Building Collapse: Causes and Solutions

A building collapses when the inputs of a Civil/Structural engineer is lacking. A building collapses if the recommendations of the Civil/Structural engineer are not there or are poorly adhered to. Building collapse is the worst form of building failure. It is the failure which once it occurs cannot be remedied. When a building collapses, the building dies and another must be built to replace the collapsed one. This is the reason why building collapse generates the most public attention. This consequently places a high value on the Civil/Structural engineer hence the reason why almost everybody wants to be called an engineer in the construction site.

Causes of Building collapse

To understanding the causes of building collapse we need to throw more light on the inputs of a Civil/Structural engineer, the materials he/she uses and the implementation of his/her recommendations.

Structural Design Error:

A building can collapse as a result of a faulty Structural design. The Civil/Structural engineer designs the building against collapse. This he/she does by the provision of a set of instructions. These instructions are presented in the form of some drawings known as the structural drawings. When these instructions are not correct we have a design error. The following factors may lead to design errors:

Use of Quacks:

It is common knowledge that many people that parade themselves as engineers are not engineers. They have not passed through the walls of a university to study engineering. They are also not licensed by COREN to practice and be called engineers. These quacks occasionally produce structural drawings for non-suspecting and ignorant clients. Because of their deficit in civil engineering knowledge their design often are fraught with design errors.

Incompetent engineers:

Not all engineers are competent. The learning curve of most Civil/Structural engineers does not end in the university. It continues during professional practice and often throughout their working career. A Structural design error can occur when such an engineer is asked to produce a structural design. You simply cannot give what you do not have.

An Engineer’s mistake:

Though very rare but a sound engineer can make mistakes in his design. This can be as a result of human error, fatigue etc. The error can be transferred to the structural drawings.

A Draughtsman’s error:

The engineering design is communicated in the form of a set of drawings. These drawings are usually produced by the engineering draughtsman from the design calculations of the engineer. If the draughtsman makes a human error it will translate to a design error as the structural drawings which are his final drawings will have an error.

Material Error

The Civil/Structural engineer in the preparation of his design calculations makes use of some parameters. These parameter are the properties of the materials to be used in the construction of the proposed building. He recommends a reinforcement steel (iron rod) of a particular property. He recommends concrete of a particular property. He assumes the building is to rest on a soil strata of a particular property (this information he obtains from a soil investigation carried out by a Civil/Geotechnical Engineer). The structural design he/she produces is based on these parameters. It is therefore necessary to ensure that only materials of the recommended properties are used.

Any material with a property unfavourable to what was assumed by the designer is sub-standard and can lead to a building collapse. The common materials are cement, fine aggregates, coarse aggregate, reinforcement rods and water.

Implementation Error

Here comes the error from the contractor (the cook). He is supposed to be able to understand the recommendations of the civil/structural engineer as presented in the structural drawings. If he fails to understand the drawings and the recommended materials or deliberately flouts the instructions there will be an implementation error. This implementation error is one of the commonest causes of building collapse.

Poor Building Regulation

These are the processes for regulating and monitoring the pre-construction, construction and post-construction activities of buildings. Human activities are often motivated by personal gains hence the need to regulate them to ensure that the correct things are done. These are supposed to be done by our Building regulatory agencies.

Our regulatory agencies are supposed to vet all the drawings to be used for the execution of a building, ensure that competent hands are involved in the execution of building projects and also monitor the execution to ensure that only materials of the desired qualities as recommended in the structural drawings are used. The work is huge. Our regulatory agencies are often made up of personnel who lacks both in the required expertise and numerical number for such an enormous task. Many building go on in our premised unnoticed by these agencies hence the incessant building collapse.

Solutions/Recommendations

Responses like the placement of embargos on building permits[1], the revocation of all commencement certificates for construction sites[2] are blanket responses that hides the real issues and causes of building collapse. Building failures is a well understood problem amongst building professionals and so have clear cut remedies.

Synergy within the Building Industry Professional Associations

Synergy with the building professional associations will release to the regulatory agencies a pool of ready and viable hands for effective building regulation. The agency will tap from their expertise and numerical strength. They (the professionals) being one of the ultimate beneficiaries of a well regulated industry will be willing to assist the regulatory agencies.

This can be done through the strengthening of the Building Control departments in the Building regulation Agencies. These departments should have an Engineering Unit, Architectural Unit and Town planning Unit. These Units should be manned by professionals from the respective professional organizations both on full time and part-time basis. Each building approval must pass through and be cleared by these Units for thorough vetting and adequate documentation. Each building must have the seals of approval of these Units on their approved drawings.

