Don't Live on the Construction Site

Many times I have seen evidence of construction workers living on the job site. You can see their washed clothes hanging on the fence to dry and their little shanties where their women cook food. Its absolutely unsafe. And now a bunkhouse where contraction workers stayed has collapsed and people are dead.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/973099/breaking-news-cebu-lahug-emergency-rescue-unit-foundation-bunkhouse-collapse-nagiel-banacia

Five construction workers were killed while four others were seriously wounded following the collapse. At least 154 others suffered minor injuries, reports said.

The construction firm J.E. Abraham C. Lee Construction and Development Inc. put up the bunkhouse in September last year so workers in its project sites will have a place to stay. 

Butch Abaya, the construction firm’s project engineer, said the structure’s foundations were not buried but were supported by metal braces and clamps. 

“That has been the standard practice for bunkhouses,” he said. 

Abaya said the bunkhouse was stable, noting the firm had yet to determine why it collapsed. “This has been here for some time now, and yet nothing happened until this incident,” he said.

Joseph Bernaldez, city legal officer, said they discovered that the contractor had no business permit since 2001, adding that it also failed to secure another permit to construct a bunkhouse. 

“Under the Building Code, contractors have to secure permits for its bunkhouses. The way you look at it, its bunkhouse is not really for workers, but a storage room for construction materials,” he said.

This bunkhouse seems to have been offsite but what does that matter? This illegally operating contractor constructed a shoddy building to house its employees and now five of them are dead. The building wasn't even properly grounded but according to the firm's project engineer it's not standard practice to do so! But I wonder what does the Building Code say about the construction of bunkhouses? Especially one that is four stories! Don't you think a four-story building ought to have it's foundation buried in the ground!?

Abaya, the firm's engineer, says the bunkhouse was stable and had been up for some time until this incident. Why does he sound surprised? Typical short-term thinking. Not realising that just because the building didn't fall until now does not mean that it was ever safe. How many shortcuts has this guy made when constructing buildings? I bet none of the buildings he has made are safe.

People should not have been housed there. As Bernaldez says, a bunkhouse is a storage room for construction materials. That's how low this contractor thinks of its employees. They are just materials and not human beings. Look around at any construction site and witness the unsafe practices. No helmets, wearing sandals, no safety harness, sometime shirtless.

And to top it all off this contractor has had no business permit for 17 years now! Have they also shirked on paying their taxes? How many officials have they bribed? How were they able to operate for so long? Somebody knew for sure. How many other contractors are operating illegally in this country? Don't count on the Duterte administration to find out. They are too busy giving away the country to China to truly and honestly confront and root out the corruption that infects the Philippines at every conceivable (and inconceivable) level.

What is to be done to accommodate all these construction workers? It's probably not practical to put them up long term in a hotel. Though that would be safest. Why not house them in a large tent?

Life's a circus in the Philippines!