Miraculous escape for two workers; cause of accident unknown
The shed of a petrol bunk adjacent to the LIC building on Anna Salai collapsed here on Friday while it was being dismantled to give way for the ongoing Metro Rail construction work. O. Rajendran and S. Balamurugan, migrant workers from Dharmapuri, engaged in the dismantling, had a miraculous escape. The accident occurred around 6 p.m. at the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) outlet.
“We began work this morning and were proceeding with [dismantling] the shed. Suddenly, in the evening, it collapsed. We quickly ran towards the road. We were lucky to escape unhurt,” said Balamurugan.
Metro Rail workers sporting safety gear soon gathered at the accident spot. An employee of Gammon [contractor for the LIC site] who was standing nearby intervened to say: “This accident has nothing to do with the Metro Rail work.”
The cause of the accident is yet to be established. According to a senior official of BPCL, the petrol station was closed a couple of months ago. “Metro Rail wanted that portion of land and the dealer had to clear the station,” he said. On Friday’s accident, he said: “It was an accident and we do not know what caused it.” Officials of the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) were not reachable for comment. All the same, if the two workers escaped unhurt on Friday, it was only because luck favoured them.
It was only a few weeks ago that the controversy over a crack observed on the 11 floor of the LIC building ended with structural engineering experts from IIT-Madras ruling out Metro Rail construction work as the cause. However, the professors who studied the cracks and submitted a report had also cautioned CMRL to take adequate safety precautions by carrying out certain tests.
At present, the diaphragm wall is being built at the site of the underground station near the LIC building.
By seeing the photo published in this article, it looks that the corner pillar of the roof has given way and caused the accident. This may be due to the vibrations caused by the works happening underground.
Since the vibration induced at the bottom part of the pillar, makes more (comparatively) oscillations at the upper end. And disturb the building segments tied at upper end of the pillar.
The top portion of this corner pillar should have arrested only in 2 directions hence it has given up. Whereas the LIC building pillars tied up in 4 directions (framed structure) resulted in minor vibrational cracks.
I request "The Hindu" to forward this comment to the technical team whoever is going to analyse this accident.
I guess this type of recent articles is trying sensationalise any accident nearer to Metro site and trying to relate it to Metro Construction. When they were dismatling the shed, if it was not done in proper sequence, then it is possible for it to collapse. Diaphragm wall construction cause very little impact to the adjacent works. The excavation for the underground station can cause significant impact to adjacent works, if they are not designed properly. As only the diaphragm wall works are ongoing currently, the collapse of the shed should not be linked to metro works. Please look at the metro works in major cities arround the world and learn from it.
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