Modern Quarrying

October - November 2015

MODERN QUARRYING

AROUND THE

INDUSTRY

EDITOR’S

COMMENT

ast month was a devastating one for Murray

& Roberts, when a temporary structure in the

Grayston interchange collapsed, killing two

people and injuring several others.

Murray & Roberts is a reputable and well-

respected construction company employing liter-

ally hundreds of registered engineering and built

environment professionals, and credit has to be

given to the fact that the company has been open

in its dealings with the regulatory authorities and

the media within the parameters of an investiga-

tion that is far from being completed.

The company’s response to the disaster was

instant and it immediately established a crisis

management team consisting of key board mem-

bers. It also mobilised one of its service providers,

Independent Counselling & Advisory Services (ICAS)

to assist in the provision of behavioural risk man-

agement and employee wellbeing; and also tasked

ICAS with establishing accurate information on the

condition and medical treatment of the injured.

To this end, Murray & Roberts undertook, on a

non-liability basis, to cover the immediate medical

expenses of the injured and to contribute towards

the funeral expenses of the deceased.

Murray & Roberts has implemented infrastruc-

ture projects throughout southern Africa for more

than 110 years and is recognised as a leading inter-

national engineering and construction group. The

group is structured into four business platforms:

Oil & Gas, Underground Mining, Power & Water

and Infrastructure & Building. The collapse of the

pedestrian bridge construction support structure

occurred at a project which was being carried out

in the Infrastructure & Building platform.

Looking at the time frames for the various

investigations by the Department of Labour, var-

ious investigations by the Department of Labour,

the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and

Murray & Roberts itself, CE Henry Laas says it is diffi-

cult to commit to a timeframe on the investigation.

“If it is a Section 32 investigation, it will be a public

enquiry which will take a lot of time, and I believe

this will take a couple of months. On the ECSA side,

this is primarily focused at its members and par-

ticipation by its members in the incident. A lot of

reviews have been undertaken on the design of the

structure, and the engineers involved in the project

form part of the investigation process.

“As far as the investigation is concerned, as a

professional and ethical company we will be trans-

parent throughout this process. As soon as we are

in a position to announce the cause of the incident

we will certainly do so. In the meantime as far as

the rest of the group is concerned, we continue to

strive for engineered excellence in everything that

we do and our people are committed everywhere in

the world where they undertake work to a very high

standard,” he says.

Laas has been exemplary in his dealings with

the public and the media, many of whom are still

baying for blood at this stage.

It is rather ironic that the civil engineer-

ing industry provides infrastructure to enhance

socio-economic development, and this particular

temporary structure was installed in the process of

constructing a pedestrian and cycle bridge, con-

necting the residents in Alexandra to opportunities

in the economic hub of Sandton.

The fact is that these collapses are civil engi-

neering disasters and this was said by The South

African Institution of Civil Engineering’s Manglin

Pillay (SAICE). “South Africa is yearning for models of

ethical behaviour. In relation to accountability, this

dreadful incident is an opportunity for the civil engi-

neering and construction industry to showwhat true

accountability and transparency is all about. This is

also an opportunity for ECSA, SAICE and the various

engineering bodies to showmettle when it matters.

“We need to clearly communicate the stages

and processes of accountability to the nation, and

we have to take swift action after the investigations

are complete,” Pillay urges. “In so doing, we also

help to educate the millions of respectable South

Africans who want to do something about malad-

ministration and corruption.”

He asks what the engineering fraternity is

going to do to redeem itself. “What are we going

to do differently, in a revolutionary way, to redeem

our honourable profession? SAICE is the learned

society and technical leadership hub of the profes-

sion, involved in the knowledge base and network

of civil engineering. We will continue to be the

voice of the profession and to disassemble knowl-

edge and wisdom with a view that these types of

disasters never happen again.”

But frankly, is this enough? If a company like

Murray & Roberts can go through a tragic experi-

ence such as this; what about the public sector and

municipalities who very often have no engineering

practitioners? There is no doubt that they are in a

very vulnerable position for further construction

disasters.

Murray & Roberts

shows its mettle