Causes of Risk Associated with Building Collapse: Case Study Analysis

This report analyzes a case study of a building collapse at a construction site, focusing on the causes of risk associated with the incident. The report begins with an introduction to the construction industry and the importance of risk management, particularly concerning health and safety. It then prese...Read More

Running Head: CAUSES OF RISK ASSOCIATED IN THE GIVEN CASE STUDY
Causes of risk associated in the
given case study
July 13
2018
Causes of building
collapses

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Construction industry.................................................................................................................2
Case scenario..............................................................................................................................3
Risk management.......................................................................................................................4
Causes of risk.............................................................................................................................5
Recommendations......................................................................................................................9
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
In construction industry risk analysis and management is an important part of the decision
making process. While making decision in construction industry it is very important to
understand the risks associated with their decisions and their possible impact on the project as
the industry is widely associated with a number of risks with every decision managers are
making. Whole industry is associated with a variety of risks due to the nature of its micro,
and macro environments, however the industry has a very poor reputation for its wide range
of risks. These risks results in missing the deadline of the projects and not meeting the cost
target as well. Most significant risks associated with the construction industry are of health
and safety of people involved in different activities of the project. Almost everyone including
the client, contractors and public have suffered as they were the participants of any of the
activity in construction project (Ede, 2011).
Health and safety risks are of most concern for the managers or contractors in construction
industry. Financial targets and deadline missing risks are less significant when it comes to the
health and safety of people. All other risks are bearable except the safety risks. In this report
there is complete analysis of the given scenario of construction site and also identifies the
associated risks with the scenario. The case study defines a real site situation associated with
different health and safety risks. This report identifies these risks and makes an understanding
of these risks to the managers of construction site.
Construction industry
Development of the infrastructure of any country is most important aspect that can boost the
business scenario helping in growing the GDP of that country. This fact makes nations to
give more stress on the development of their infrastructure. Construction industry also plays

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an important role in the economy of a nation. This vastness of the industry has a lot of scope
for different socio political, environmental, and several other unforeseen problems during
different stages of the construction projects. The cost overrun and missing the deadline may
have a big magnitude of risk concern but when it comes to the life of people these risks are of
less significance compared to the health and safety risks. Workers in construction industry are
suffering from different health and safety issues while working in construction industry.
As per international labour organization there is a great percentage of occupational accidents
associated only with the construction industry and also the industry is at top position for
providing employment in the world. International Labour Organization estimates around 2.3
million people suffer from occupational accidents or health issues annually. From this
number almost 6000 people die every year in such occupational accidents. In CIS countries
there are over 11,000 cases of fatal accidents estimated which is a huge number in
comparison to the number of cases reported that is 5,850 only.
Case scenario
In the given case there is collapse of two floors at the construction site. The construction site
is a high rise project located along Jalan Ipoh. At this site around 4:45 am fourth and sixth
floors of the project have collapsed. In this accident all three men succeed in escaping from
the site while 5 workers stuck there in the accident. Among these five affected workers 3
workers get minor injuries while other two were severely injured. At the same time Selangor
Fire and Rescue Department was informed by the authorities to get some help from the
department. But when rescue time arrives at the site location all the workers were rescued
already by their colleague workers. While investigating the scene rescue team managers get
to know that all the victims are transfers to the Selangor Hospital for treatment. Mohammad
Sani, assistant director of the rescue team states that from his investigation it is found that the

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floors collapsed were under construction. After this he checked all the legal documents of
other workers too and found that all the workers on the site had all essential legal documents
to work over there. While investigating other workers he found that among the five workers
who get injured two were Indonesian and other three were from Bangladesh aged between
36-41 years. But they had all the essential documents to work there.
Risk management
In such situations it is essential to know the cause of risk so that possible steps can be taken
by the authorities to reduce such accidents. This kind of accidents reduces the good-will of
company and affects the industry also. Therefore managers have to analyse the case scene
very carefully to get an access to the root cause of the accident. For this managers have to
follow a formal risk analysis so that complete analysis with better understanding can be
practiced at the site. Risk analysis is the process of identifying the root cause of risks
associated with any task. In construction industry each and every activity of the execution
work at the site is associated with some kind of risks. These risks are very liable to occur at
any time without any prior indication (Forbes, Smith & Horner, 2008).
In the literature review it has been described that the risk management consists of different
practices beginning with the identification of the risks and at the end the analysis
implementing some practical alternatives to reduce these identified risks to make sure that
workers at the site are safe. In one literature, the risk management sis defined as the process
of identifying and accessing the risk as well as implementing possible alternatives to reduce
these risk to an acceptable extend. Overall risk management comprises of the various stages
like planning, identification, assessment, analysis, response, monitoring, and recording the
risk management process. Among all these stages there are four major steps that are essential

