Construction van falls into 'Gautrain hole'

[semiautomatix]

Well thank goodness no one was hurt, and this is bound to happen when people are digging under ground.

No, no and no! You can't have that attitude when you are digging underneath one of Gauteng's busiest roads!

Could you imagine what would have happened had there been a whole bunch of vehicles swallowed by that hole. It is unacceptable. The company responsible for the Heathrow tunnel were fired and then fined R9mil - that's how you handle something like this in a 1st world country. If you shrug it off like that then no one is held accountable and this whole mess will occur, yet again.

Do you think the guys digging the Chunnel thought: "This is bound to happen when people are digging under ground. Oh look at that, its the entire English Channel!"?

 

[Deenem]

BEE contractor digs the hole for the Gautrain. They create a hole big enough to swallow a truck. Then they get a BEE contractor to fix the hole. And another hole appears...

Viva Africa Viva

Murray & Roberts Limited - Murray & Roberts is South Africa’s leading engineering, contracting and construction services company. It has created employment, developed skills, installed infrastructure, delivered services, applied technology and built capacity throughout South and Southern Africa for 105 years, making a significant contribution to socio-economic development in the region. Murray & Roberts operates in Southern Africa, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australasia and North America. Murray & Roberts is based in Johannesburg, South Africa with a public listing on the JSE Limited.

Bombardier UK - Canadian company Bombardier is a world leader in the aerospace and rail transportation sectors. Its proud record consists of eight 'Private Rail' projects, two of which are for the London Underground. Subsidiary Bombardier Transportation is the global leader in the field of rail equipment manufacturing and servicing. It has a construction presence in 21 countries and is involved in 46 production sites.

Bouygues Travaux Publics - Bouygues Travaux Publics is one of the world’s top global ‘design and build’ civil engineering and building contractors with extensive experience in concession projects. The company is ranked 2nd in Engineering News Record’s Top Global Contractors list with construction revenues of 6 billion Euros, 42% of which are earned outside of France. Bouygues Construction has successfully carried out over 200km of tunnel projects and recently completed the world’s largest tunnel, excavated with a tunnel boring machine under a ‘design and build’ contract for the high-speed train in the Netherlands.

http://www.gautrain.co.za/index.php?pid=1249&sterm=bombela&ct=1

 

[semiautomatix]

http://www.gautrain.co.za/index.php?pid=1249&sterm=bombela&ct=1

Hmmm... Weird how most of the workers in the tunnels don't speak French, though.

 

[Deenem]

Hmmm... Weird how most of the workers in the tunnels don't speak French, though.

Ummm, actually they do. I live near Rosebank and most of the guys walking around in the muddy orange overalls are foreigners.

You do understand that they're not down there digging with buckets and spades, right? They've got big machines being operated by highly qualified engineers.

 

[icyrus]

Does anyone know what the consequences for the company responsible were the last time this happened?

 

[Deenem]

Does anyone know what the consequences for the company responsible were the last time this happened?

I think the best that we can expect is from them to keep their workers safe in the event of something like this happening.

Engineering is not an exact science, accidents like this happen and as long as they are maintaining a good safety record then I see no reason to start jumping up and down.

 

[icyrus]

I think the best that we can expect is from them to keep their workers safe in the event of something like this happening.

Engineering is not an exact science, accidents like this happen and as long as they are maintaining a good safety record then I see no reason to start jumping up and down.

So in other words no consequences at all and by extension there will be no consequences this time around either.

 

[Deenem]

So in other words no consequences at all and by extension there will be no consequences this time around either.

What do you want to do? Should we sue God for putting the wrong type of sand in the way of the tunnel boring machine?

We can hold the construction company responsible for the safety of their workers and residents.

No-one has died, no-one been seriously injured. I don't see that there should be any consequences.

Digging big holes in the ground comes with expected risks, they seem to managing these risks rather well.

 

[dlk001]

Hmmm... Weird how most of the workers in the tunnels don't speak French, though.

Weird how most of the workers who don't speak French were not the Geotechnical Engineers mapping the Gautrain route to develop a design and risk management plan for the tunneling work.

 

[icyrus]

What do want to do? Should we sue God for putting the wrong type of sand in the way of the tunnel boring machine?

We can hold the construction company responsible for the safety of their workers and residents.

No-one has died, no-one been seriously injured. I don't see that there should be any consequences.

Digging big holes in the ground comes with expected risks, they seem to managing these risks rather well.