The Professional organizations are blessed with numbers and expertise and can do this as their contribution to curbing building failures. This will save the government a lot of resources as they may never be able to employ enough trained hands to do this work. The regulation from these bodies will be more effective as they know their members and are also equipped by law to deal with them when they err. This will deal a final blow on quackery in the Industry and also ensure that adequate, good and accessible records on every building are kept. It will provide no hiding place for quacks or any fraudulent professional. The government finally will be able to put its blames on these organizations when there is failure.

De-zoning of Regulatory Agencies.

Building approvals and monitoring should be made more efficient and effective by de-zoning the regulatory agencies. There should be a branch of every Regulatory agency in every local government area in the state and each branch should be a microcosm of the main branch. This means that these branches will have their respective Building Control department and should be able to approve and monitor buildings. This will bring building control and regulation closer to the location of the construction site and make them more effective. Most logistics and bottlenecks that breed corruption and compromise are removed. It will then be very easy to pin down failures to erring officers and offices.

The Relevant Professional Should be the Contractor (Cook)

As painful as this may sound, the cook (the person that interprets the instructions of the other professionals with the aim of producing the finished product) should be a professional that is able to interpret the instructions from the Architect and Civil/Structural engineer. A threatening danger faced by the construction industry is the lack of regulation on who should be the contractor. In our construction industry, the contractor can be anybody. He needs not know how to interpret the information supplied by the other professionals. He needs not know the consequences of flouting their instructions. He only needs gut and the ability to imitate what a professional elsewhere did to be a contractor. This leaves our regulatory agencies stretched to their limits.

Building collapse will remain until we begin to regulate who and who executes building projects and if possible criminalize the execution of building projects by non-building professionals. Building professionals are people who by training are equipped to interpret the instructions from the other professionals. The Architect has a smattering knowledge of structures, quantities etc to be able to work effectively in a building team. The Civil engineer is taught the very rudiments of architecture to enable him interpret the drawing and hence recommend the appropriate structural elements. This also applies to the Builder. Building construction must be executed by the person who can interpret appropriately the instructions from other professionals. This applies to other building professionals.

We may have noticed my silence on the presence of sub-standard materials in our market. This is deliberate. Sub-standard materials strive in our market because of the predominance of bad contractors. In our food market, bad or poorly prepared ingredients that do not give a tasty dish do not last in our market. Why? Because Nigerian women are good cooks, they spot the bad ingredients, notice its damaging effect on their food and simply refuse to patronize them. The consequence is that the bad ingredient disappears from our markets. Just imagine if we wake up one day and discover that all the good Nigerian cooks have disappeared. What do you think will happen to bad ingredients in the market? They will strive. The bad cooks (remaining) will use them to produce food that are of poorer quality and will not even know why their food is not tasty. This is the reason why combating substandard reinforcement bars, use of very weak concrete and aggregates for structural elements etc are still a challenge in our environment.

Imposition of Penalties for Defaulters

This cannot be overemphasized. The imposition of penalties for defaulters will also serve as a deterrent. The Regulatory Agencies must also be liable for the collapse of any building they approved. It is their responsibility to ensure that competent, reachable and verifiable professionals are attached to each building project. They can introduce more instruments and forms to ensure this.

Conclusion

In conclusion, building collapse is a multifaceted issue that requires a concerted effort from all stakeholders in the construction industry. The role of Civil/Structural engineers is paramount, and their expertise must be respected and implemented meticulously to prevent structural failures. Ensuring the competence of professionals, regulating materials, and implementing rigorous construction practices are fundamental steps towards achieving safe and durable buildings. Moreover, regulatory bodies must be empowered and adequately staffed to effectively monitor and enforce building standards. Collaboration with professional associations can provide the necessary expertise and manpower to enhance these regulatory efforts. De-zoning regulatory agencies can bring oversight closer to construction sites, reducing corruption and increasing accountability. Furthermore, it is imperative to regulate who can act as a contractor, ensuring that only qualified professionals who can accurately interpret architectural and engineering instructions are allowed to oversee construction projects. Addressing the prevalence of sub-standard materials requires a market that rejects inferior products, which can be achieved through educating and empowering consumers and professionals alike. Lastly, imposing stringent penalties for non-compliance and holding regulatory agencies accountable for the buildings they approve will serve as strong deterrents against negligence and malpractice. By adopting these comprehensive measures, we can significantly reduce the incidence of building collapses and create a safer built environment for all.