Tragedy, is it the law's fault?

[Thys LOW Elektries]

A five story building collapses, several people (33) are dead and the state plays the blame game.

The company responsible for the building is not registered anywhere since it is not required by law for private building developments.
Some of the subcontractors did not do deductions like UIF and workmen comp, others did the deductions but never paid it over.
Now everybody blaims everybody else for the tragedy, what a pity.
I know with tax you get a form once a year with all your payments, deductions and dues on it, maybe it is time UIF and workmen comp, bargaining councils and the rest start doing the same so that employers can see that the money deducted had been paid over and that they are covered if something bad happens, or am I missing something?

https://www.iol.co.za/news/environme...20Construction.

[GCE]

A five story building collapses, several people (33) are dead and the state plays the blame game.

The company responsible for the building is not registered anywhere since it is not required by law for private building developments.
Some of the subcontractors did not do deductions like UIF and workmen comp, others did the deductions but never paid it over.
Now everybody blaims everybody else for the tragedy, what a pity.
I know with tax you get a form once a year with all your payments, deductions and dues on it, maybe it is time UIF and workmen comp, bargaining councils and the rest start doing the same so that employers can see that the money deducted had been paid over and that they are covered if something bad happens, or am I missing something?

https://www.iol.co.za/news/environme...20Construction.

The contractor does not have to be registered with CIDB for a private development - That is just noise being created by people/news agencies that do not know the industry
Deductions are checked by all and sundry on a regular basis
It is also the main contractors obligation to ensure that everyone is registered with all statutory obligations - It is generally in the contract and OHSA

At the moment there are so many news agencies scrambling for a story that anybody walking past gets asked a question and if deemed eye catching it gets published

The bottom line is that a a 5 story building only collapses due to a couple of different factors
1 - Structural design was incorrect /inadequate - Structural consultant fault and should have been picked up by Competent Site supervision
2 - Steel was left out of the structure by the contractor/subbies either on purpose or as a cost saving or incompetence due to inexperienced site supervision
3 - Inferior or under spec concrete that should be picked up by concrete cube tests after each pour - Normal specification/requirement by structural eng - Again structural eng and competent site supervision should pick up
4 - Back propping of preceding floors removed prematurely - Again back to site competency
5 - A truck reversed into a main structural columns causing extensive damage .

If you look at photo's of columns there would appear to be a serious shortage of steel
I spoke to a contractor that had 6 of his people trapped in the building, 2 hours after it had happened, and he made the statement that the steel in the decks/columns etc was nowhere near what we would normally see .
It made me look at columns and deck photo's that were put out there

An example of what appears to be a main column at ground level pasted below which during our Friday evening discussion, which happens to be multiply disciplines within the industry, the statement was made that it looks like a roadside curb , until I showed him the pic of the complete column standing close to the road.
In my experience columns around ground level generally have so much steel that we struggle to get a 20mm conduit into the column - There are a couple of pics out there that show 4 pieces of steel sticking out and very few stirrups -

[Thys LOW Elektries]

Sounds like a number of people didn't do their work properly or did not do their work at all.
A lot of changes will come after this accident. The moral of the story is "do your work properly, and make sure all your paperwork is up to date!"

[Isetech]

Do you really think anything will change?

What concerns me, how many other buildings have the same problems.