Nigerian building collapse adds to roll call of horror.
This time last week, former Institute of Demolition Engineers’ president John Woodward called for an end to the collapse culture that has seen dozens killed around the world in high profile accidents in Bangladesh, Latvia and South Korea.
As Woodward was typing his words of wisdom, a 25-man crew of demolition workers was preparing to take down a building in Kaduna, Nigeria. By the weekend, five of those workers would be dead and 10 more would be trapped in the rubble following an unplanned and catastrophic collapse.
While John Woodward has an enviable international reputation, it was always unlikely that his words would reach outlying parts of Nigeria in time to prevent this wholly avoidable incident.
But what is to be done about an increasingly pernicious and deadly problem?
The third degree murder charge against the contractor allegedly responsible for the Philadelphia collapse that killed six people might well be justified. But it does nothing to bring back the individuals killed; it does nothing to ease the grief of their family, friends and loved ones; it does nothing to prevent a repeat of this collapse on the site of another contractor.
And let us not content ourselves with the knowledge that at least some of these incidents have occurred in developing countries in which health and safety regulations are sub-standard or non-existent. Latvia, for one, is a highly developed country, and the US is the world’s largest demolition market. And anyone that suggests that the UK is immune to unplanned collapses is naive, misguided or plain mad.
The solution, of course, is education. But, despite the advent of online training initiatives, making that education universally available remains an uphill struggle. We have yet to overcome the issue of language barriers. We have yet to address the issue of state-specific legislation. And we have yet to address the variations in construction and demolition methods and materials across the globe.
But our refusal to grasp these unquestionably uncomfortable nettles is a tacit acceptance of future deaths.
So what are we going to do?