What have they done to manage the risk? No-one has died, but why? What safety precaution that they took have prevented it?

I have no idea about these incidents so that is an honest question.

 

[Deenem]

What have they done to manage the risk? No-one has died, but why? What safety precaution that they took have prevented it?

I have no idea about these incidents so that is an honest question.

I have no idea either, but whatever they're doing seems to be working.

It's guaranteed that people would have been killed or injured if they haven't been taking pro-active steps to keep their workers safe.

It just seems counterproductive to punish them for maintaining a good safety record during two serious accidents.

 

[semiautomatix]

What do you want to do? Should we sue God for putting the wrong type of sand in the way of the tunnel boring machine?

We can hold the construction company responsible for the safety of their workers and residents.

No-one has died, no-one been seriously injured. I don't see that there should be any consequences.

Digging big holes in the ground comes with expected risks, they seem to managing these risks rather well.

R9mil for in fines for the Heathrow tunnel accident and this country does what? Gives them a pat on the back?

 

[semiautomatix]

What have they done to manage the risk? No-one has died, but why? What safety precaution that they took have prevented it?

I have no idea about these incidents so that is an honest question.

And if such measures and repercussions are not put in place then these companies will feel they are justified in allowing this to happen again and again. And next time it might be a sinkhole under a nursery school, or maybe some workers will be killed.

 

[semiautomatix]

I have no idea either, but whatever they're doing seems to be working.

It's guaranteed that people would have been killed or injured if they haven't been taking pro-active steps to keep their workers safe.

It just seems counterproductive to punish them for maintaining a good safety record during two serious accidents.

A vehicle fell into the hole! It could have been a lot worse and no thanks to any safety precautions. By ignoring the fact you're encouraging a worse situation further along the line.

 

[dlk001]

What have they done to manage the risk? No-one has died, but why? What safety precaution that they took have prevented it?

I have no idea about these incidents so that is an honest question.

A sinkhole is not avoidable by all means but the risk management plan would ensure that a fatality is avoidable by all means by limit exposure to areas that are demarcated as problem soil/rock.

Unfortunately, soil/rockmass, unlike most material is not homogeneous. The profile is also not continuous. Even though a lot of geotechnical investigations were conducted in these areas there will always be a risk of localised hotspots containing problem soil/rockmass e.g. Weathered Soil/Rock, Soil/Rock containing Clay material and Water.

 

[icyrus]

A sinkhole is not avoidable by all means but the risk management plan would ensure that a fatality is avoidable by all means by limit exposure to areas that are demarcated as problem soil/rock.

Unfortunately, soil/rockmass, unlike most material is not homogeneous. The profile is also not continuous. Even though a lot of geotechnical investigations were conducted in these areas there will always be a risk of localised hotspots containing problem soil/rockmass e.g. Weathered Soil/Rock, Soil/Rock containing Clay material and Water.

Understandable but does this tend to happen above areas were activity is currently taking place or could it happen at anytime after?

 

[dlk001]

Understandable but does this tend to happen above areas were activity is currently taking place or could it happen at anytime after?

Yeah, it tends to be mobilized in areas where there is some activity. Drilling underground removes some of the confining pressures that were holding “virgin” ground at equilibrium. In most cases, the ground will respond by resettling and redistributing itself anytime after to achieve another equilibrium state.

 

[Deenem]

R9mil for in fines for the Heathrow tunnel accident and this country does what? Gives them a pat on the back?

Read the article. The fine was for ..... "failing to ensure the safety of both its employees and members of the public."

"Both firms were found guilty of falling "seriously short" of the appropriate standards and reasonable steps, resulting in serious breaches of the Health and Safety Regulations. "

Like I said, there is no evidence they are ignoring any safety regulations. If there was then go ahead and fine them

 

[dlk001]

Like I said, there is no evidence they are ignoring any safety regulations. If there was then go ahead and fine them

True. Its all about proving professional negligence!

 

[semiautomatix]

Read the article. The fine was for ..... "failing to ensure the safety of both its employees and members of the public."

"Both firms were found guilty of falling "seriously short" of the appropriate standards and reasonable steps, resulting in serious breaches of the Health and Safety Regulations. "

Like I said, there is no evidence they are ignoring any safety regulations. If there was then go ahead and fine them

If this were the case how did a bakkie above the tunnel fall down into the hole? Where were the safety regulations there, why was the area above the tunnel not cleared? Sounds very suspicious to me.