers and local contractors in the building industry taking cognisance of this fact before construction work is begun, or are they just oblivious of it?
It appears as if the industries abroad where these materials are being manufactured no longer put premium on the approved/prescribed original dimensions of such materials but rather on how best they can maximise profit for their own economic gratification, with often fatal consequences at the end of the day.
Apart from natural disasters (the most common ones being heavy winds, rain storms, floods, earth tremors, etc.) which can also contribute to building collapse, it can also be attributed to several other factors which include, but not limited to the following: the use of defective or sub-standard materials, design flaws, material fatigue, human errors during the process of construction, use of quacks and unqualified builders, poor quality control, poor compliance with specifications, including the illegal conversion of existing structures.
Need I lay emphasis on the fact here that a building that was originally designed to carry two floors and later converted to carry another two additional floors, without consulting a structural engineer, may eventually collapse due to overload and consequent overstretch of the foundation. This is an act practiced far and wide in most countries that suffer building collapse.
The task of government to curb the menace of building collapse in our country can be quite challenging, but not insurmountable.
Government must ensure that all buildings are constructed according to design, specifications and planning regulations. This can be achieved through the intervention of established government policymakers who should make it a point of duty to see that proper planning, supervision and monitoring of all construction activities are institutionalised.
Using the electronic and print media, the masses can be educated through periodic public awareness on the advantages of using qualified professionals as the only way of having safer structures in our various communities.
Government should not pay a lip service to the construction industry, the building sector in particular.
Empowering the construction industry to a certain enviable level like what obtains in the banking, pharmaceutical and even the oil and gas sectors in some other countries will serve it a more useful and better purpose, as the wave of collapse of buildings will fizzle out, or reduce to insignificance.
The key ingredient is for more effective government regulation of the industry, because trained and qualified engineers alone playing their role can certainly not be sufficient to stem or discourage the tide of intermittent building collapse in the country.
Government established organisations in the country like the Standards Bureau should be vigilant to ensure that building materials imported into the country meet standard requirements.
It must also ensure that buildings that are not structurally habitable are either strengthened, where need be, or demolished altogether.
At times it is not inadequacy of relevant laws and monitoring agencies. Rather it is lack of proper enforcement of building regulations that lead to their collapse.
The agencies and ministries charged with the responsibilities of monitoring the construction process often appear lethargic or rather nonchalant in enforcing building regulations. This is due to ineffective monitoring, lack of human resources and, above all, corruption among officers-in-charge of building approval.
Ing Yayah A. B. Conteh is the Director of the Mechanical Services Department (MSD) of the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA)
Tel #: +232 76 640 364/+232 77 718 805
E-mail: contehyayahab2020@gmail.com