Chennai Silks demolition hit by ‘substandard’ operating procedures

On Monday, the demolition of the building had still not resumed, after one of the workers was killed as the jaw cutter toppled over two-days ago. “We are re-doing the ramp, which is needed to give the elevation for the jaw cutter to reach the top of the building. We wanted to ensure safety of the persons, who will be operating the machine,” said Peer Mohammed, proprietor of Parveen Traders, which is conducting the demolition. 

Speaking on the death of the worker, he said, “A part of the basement, which was affected by the fire, had given away, which disturbed the ramp and toppled the jaw cutter. That is why we are creating a more stable structure, before resuming the demolition.” 

Before the demolition, an assessment was carried out by a team of engineers and academic experts. However, this doesn’t seem to have been communicated to the team conducting the demolition, who also added that a building plan too was not been provided. 

Dr Sekar M, Former Dean and Chairman (Civil Engineering), Anna University, pointed out that the hurry to demolish the building would have resulted in lapses in safety procedures. 

“If there is a knowledge of the building structure, it is easier to demolish rather than blindly trying to bring it down. There should be a standard operating procedure. The demolition process cannot be hurried up,” said the expert. Dr GP Ganapathy, Director, Centre for Disaster Mitigation and Management, VIT University, said that for fire damaged buildings, a non-destruction testing should be carried out. 

“This will give an idea of the stability of the structure, based on which the decision for demolition can be taken. The problem in demolition process is that the equipment, which is usually hired, is not safety tested. Or, there may not be experts handling these jaw cutters. Machine and personnel safety should be top priority in demolition process,” he concluded.