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Two killed by falling concrete slab in Abu Dhabi

by CW Staff on Jul 7, 2010

14 Comments

Two Bangladeshi workers were killed when a slab of concrete fell on them at a construction site in Abu Dhabi on Monday afternoon.

The men were working on the Yas Mall project for contractors Al Futtaim Carillion when the pre-cast floor slab fell and crushed them.

A spokesman for Aldar, master developers of the Yas Island project, said the company had contacted the victims’ families, and was working closely with police and officials to determine the cause of the accident.

“It is a very sad thing that has happened, for the men and their families,” said the spokesman, who preferred not to be named.

The spokesman said the men were working on the mall project when the slab, which had been in position for a few days, fell from the floor above and crushed them. The spokesman said there was no-one walking on the pre-cast at the time, and no-one was working on it at the time of the accident either. The exact cause is, as yet, unknown.

“There is a whole team of people looking in to what went wrong, and of course, we are co-operating fully with the police and everyone.”

“Aldar is very strict on its safety policies from management, right down to the workers, and our record is excellent in this area. We have had over 100 million man hours without anything like this, and we are very proud of our safety record,” he said.

“We are very rigid with our safety procedures, and there are no exceptions, so we are very keen to know what happened and what we can do to avoid this ever happening again,” he said.

FEATURED COMMENT

I have worked with projects worth billions without any fatal accidents, even though we used to have day and nights shift

14 Comments

Readers' Comments

athar (Jul 10, 2010)
abudhabi
United Arab Emirates

its the failure of the system and engineers
I have worked with projects worth billions without any fatal accidents, even though we used to have day and nights shifts. The reason is because those projects had very good and rigorous safety and quality procedures. Safety and quality standards are the areas where UAE needs to put a lot of improvements and have some concrete policies.

Sachin Rikame (Jul 10, 2010)
pune
India

ACCIDENT
An accident is and unexpected event which can happen at any time, so please follow safety rules and regulations while on the construction site.

Thomas (Jul 9, 2010)
Dubai
United Arab Emirates

Precast Floor slab failure
It is obvious that floor slab was not positioned in accordance with any know standard as bearing of the support requires minimum of 45mm, and if that was adhered to than only thing which could have caused failure (collapse) would have to be either seismic activity, grade of concrete at support or simply lack of care during the positioning of the slab. Pre-Cast concrete has one of the most stringent manufacturing standards for quality and safety, it is sad that two human beings have had their lives extinguished in such manor. We in industry must give our condolences to the families and friends of the two men and make certain that never happens again.

safng (Jul 8, 2010)
doha
Qatar

How thorough is the method statement and risk assessment reviewed?
This seems to be a case of inadequate review of the method statement, or lack of compliance to the agreed method statement. The competency of the team that reviewed the method statement needs to be looked into.

R.I.P. (Jul 8, 2010)
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates

Two killed by falling concrete slab in Abu Dhabi
Pressures from clients to complete projects cheaper and faster + pressures by construction companies to provide their shareholders with increased annual profit margins = overlooking critical safety items on site, and putting workmen at increased risk / killing them! Why don't these clients and companies just stop to think what they are really doing rather than just "talking the talk"??

Lee (Jul 8, 2010)
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates

Precast Slab Failure
This is a dreadful loss of life, which should never take place. Safety in the construction industry must be a priority.

Bones (Jul 8, 2010)
Dubai
United Arab Emirates

Jayakuma's comment
"When will it end"? I can give the short answer to that: never. Accidents will always happen. We can reduce the chance of them but you speak like this is the only place in the world with accidents. Look at the big picture! So much construction, so many unskilled labour and tight money constraints - plus the added pressure for property owners to take up residency. It?s common globally! And yes, I sympathise with the families involved, but the Middle East has a good Safety Record and cases like this should not be blown up to appear like they happen on every street corner.

M Iqbal (Jul 8, 2010)
Riyad
Saudi Arabia

Pre-cast Slab Falling
In pre-cast industries care must be taken during and after the installation of pre-cast elements. An inspection should determine the proper bearing for pre-cast members or possible design failure.

Amit Kumar (Jul 8, 2010)
Dubai
United Arab Emirates

Precast slab failure
It's very sad news for all of us and we should learn that accidents can happen anytime and anywhere, so we should always use safety precautions. Everybody should understand the importance of himself in his family and relatives. I want to state to the company management that if we were not in hurry to complete the project then conduct a meeting for the workers every week and solve their problems. Accidents happen when a person is not concentrating on his work. If workers are happy and company management helps them to solve their problems, I think there will be fewer accidents.

Murtaza Sakarwala (Jul 8, 2010)
Muscat
Oman

Precast Failure.
There is an old saying: "Where there is a smoke, there is fire". The same goes for the construction industry, there will always be instance of accidents. Investigate this accident and, if it's due to somebody's negligence, they should be heavily penalised. If it's a freak accident, share the findings with the world for others to learn and avoid it.

Jitendra (Jul 8, 2010)
Abu Dubai
United Arab Emirates

Pre-cast Slab Fall
There are many projects done in the world without an accident. A few of them I was part of it. Even at Yas Island we have done projects without an accident. It is the precautions we take, people who follow the instruction and rules at the site. There is team behind for all these success. Learn from the companies like BK Gulf, who follow a Zero Harm Policy and implement it successfully. Be safe and make others safe.

Krishna AV (Jul 8, 2010)
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates

Precast slab failure
Any precast operation should be managed before and during the construction stage without short cut methods to achieve targets.

philip (Jul 7, 2010)
dubai
United Arab Emirates

Pre-cast slab
Accidents happen all over the world. If there was no projects, there would be no work for people and no money to send back home for families in other countries. Play it smart and be safe.

Jayakumar (Jul 7, 2010)
Dubai
United Arab Emirates

precast Slab failure?
Another project. Another accident. Another fatality. When will this come to an end?

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