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to manage the whole risk management process at the construction site. These four major steps
of the risk management are as below
 Risk identification
 Risk analysis
 Risk evaluation
 Risk treatment
Risk identification is the very first step to take at the time of risk management and in the
given scenario, it is very important to identify the possible risks that are associated with the
current situation of project. In this scenario, the managers have done the risk identification for
the situation because they wanted to know the other possible risks associated with the same
situation so that they can reduce these risks to ensure the safety of worker at the site (Hamid,
Majid and Singh, 2008).
Causes of risk
Continuous development of the industry has recorded a remarkable increase in the work force
demand compared to the other industries. This makes it more important to manage the risks
associated with the industry. In this process as the most important part is to identify the risk.
Therefore, risk identification plays an important role in the sustainability of the industry by
eliminating or reducing the health and safety risks. Since health and safety, risks are most
concerned risks by the workers to work for an industry, these needs to be identify very
efficiently (Marzocchi, Garcia-Aristizabal, Gasparini, Mastellone and Di Ruocco, 2012).
Risk management research has shown considerable growth in the last four decades given that
construction projects coming to the existence are exposed to the high risk. Projects are
perceived to have risks due to the involvement of different contracting parties like

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contractors, owners, and designers. Risks associated with the construction projects are
analysed possibly from two different perspectives. One is project owner who being the key
stakeholder make decisions for the project construction and another perspective we have are
contractors. Risk management systems use a quantitative analysis of the risks but this type of
analysis does not allow managers that the previously occurred problems, risks, and lessons be
captured for the new project. Forbes, Smith, & Horner, (2008) stated that in different
countries over the time industry tends to use limited techniques for risk management.
Construction industry is at a very high risk as there is maximum possibility of accident
occurrence. This is because project managers consider cost, time, and quality as major factors
for the success of their projects. They consider safety and health of workers as secondary
aspect. In the industry most of the employers do not have a comprehensive policy to prevent
accidents but instead of doing this they concentrate on maximizing their profit. In order to
understand the cause of accidents occurring at construction sites in 1930 Heinrich pioneered
an accident causation model. This model discussed the accident causation theory, interaction
of man and machines, acts and laws, role of management in the prevention of accidents at
construction sites, and the impact of the safety on the efficiency or workers as well as the
project. This model given by Heinrich called Domino Theory which consists of five
dominoes. These five dominoes described in this theory are ancestry and social environment,
a person’s fault, acts and conditions that are unsafe, accidents at site, and injuries. After this
model another model given by Peterson called Multiple Causation Model (Serpella, Ferrrada,
Howard, & Rubio, 2014).
After these models different theories have been given describing the human errors as a cause
of accidents at construction sites. From the very beginning of research in the field of risk
analysis in construction industry it is found that around 99% of accidents occurring at
construction site are caused by the unsafe conditions or acts. Studies suggest that most of the

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accidents are the results of the combination of the main cause and one or more unsafe
condition or acts. A study on the Kuwait construction industry states that main causes of
accidents are the results of employee turnover, unsafe acts, poor safety performance, low tool
maintenance, fault of supervisors, misplacing objects and many more. Another study on the
US construction industry reveals that the causes of accidents a construction site can be
classified into two major categories as human and physical factors (Hamid, Majid, & Singh,
2008).
There are numerous causes of different accidents occurring in at construction sites. In the past
decade there is a consistent increment in the number of accidents occurring at construction
site. According to the Timetric’s Construction Risk Index, the un-weighted average score of
50 countries, considered for this index, has risen from 41.02 in fourth quarter of 2014 to
41.08 in the first quarter of 2015. This risk increment is significant in emerging markets only.
Advanced economies have shown a little rise in the risk score for this index.
In this case two floors of a high rise building collapsed and harmed five workers
significantly. In such cases where buildings collapse several reasons can be given for the
justification of such collapses. Most common cause of building collapse are as
 Bad design
 Faulty construction
 Foundation failure
 Extraordinary loads
 Unexpected failure modes
 Mixed causes

