Building collapses, injuring one and burying four workers on Sukhumvit 87

[gemguy]

6 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

One wonders at what point will Thailand start taking building safety, public safety, and traffic safety seriously. Frankly, this accident is simply another reflection of what goes happens on the Thai roads daily. Absolute mayhem, with nearly zero law enforcement, on the highway. The only time I see the highway patrol, is AFTER an accident takes place. The rest of the time they seem to be holed up somewhere playing cards. I rarely if ever see speeding tickets being given, and I have never witnesses someone being cited for either reckless driving, or fleeing the scene of a crime. The justice system here is completely broken.

Not until they make lot of  of mistakes and lot of accidents happen and a lot of death occurs and loss of money....and maybe then they will be moved to do something about the "safety factor".....but do not hope for too much as that would overload their brains having to think about all that safety "stuff"

Cheers

[wvavin]

It would be very interesting if these old houses just crumple down upon their "expiry date"!

[kannot]

7 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

One wonders at what point will Thailand start taking building safety, public safety, and traffic safety seriously. Frankly, this accident is simply another reflection of what goes happens on the Thai roads daily. Absolute mayhem, with nearly zero law enforcement, on the highway. The only time I see the highway patrol, is AFTER an accident takes place. The rest of the time they seem to be holed up somewhere playing cards. I rarely if ever see speeding tickets being given, and I have never witnesses someone being cited for either reckless driving, or fleeing the scene of a crime. The justice system here is completely broken.

got a  speeding  ticket about 2  weeks  ago, Wife got one few years back even 1kmh over the  limit is a fail here, no leeway

[djayz]

Human life is cheap here and until that changes, safety will never be taken seriously. 

RIP fella/fellows. 

 

[tigermoth]

Sad for the families. It is not surprising that the building collasped during the demolition. Being in the construction industry for 50 years, 20 in Thailand there are many factors.

*Substandard concrete used. It is common practice to use below strength concrete which is usually caused by the concrete truck driver adding copious amounts of water to the mix while caught in the traffic here.

*In lower cost projects concrete cylinders not taken and tested when the concrete arrives on site. It is law to do so.

*Steel reinforcing not up to the tensile strength specified. This is usually because the contractor uses cheap low grade steel from China.

*Number of bars specified in the documents for columns and othere structural elements reduced. The reinforcing that is placed often too close to the surface of the concrete. This often causes spalling of the concrete exposing the reinforcing thus exposing the steel which corrodes all of which reduces the strength of the column and beams etc.

*Demolition done by inexperienced workers and not supervised.

 

There are other reasons for substandard construction but the above are the primary ones, all for money, nothing else apart from the common use of inexperienced workers and contractors. Many of the workers are Cambodian or Burmese working for substandard wages and under substandard conditions.

[F4UCorsair]

18 hours ago, Brer Fox said:

Some titme back after a few similar tragedies there was a hotline created for "Building About to Fall Down". Why did no one call the number?

 

Somebody did.....10 seconds before It collapdsed.  It didn't look as though It was going to 'fall down' until then.

 

[F4UCorsair]

1 hour ago, tigermoth said:

Sad for the famithnies. It is not surprising that the building collasped during the demolition. Being in the construction industry for 50 years, 20 in Thailand there are many factors.

*Substandard concrete used. It is common practice to use below strength concrete which is usually caused by the concrete truck driver adding copious amounts of water to the mix while caught in the traffic here.

*In lower cost projects concrete cylinders not taken and tested when the concrete arrives on site. It is law to do so.

*Steel reinforcing not up to the tensile strength specified. This is usually because the contractor uses cheap low grade steel from China.

*Number of bars specified in the documents for columns and othere structural elements reduced. The reinforcing that is placed often too close to the surface of the concrete. This often causes spalling of the concrete exposing the reinforcing thus exposing the steel which corrodes all of which reduces the strength of the column and beams etc.

*Demolition done by inexperienced workers and not supervised.

 

There are other reasons for substandard construction but the above are the primary ones, all for money, nothing else apart from the common use of inexperienced workers and contractors. Many of the workers are Cambodian or Burmese working for substandard wages and under substandard conditions.

How do you know all this?  You're obviously In the building Industry In Thailand, so part of the problem?  Wjhy do you continue?  Why do you not blow the whistle and make a difference? Save lives?

Edited December 17, 2016 by F4UCorsair

[Skeptic7]

Have walked past here often. Always hurry and scurry when passing a construction or demolition site and most recently this one! Took some pix outside of the Wells International School just a couple weeks ago!