slab collapse in South Africa
slab collapse in South Africa
(OP)
Construction workers share details of deadly collapse in Tongaat, Durban, South Africa
ALL that mall construction worker Skhumbuzo Ngcobo saw was dust when a concrete slab collapsed in Tongaat, north of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, on Tuesday, killing a woman and injuring him and at least 28 of his co-workers.
ALL that mall construction worker Skhumbuzo Ngcobo saw was dust when a concrete slab collapsed in Tongaat, north of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, on Tuesday, killing a woman and injuring him and at least 28 of his co-workers.






RE: slab collapse in South Africa
It puts all of our frustration with building codes and the like into perspective, because you can see what it is like when someone (government) isn't around to act as a policeman (and I am borderline libertarian!).
RE: slab collapse in South Africa
Perhaps that delves into the political realm and I don't mean to, I'm just agreeing with you but saying that more government provisions might not be the best way to go. The gov't. can't be everywhere all the time, nor would we want that, whereas the beady eyes of the insurance adjuster can get people's attention very quickly. Reasonable people can disagree, of course, and certainly all will agree that the event was a tragedy.
RE: slab collapse in South Africa
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25009107
BA
RE: slab collapse in South Africa
RE: slab collapse in South Africa
RE: slab collapse in South Africa
1. They stacked brick pallets on a freshly cast slab.
2. They decided to strip both formwork and propping 2 days after casting.
To be honest I think that's what caused the collapse. 2 days after casting you are looking at 30-40% 28 day cube strength and that won't be enough to carry self-weight, nevermind brick pallets. Concrete quality is very high in South Africa and it looks to be a suspended slab on beams design so it won't be punching failure. (You don't see the characteristic column standing with a punched out piece of slab.)
So the contractor is at 100% at fault, pushing forward even when told to stop and even the not following basic SABS code regarding stripping times.