GEORGE TOWN, Nov 2 — The collapse of two civil structures in Penang that killed three people in 2013 were caused by human error, the special commission formed to probe the two incidents said in its report released today.
The 287-page report available in both English and Bahasa Malaysia said the collapse of the Penang Second Bridge ramp on June 6, 2013, was caused by its “severely faulty or defective construction” while the fin wall of the Umno building that came down days later on June 13 was due to its “grossly inadequate design”.
The commission comprising Datuk Yeo Yang Poh, Datuk Dr Gue See Sew and Datuk Prof Roslan Hashim also recommended action against those deemed responsible for the two incidents.
In the Second Penang Bridge incident, the commission said in its report that it was the heavy scaffold erected on the ramp leading to the bridge at the Batu Maung interchange that had come down, killing passing motorist Tajudin Zainal Abidin who was trapped beneath the structure.
“The construction of the collapsed scaffold was defective to such an obvious and alarming extent, in particular the absence of diagonal bracings in transverse direction, that the works must have been done by the subcontractor in a most casual and careless manner,” the report found.
The commission named several parties responsible for the incident, namely the subcontractor, the main contractor, the supervision consultants, the superintending officer from Jambatan Kedua Sdn Bhd, the engineer who signed and endorsed the scaffold design and the scaffold inspector.
They recommended that the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) take disciplinary action against those responsible and to investigate whether there had been professional misconduct.
For the Umno building incident, the commission found the design engineer incompetent and grossly negligent in designing the fin wall for the Umno building in 1995.
They also said that the submitting engineer who signed and submitted the engineering drawings was equally as responsible and that when the collapse occurred, the district officer had “totally ignored and abandoned his duties”.
During the incident, the structure’s fin wall, along with the lighting arrester, crashed to the ground during a freak storm, killing lorry co-driver Jahir Hussain Sulaiman and burying economy rice seller Lim Chin Aik deep beneath the road.
In their recommendations, the commission proposed that BEM take disciplinary action against the design and submitting engineers, and called for the the district officer be removed from office.
“Local planning authorities should in future require engineers to check and certify in writing the expected natural frequency of a tall building or structure that is to be built,” the commission said in the report.
It also said that the local council, the Penang Island City Council, should seriously enforce section 85A of the Street, Drainage & Building Act 1974 and ensure its compliance by building owners.
The commission’s report, which includes testimonies from 58 witnesses during hearings that stretched over 47 days, is currently on sale to the public for RM200 each.
