Shanghai's new building codes put safety first
The new 22-page construction regulations will try to prevent something like this from happening again.Two months after a residential building fire in Jing’an District claimed almost 60 lives, the Shanghai Municipal Government has released a new batch of regulations to tighten supervision of construction sites.
"A lack of supervision of renovation projects, insufficient budgets for construction safety management, ineffective site supervision, illegal subcontracting and a lack of training of construction workers have been major causes of construction safety accidents in Shanghai,” said Huang Rong, director of Shanghai’s urban construction and communications commission to China Daily.
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That’s a lot for one new policy change to tackle, but they’re trying.
The new 22-page policy covers eight main areas, according to the report released to state media, including “construction processes, risk control, contractor market management and government supervision.”
It also outlines the management and training of those hired for a project.
Probably the most important section of the new regulations is the one-year deadline given to Shanghai government departments to sever financial ties with construction companies. Some parties have alleged that connections like these may have played a role in the Jiazhou Lu fire.
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The final section of the reports allows for the city government to begin a database with information on local construction workers, with the goal of limiting the use of unlicensed welders, who have been blamed for the initial sparks of the November 15 fire.
However, there are no reports of the city requiring sprinklers for residential buildings any time soon.
