Reader Response, Draft #2

In the webpage "Hotel New World Collapse," Kayat (2012) explains the various theories and reasoning behind the collapse of the Hotel New World. There were a few speculations made by the engineers who examined the collapse during the investigations that followed. According to Klimkowski (2005, as cited in Kayat, 2012), a possible act of terrorism, strength of material used or even the composition of the soil might be some of the reasons behind the hotel’s fall. However, these assumptions were eliminated as the engineers evaluated all of these areas and were able to prove that another reason was responsible. Neale (2001, as cited from Kayat, 2012) mentioned that the collapse was due to 'under-designed columns and foundations' as the building’s original engineers excluded the building's weight, which was part of the dead load calculation. The same cited author concluded that overloads, lack of proper maintenance and poor engineering contributed to the collapse.

Although the government stated that there are new regulations to prevent another catastrophic event, however, there are doubts about the usefulness of these regulations. There are three supporting points that I would like to discuss, bribery, human error, and enforcement.

Firstly, the building owner can bribe the key personnel of the project to approve the drawing plans quickly so as to start the project earlier. This will cause the integrity of the building to be affected as it will result in the lack of thorough check for the building’s constraints. Quoting from Chong(2017), ‘Two men who conspired to bribe a Housing Board clerk of works to be lenient in his supervision of a construction project more than 20 years ago were sentenced to jail on Wednesday (Oct 25).’ This means that even with stringent regulations from the government, there are still individuals who do not comply with it and challenges the authority.

Secondly, human error cannot be neglected as calculations are formulated and checked by humans. An example would be the engineer who designed hotel new world, excluded the self-weight of the building which greatly increased the dead load limit for the building, which in turn leads to the collapse of the hotel. As stated in Neale(2001), ‘In fact, the root of the catastrophe was during the design stage. The structural engineer and draftsman neglected the weight of the building, a rudimentary and costly mistake.’ Although the government insist the need for an Accredited Checker (AC) to check on the engineer’s calculations, there will still be instances that the AC fails to spot a mistake which might bring potential risks.

Lastly, enforcement by the government is not severe enough to serve as a warning to the others out in the field to comply with the regulations. For instance, the collapse of Nicoll Highway. According to Popatlal (2005), ‘…a former project director of the Circle Line who also monitored the excavation and design work in his other capacity as the Qualified Person on the site. He faces one charge of breaching conditions under the Building Control Act’ and ‘Arguments on Monday centred on the monitoring of instruments on site. Their figures shot upwards in the days leading to the collapse.’ This means that even though there were clear warning signs of breach of regulations, no action was taken by either government's enforcers or the QP himself, showing the lack of enforcement which was supposed to be reinforced after the implementation of the new regulations.

In conclusion, even with the implementation of the new building regulations, fatal incidents still occur at present. This proves the lack of enforcement, increase in bribery and also human error which might cause the collapse of a structure or a building.

(606 words)


Reference
CHONG, E. (2017). Two jailed for scheming to bribe HDB employee 23 years ago. [online] The Straits Times. Available at: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/two-jailed-for-scheming-to-bribe-hdb-employee-23-years-ago [Accessed 5 Feb. 2018].

Neale, B. (2009). Forensic engineering. London: Thomas Telford.

Sgforums.com. (2005). First of Nicoll Highway criminal trials gets underway - SgForums.com. [online] Available at: http://sgforums.com/forums/1710/topics/155758 [Accessed 5 Feb. 2018].

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