City Engineers and the collapse of building safety control
The abominable death some few weeks ago of a Class Three pupil, Kamel Bashiru of the Greater Care International School as a result of falling into the school’s pit latrine at Nima in Accra brings to the fore issues of safety ranging from classroom blocks to other structures which must be built up to standards and not death traps (Daily Graphic editorial of Friday, September 20, 2013 refers)
Advertisement
Building safety control is the management of building regulations and related issues with the primary aim to deliver risk-free buildings and the safe use of such structures.
It is a public safety responsibility of the state enshrined in the Local Government Act of 1993 (Act 462) and the National Building Regulation of 1996, (L.I. 1630).
It encompasses the administration of building permits, various other building safety permits and associated enforcement obligations. This statutory mandate also focuses on how sound buildings are developed and how related safety compliances are dealt with before and during the entire occupancy life of any structure meant for human habitation.
Until the recent past, buildings in Accra, Cape Coast, Sekondi, Tarkwa and some other urban centres were carefully designed and subjected to critical safety compliance by the then regulators.
Many buildings and the general outlook of most towns then reflected structural integrity, decency, control and order.
In Accra, the Supreme Court, Achimota School and University of Ghana – Legon buildings are but a few. The Accra building bye-law of 1944, the model Building Regulations of 1948, the City Engineers Office of the then Accra City Council, the Architects Society of Ghana, Town Planning and Public Works Departments were pioneer statutes, professional groups and enforcing entities were in place to prosecute building safety control.
In those days, reported cases of building – related disasters were few and far between. In Accra and Kumasi, building inspectors and sanitary officials were on the constant prowl to unearth dangerous, defective and unkempt structures to prevent occupancy, to effect demolition or to order compulsory maintenance.
Very few new buildings works saw the light of day without the consent of the town engineer. Without a building permit, you dare not build. Slums were uncommon.
The early days of Tema were interesting. Applications for building permits were handled with dispatch. Landguards were unknown. You dare not build on a known waterway, roadway or public-right-of-way.
Building related complaints from the public were promptly addressed. Buildings were painted regularly. New extension works had to conform to existing house types. Construction works only occured under the eagle eyes of building inspectors, who frequented project sites to enforce quality control.
At Osu and Ashiedu-Keteke, then the commercial hubs of early Accra, safety or occupancy certificate/permit had to be obtained before buildings were cleared for use.
The Salaga Market in Accra and that of Kotokuraba in Cape Coast were the playground of building and sanitary inspectors enforcing safety compliance.
Periodic building safety audit on selected structures was an established regulatory activity in Accra and the mining town of Tarkwa. A nod from the mayor was not necessary before enforcement operations were carried out in Accra. Building and related permits were sure guarantees of safety for collateral purposes and insurance claims.
Today, instances of failed buildings have increased. Dangerous and visibly unsafe edifices are commonplace. The old UTC shopping complex in central Accra and the abandoned Meridian Hotel near the port of Tema are waiting disasters.
The sub-standard and defective pit latrine of the Greater Care School that snuffed the life out of little Kamel is just the tip of the iceberg of similar unsafe building-related structures across the city.
The Akoto-Lante tragedy some years ago, when eleven children fell and died in an abandoned septic tank was an earlier signal. Has our built environment regulators lost control over the years?
Where are the city architects and engineers, building and sanitary inspectors? What about the response of the state in this unfolding worrying safety drama?
The most recent and major tragic mishap was the collapse of a six-storey commercial structure housing a shopping mall at Achimota in Accra. Almost 14 lives were lost.
Some were buried alive. Over 50 were incapacitated for life. As a major unfortunate building-related disaster in the annals of this country, the post-disaster indifference by the state for a postmortem, critical to inform prevention and future quality control is surprising and disturbing.
Why such a calamity failed to arouse a better and appropriate response than expensive funerals and paltry compensations depict the depth building safety control has fallen and how we put little value on safety and security in and around buildings.
The recent fire outbreaks in some major markets across the country cannot be distanced from the sad state of building safety.
Many markets exist without master development plans. Access ways across these traditional trading places as emergency safety corridors are undefined or oftentimes encroached.
Market structures, maintenance works and utility services connections are done on the blind side of the local authorities.
Local authorities cherish markets as revenue wellsprings than as high-risk prompt-maintenance facilities.
As highly trafficked and intense commercial hubs, markets are made-up of varied building types of intense occupancy activities.
These public-gathering places therefore demand around-the-clock safety monitoring, eagle-eye maintenance and security attention.
The absence of building, health, fire inspectors and security presence over the years have created a dangerous vacuum.
A vacuum filled by the unofficial regulators – market queens, political affiliated concerned groups, revenue collectors and roving job-seeking artisans – who wrongly but naturally re-mould these existing markets into ticking ‘time bombs’!
The writer is an architect.
Email:[email protected]