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In this graph the white shaded area shows lower impact and low priority risk causes that stats
that these causes an be neglected over the other causes that are having higher impact as well
as higher probability to cause the risk at site. The yellow shaded area denotes the causes of
high probability and lower impact such as faulty construction of any element of construction.
The pink portion of the graph denotes the high impact and lower probability risk causes like
foundation failure and bad design of the project. In the last the orange shaded portion of the
graph shows indicates the risk causes that have high probability as well as high impact on the
project. These cause must be given most priority that are identifies as extraordinary loads and
unexpected failure modes (Oloyede, Omoogun and Akinjare, 2010).
These are the common causes of building collapse as in the given case. In the given case only
two floors of the building are collapsed that means only few of the above may be the cause of
this accident like unexpected failure modes, faulty construction, or mixed causes. Among
these possible causes of the accidents unexpected failures modes are most complex reason of
any collapse at construction sites. Another reason for this case can be faulty construction and
engineer appointed for the construction work is also at fault (Serpella, Ferrrada, Howard and
Rubio, 2014). In this case if there is a fault of engineer in the construction work then the

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accident could be prevented. But as it was not clear in the case that engineer is at fault no
reason can be specified but the above explanation justifies the collapse.
Recommendations
The case findings and different possible causes that can be the reason behind this accident
suggest that this may be a result of engineer’s fault for faulty construction. A faulty
construction can be prevented by the proper monitoring of the construction work at the site.
Other causes that are discussed in the report can be reduced to an acceptable extend by proper
risk management provision for the construction projects. All these causes found in different
studies must be in the primary consideration of owner and contractor as well. A significant
concern of managers can only prevent such accidents. Managers need to provide health and
safety policies for their workers working at the site. Therefore, it is highly recommended to
the managers and other authorities of construction industry that they must have consider the
health and safety of their workers as one of their priority. And they should ensure the safety
of their workers in every possible way otherwise the increasing casualties in the industry can
be dangerous for the future of their efficient future.
Conclusion
This report discussing the possible causes of increasing accidents at construction site
concludes that most common reason for increasing accidents is lack of owner and
contractor’s concern for their worker’s safety. It concludes that in most of the countries
manager consider their worker’s safety at second place. Most of the contractors consider
time, cost, and quality of their projects at first place. This makes no space for their workers
health in their priority list. This must be corrected as soon as possible as the increasing
number of accidents occurring at construction sites may increase the employee turnover.

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Such issues can drag the industry in real danger like industry may face a deficiency of
workers in the future. Such dangers can lead to a great loss to the industry and that needs to
be resolved efficiently as soon as possible.

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References
Ede, A. N. (2011). Measures to reduce the high incidence of structural failures in
Nigeria. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa, 13(1), pp. 153-161.
Forbes, D., Smith, S. & Horner, M. (2008). Tools for selecting appropriate risk management
techniques in the built environment. Construction Management and Economics. 26, pp.
1241-1250.
Hamid, A. R. A., Majid, M. Z. A., & Singh, B. (2008). Causes of accidents at construction
sites. Malaysian Journal of Civil Engineering, 20(2). pp. 242-259.
Marzocchi, W., Garcia-Aristizabal, A., Gasparini, P., Mastellone, M. L., & Di Ruocco, A.
(2012). Basic principles of multi-risk assessment: a case study in Italy. Natural
hazards, 62(2), pp. 551-573.
Oloyede, S. A., Omoogun, C. B., & Akinjare, O. A. (2010). Tackling causes of frequent
building collapse in Nigeria. Journal of sustainable development, 3(3), p. 127.
Serpella, A. F., Ferrrada, X., Howard, R., & Rubio, L., (2014). Risk management in
construction projects: a knowledge-based approach. Procedia – Social and Behavioural
Sciences, 119. pp. 653-662.