Shaky hold on site safety in construction of large structures in Thailand
Nov 29 tragedy on Rama II Road spurs call for contractor curbs on advanced work
Traffic on Rama II Road fully resumed on Saturday after a two-week disruption due following the mishap in which a crane carrying a concrete beam collapsed onto the road in Samut Sakhon on Nov 29, killing six workers and injured nine others.
The incident took place on the outbound traffic lanes of the elevated Ekkachai-Ban Phaeo Intercity Motorway 82 (M82) site in Khok Krabue sub-district of Muang district at 4.13am.
Apirat Chaiwongnoi, director-general of the Department of Highways (DoH) said on Sunday that both inbound and outbound traffic have returned to normal.
Officials from various agencies have worked together to urgently clear the area, dismantle the fallen structure and improve the road surface in the timeframe of 14 days, he said.
Regarding compensation for the families of the deceased and injured, he said the payments have been completed, totalling more than 5.4 million baht.
“The Department of Highways would like to thank all commuters for their cooperation in avoiding the route and apologises for the inconvenience caused,” he said.
Five decades of work
The Rama II Road, or Highway No 35 (Thon Buri-Pak Tho Road) is 84 km long. It starts from the T-junction of Suk Sawat Road and Rama II Road in the southern part of Bangkok.
The road passes through Samut Sakhon and Samut Songkhram before connecting to Highway No 4 or Phetkasem Road at KM 84+041 in Ban Wang Manao, Pak Tho district in Ratchaburi.
Work has been under way on this road since 1973, or more than 50 years, said a source. It has expanded from six to 10 lanes and now 14 lanes.
At present, expressways are being built above the road to provide an alternative route for drivers who want to go to the South.
Three projects are under construction today. One is the expressway from Rama III Road to Rama II Road costing 30 billion baht.
The second is the elevated road on Rama II Road linking Bang Khun Thian in Bangkok to Ekachai in Samut Sakhon, costing 10.5 billion baht.
The third is elevated Highway No 82 connecting the Ekachai area to Ban Phaeo district in Samut Sakhon. The cost is 18.7 billion baht.
In recent years, several accidents have occurred while the projects were under way on Rama II Road, causing injuries or deaths to motorists or workers. For example, one Italian-Thai company worker fell from an expressway beam during its installation and died in 2021.
In July 2022, a 5-tonne concrete slab from a U-turn bridge fell on several passing cars, resulting in two deaths and two injuries. In August 2022, a large mass of water trapped on a tarpaulin on the expressway fell and damaged a car.
Three more accidents occurred in 2023 including in December when steel from the expressway fell on a worker and killed him. In January this year, a crane’s sling broke from a height of 15 meters, killing one worker, and injuring another.
Safety measures needed
Prof Amorn Pimanmas, president of the Thailand Structural Engineers Association (TSEA), told the Bangkok Post those accidents including the latest one on Nov 29 shows that construction of large structures in Thailand is full of safety risks for workers and the public alike.
In the short term, the standards of all projects that use sliding steel trusses must be reviewed, including operating procedures, connection patterns, and the strength of the steel frame.
“The root problem is work involving the ‘steel launching truss’, which is lifts the concrete parts or segments to be aligned, is complicated and requires a high-level engineer to supervise the work. That engineer must have deep knowledge and not leave it to workers to do,” he said. Workers must also undergo training in both safety and engineering practices, he said.
For medium and long-term measures, the government should enact laws to control construction using the sliding steel truss system. Engineers, foremen, steel truss operators, and workers must pass training and a test to obtain a licence.
“In developed countries like Japan, they have laws to register contractors who know about sliding steel truss systems to prevent those who do not have knowledge from accepting the job, but this has yet to happen in Thailand,” he said.
The government wants to punish the contractors who caused the accident, which he agreed with, but said the government should also punish subcontractors.
For positive reinforcement, the government should have a list of subcontractors who have been trained and meet safety standards so contractors can choose from the list, not just choose any companies, some of which may not have the knowledge, he said.
Meanwhile, the Transport Ministry has yet to release its investigation result of the Nov 29 accident.
Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit said he ordered the Department of Highways, the Department of Rural Roads, the Expressway Authority of Thailand and the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand to work with the Comptroller General’s Department of the Finance Ministry to evaluate the contractors’ performance and record it in a “Contractor’s Notebook”.
He said the notebook will record scores of each company that has contracts with state agencies. If a contractor fails to meet safety requirements, the ministry will deduct its scores and finally delete its name from the registry, barring them from state contracts.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2920315/shaky-hold-on-site-safety
