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Dear A.S.S. Editor
The news of the collapsed structure and that it took one unfortunate life is still starting to sink in. Now, experts are already being quoted in the press about their theories on how it happened. And almost all of the theories put forward was that it came down to human error.
A veteran civil engineer said corbels are “extremely strong structures” which do not give way “just like that”, referring to the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) preliminary findings that “corbels supporting the pre-cast beams had given way”. The engineer continued that corbels are designed to support a lot of stress, and that someone will need to drop a number of cranes from a height of 100 ft to make one of them give way.
It was suggested that the collapse happened because there could have been an error in the design, or the structures were not constructed to design specifications. If despite stringent checks and counter checks done to ensure this does not occur, but yet it still did, then questions would have to be asked of the structural engineers who did the checks. Another reason could have been ground movement, but again, this would have been checked before works are carried out.
While the actul reason is still unknown, as investigations are still underway, this represent a major human error. LTA and the construction company tasked to build the new highway have to take the blame. A life lost was unnecessary, and one too many.
Lam CK
A.S.S. Contributor
