Government and Policy

Building supervision gets makeover

By Wu Yiyao (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-12 08:28

SHANGHAI - The municipal government released 22 circulars on Tuesday to strengthen safety management of construction in Shanghai, urging builders to learn a painful lesson from the deadly blaze on Nov 15.

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The fire, which claimed 58 lives, started with nylon netting on scaffolding surrounding a high rise ignited by unlicensed welders during renovations.

The renovation project had been illegally subcontracted, according to a preliminary investigation report.

Lack of supervision on renovation projects, an insufficient budget for construction safety management, ineffective site supervision, illegal subcontracting and lack of training for construction workers are the major causes of construction safety accidents, a recent safety campaign in Shanghai found, Huang Rong, director of the Shanghai municipal urban construction and communications commission, said on Tuesday.

Similar problems were found in some sites in Shanghai last year as the city had a larger than usual number of projects going on that had to be completed for the Expo, said Huang.

The circulars proposed a registration system for subcontracting construction projects and requested the establishment of a platform to publicize detailed information on projects.

The circulars specify responsibility of site supervisors to detect and prevent safety risks as soon as possible and report on safety risks to construction authorities.

On June 27, 2009, a fatal collapse of a 13-story residential building in Shanghai was caused by foundations being undermined when soil was piled 10 meters high against one side while a 4.6-m-deep underground car park was dug on the other. Site supervisors reported the risks to developers but their warnings were ignored.

In the past, site supervisors, who are usually hired and paid by developers, have lacked incentives to stop construction safety risks. Now site supervisors can report directly to construction authorities, who can look into the cases, Huang said.

The circulars also specified measures to strengthen management of the industry including publicizing information of qualifications and increasing professional training.

Construction enterprises and construction sites in Shanghai will have to perform safety checks in the first half of 2011, and construction authorities will carry out random checks and supervisions in the second half of the year.