18/09/2014
The past few months have seen the collapse of a number of structures in South africa and now the scurge of structural collapse in Africa has been brought to our attention. A sort of knee jerk reaction by the general public is to allocate blame for structural collapse to the contractor or the builder and in most cases the so called "bakkie builder" the Achilles heel of our profession. Though the reality is that there are many unskilled contractors undertaking work outside of their general capabilities or above their means, there are those who have the required level of skill to execute the works to the professional engineer or architect's specifications. Though God forbid that further structural collapses occur, how does the skilled contractor protect himself against the risk of blame where many other factors play a far more important role than the actual implementation or the methodology employed during works such as the quality of materials supplied, the design of structural elements, overall project budgetary constraints, competitive bidding leading to an inferior standard of workmanship, etc. One needs to consider that there are various role players during the constrcution process, each playing an integral role and accepting a certain degree of liability. The contractor however can be viewed as the catalyst during the process and cannot carry out the overall construction on its own. Please feel free to offer logical correspondence on this issue in the interest of healthy debating. My prayers go out to the families of this people who lost their lives in Lagos on Friday. God bless their souls and may they rest in peace....
