Lack of safety steps, expertise led to collapse

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Lack of experience and adopting no proper plans in demolishing the 22-storey Rangs Bhaban have apparently caused the Saturday night disaster.

In early August experts warned the authorities of the lack of safety measures as well as a proper plan under supervision of engineers in demolishing the building. But the warnings went unheeded and the demolition work was clearly proceeding to a disaster.

Following Saturday’s disaster, a probe committee was formed headed by the Rajuk chief engineer to find out why the building’s 17th floor caved in, triggering a series of breakdowns to the second floor. Cracks developed on the first floor as well.

Fire Service and Civil Defence Deputy Director Selim Newaj Bhuiyan shared with The Daily Star one probable cause of the disaster.

He said demolition workers were piling up rubble on each of the floors. At the same time, the workers drilled and cracked the floors with a view to demolish those one by one.

It is most likely that the 17th floor became too weak to contain the heavy debris and caved in on the 16th floor, causing a chain reaction down to the second floor around 10:30pm, he pointed out.

The Rajuk-spearheaded demolition started on August 3, less than 24 hours of the Supreme Court order to destroy the upper floors of the Tk 700 crore building beyond the sixth floor.

Such a hasty process began just by using picks and hammers ignoring the pleas from the office holders to give them 15 days time to move their property.

But power connection was instantly snapped and elevators were shut down. The offices underwent an inhuman experience of shifting equipment and other goods worth several hundred crore taka within just one evening.

But with no past experience of demolishing such a high-rise, the enthusiastic Rajuk drive came to a shocking halt on August 8 when a 20-year-old labourer fell from the 12th floor and died instantly.

The ill-fated Sohrab Hossain was working with no safety gears on.

Top engineers and building experts then told the media the authorities had ignored the fundamental safety precautions in the demolition process.

A top government engineer told The Daily Star such an accident could have been avoided if the workers were provided with safety belts.

Rajuk Chairman KAM Haroon admitted that safety belt was not arranged for the workers as they were not demolishing any outer features of the building.

Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) dictates taking precautionary measures like safety belt, catch-platform, industrial safety helmet, goggles, etc for demolishing a building.

Buet Professor Sekandar Ali told The Daily Star any demolition work must be carried out as per a plan and sequence prepared and supervised by engineers.

Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies official Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed said there were no safety measures to be found from day one. There was no protection roof around the building under demolition.

“Absence of this fundamental safety measure exposed the public to fatality or injury any moment,” he had warned.

In the modern world, high-rise buildings in busy metropolises are demolished by experts using dynamites in the most safest and quickest way possible.

Implementation of such demolition follows long technical preparation for proper placement of dynamites to ensure that the building collapses downwards and inwards.

A massive building can be demolished within a minute of charging dynamites and without damaging anything outside the demolition site, he added.

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