After a string of deadly building failures in Ghana, including a collapse at Adenta last week that killed one person and a March disaster in Accra that killed three, a buildings and roads engineer says most structures give clear warnings before they fall, and that lives are lost mainly because those signs are missed or ignored.
Ing. Kwabena Bempong told The High Street Journal that buildings rarely collapse out of nowhere. They show distress first, he said, and the real danger is that owners either fail to notice the signals or do not act in time. He set out the red flags that should send any property owner looking for a professional assessment.
The pattern he describes fits the recent cases. The Accra New Town building that came down on March 29, during a church service, was an uncompleted, poorly maintained structure that gave way after heavy rain, killing three and sending about 20 people to hospital. Water, neglect and warning signs left unaddressed run through Bempong’s list.
Cracks in columns and beams. Not every crack is a crisis, Bempong said, but cracks in load-bearing members are different. They signal that part of the structure is carrying more stress than it was built for, and left alone they widen and weaken it. “Once the columns begin to crack, it can lead to catastrophic failure,” he said.
Visible sagging or bending. Floors, beams and roofs are meant to sit level. When they start to bow or curve enough to see with the naked eye, the structure is straining under its load. He likened it to a clothesline that hangs straight when empty and sags when overloaded. Once the bend is visible, he said, there is a problem.
Concrete breaking away. Chunks of concrete falling from columns, beams, balconies or walls point to spalling. It usually starts when the steel reinforcement inside rusts and swells, pushing against the concrete until it cracks and breaks off. As that happens the member loses strength.
Rusting steel inside the concrete. Corrosion of embedded reinforcement is among the most dangerous threats because it is hidden. Buildings near the coast are especially exposed, since salt air and moisture work into the concrete and attack the steel. The bars can waste away while the outside still looks sound. Bempong called rust the cancer of reinforced concrete, because once it starts it keeps eating at the structure.
Tilting or leaning. A building no longer standing upright is a serious alarm. Leaning or visible misalignment usually traces back to the foundation, he said, driven by weak soil, poor drainage, water getting in, or the foundation itself failing. Heavy rain and pooling water around a building gradually soften the soil beneath it, and when the ground gives unevenly parts of the structure begin to sink, loading stress through the whole building. “When you see that a building is tilted, something has happened,” he said.
Bempong’s wider point is that these failures are usually preventable. Cracks, sagging floors, spalling, rusting steel, tilting and foundation movement should not be brushed off as ordinary wear, he said, and any of them appearing should prompt an immediate structural check by a qualified professional.
