Chapter 2ENGINEERING AND INFRASTRUCTURE BUSINESS
“This commitment to engineering has been the most satisfying and rewarding experience in my life. We will never be able to do something great if we don't have the commitment to do it.”
Conscience of Safety
Dear Colleagues,
I was shocked and anguished when I read the tragic news of the collapse of Rana Plaza, an infamous garment factory building in Bangladesh. The collapse, on 24th April, killed 1,129 workers, with 2,438 rescued and 98 still missing. I was particularly disturbed by this massive disaster because it was caused by failure in the building's structure. I was trained as a civil engineer, practiced the profession for some 18 years and was once licensing and regulating the engineering professions in Singapore. I feel strongly against those cruelly responsible for the collapse. It is most unforgiving for lives to be taken away so suddenly and mindlessly this way.
According to the design architect, that building was designed for shops and offices, not for factory operation. But before the collapse it housed five factories with more than 3,500 workers. How did the authorities allow that to happen? I was also alarmed that the authorities could blatantly announce that more than 80% of these buildings were not properly ...
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