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Five men die in wall collapse

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LittleInch

Petroleum
Mar 27, 2013
22,585
This was a few days ago ( 7th July) but no new details have been released so far.

Very sad event, but one which it looks from first sight should not have been allowed to happen and indicates incorrect use of these types of big block walls.

See this report
~The picture below (and attached) seems to show a series of what are variously described as 1.5 tonne concrete blocks which seem like the simple gravity interlocking type lying on the floor on their side in the RH bay.

From reports it seems the men were cleaning up /working in an empty bay next to one that looks very full when the wall suddenly collapsed crushing them under the concrete blocks and the scrap metal blocks. If you look at the dark patch on the back wall it seems the scrap was heaped up to higher than the wall height. Quite a lot has already been moved to the side to allow recovery of the bodies.

Just goes to show that what seems like a solid wall in fact isn't and in certain industries there is a big lack of understanding of basic design issues when it comes to concrete dividing walls. I'll be a lot more circumspect whenever I see these types of walls in the future.

The UK HSE will investigate and may prosecute and until they decide whether to do that few real details are likely to emerge as these would be criminal proceedings in the UK.

Five-die-in-wall-collapse-at-Birmingham-recycling-site_dg2ydg.jpg


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