Collapse of ramps at multi-storey car park in Nieuwegein

Safety of buildings should be a joint responsibility of all parties involved

All parties involved with the design, construction and use of buildings, should collectively take responsibility for the safety of the building. Clients, construction companies, building owners and their advisors should substantiate their trust in the safety of the building with verifiable checks of e.g. drawings and calculations, especially when the building is being modified.

This is stated by the Dutch Safety Board in its investigation report on the collapse of ramps at the multi-storey car park near the hospital in Nieuwegein.

Legal framework to enforce final responsibility

The Dutch Safety Board asks the Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning to come up with a legal framework that stipulates the responsibilities of construction parties and building owners. It should be absolutely clear who is responsible for the safety of the building in each life stage of the building. The Board advocates for maintaining current and complete records of the building. Building records are an essential means for oversight, maintenance, as well as during emergencies.

Common thread in investigations into building incidents: responsibilities not clearly assigned

Erica Bakkum, board member: ‘After our investigation into the collapsed ramps in Nieuwegein, we are surprised at the lack of direction and final responsibility for safety. Over the past years the Dutch Safety Board carried out many investigation into collapsed buildings.  As common thread we consistently see a lack of role purity and unambiguous assignment of responsibilities. This really needs to change.’

Recommendations

All the parties involved have a responsibility to improve and guarantee structural safety in the construction sector. That is a responsibility they must actually fulfil. In the light of its investigation into the collapse of the ramps at the multi-storey car park in Nieuwegein, the Dutch Safety Board therefore issues the following recommendations for those parties collectively.

To the Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning (VRO)

1. Ensure that preconditions are in place to guarantee more effectively the structural safety of buildings during the design, construction, and use phases:
a. Ensure that a statutory framework is in place that stipulates how clients, construction parties, and building owners must verifiably monitor structural safety during all these phases. This includes documents such as building plans and calculations. Make each party‘s responsibilities explicit.
b. Improve independent external monitoring and enforcement of the structural safety of buildings in all these phases. Give municipal Building and Housing Inspection Departments (BWTs) the authority and means for rejecting documents such as building plans and calculations that have not been verifiably checked.
c. Ensure that a single responsible structural engineer (chief and/or coordinating) is appointed for every construction project, and define how that individual should fulfil their role.
d. Improve compliance by construction parties and building owners with their obligation to report relevant structural alterations and problems to the supervisory authority (i.e. the competent authority).
e. Ensure that obligatory periodic inspections of structural safety take account not only of the consequences of structural failure but also of the likelihood of such failure when deciding which structures are subject to that obligation.

To Q-Park, Ballast Nedam, and Primevest

2. Define clear responsibilities for structural safety and put in place procedures for approval:
a. Ensure that there is a division of tasks between clients, architects, structural engineers, subcontractors and suppliers, and that this is laid down in writing.
b. Agree as to who the chief and/or coordinating structural engineer will be and ensure that that person can assume final responsibility for structural approval.
c. Share the experience and lessons learned from points 2a and 2b with other relevant parties and report publicly on this.

3. Ensure familiarity with the structural safety of buildings with which you are concerned during their construction, and use. That will include:
a. Proactive quality control: ensuring that alterations that affect structural safety are always investigated and calculated. Carrying out calculations and verifiable checks at all stages;
b. Ensuring that a complete building file is digitally accessible to all parties involved, both during the construction phase and, after completion, throughout the entire lifetime of the building;
c. Sharing the experience and lessons learned from points 3a and 3b with other parties and reporting publicly on this.

To Q-Park and Primevest

4. Share the experience and lessons learned from recommendations 4 and 5 with other relevant parties and report publicly on this.

5. Conduct regular building inspections so as to detect structural problems at an early stage. In doing so, monitor changes in loading and structural alterations and have these calculated in a verifiable manner.

6. Implement building maintenance and inspection plans that adopt a broader approach to risk, considering not only potential consequences but also the likelihood of structural failure.