Dangerous Building Practices in Thailand

[dirtydog]

Heres my favourite, Thai scaffolding, little pieces of wood tied up with bits of old string

now dont that just make you cringe

[in4zip]

yep dawg, your pics bring back memories of when I first go to Los and built meself my own two story gaff near the beach.. being fresh in from civilization and a builder by profession.. once my workers started on the elevated formwork .. I started getting a bit frantic (and terrified by an eventual lawsuit) imagining one of the poor blokes falling off the scaffolding (if we are allowed to call -scaffolding- a few bamboo poles tied together by plastic string) .. so I approached my foreman and asked what would happen if one of the workers came tumbling down. The good fellow, without skipping a beat, said: " we'll just replace him with somebody else " WTF

[dirtydog]

heres another favourite,the vicious nasty bstard angle grinder, I really have know idea how many workers i have taken to hospital for injuries from one of these beasties, now the first thing thais are taught about these is to take the safety guard off, now obviously the company who built this spent thousands upon thousands developing this safety guard, i have quite a collection of them, everytime i buy a new grinder i get a free safety guard to keep in the tool cabinet, these are all in brand new condition if anybody is interested

[dirtydog]

Now here is a nice picture, this chap has his ladder, which he obviously built himself out of some old scraps of wood resting on sukimvit road, but do note that he is wearing a safety helmet and safety flip flops

[Fabian]

I especially like the safety flip flops.

[dirtydog]

This is on my land and as you can see I follow the thai safety code quite stringently.

[Fabian]

Nice pond.

[IsaanAlex]

Hey dd,

I see some potential for that wall to come down on your worker (like we talked about). Mind going over to the other side and giving it a push for us?

IA
PS. Don't forget the pics.

[dirtydog]

Ahhh, that's my wall IA, cost me a lot of money did that, anyway here's some nice pictures of guys relying on rope, this first picture doesn't look too dangerous does it.

[dirtydog]

Oh Dear, It's seven or eight storeys high, thank god for that thick bit of string

[dirtydog]

What are these crazy foks doing we ask ourselves, all will be revealed

[dirtydog]

Well it just so happens that they are window cleaners in Bangkok, lovely job for a couple of hundred baht per day

[smullenpe]

Originally Posted by dirtydog

heres another favourite,the vicious nasty bstard angle grinder, I really have know idea how many workers i have taken to hospital for injuries from one of these beasties, now the first thing thais are taught about these is to take the safety guard off, now obviously the company who built this spent thousands upon thousands developing this safety guard, i have quite a collection of them, everytime i buy a new grinder i get a free safety guard to keep in the tool cabinet, these are all in brand new condition if anybody is interested

Worker seemed to take off the guard even in the states since it's easier for them to cut a notch in a tile or marble saddle. However, I would want to be that worker if on false move was made.

[smullenpe]

I gather there are no Union Labors in Thailand.

[Marmite the Dog]

There's no labour unions either....(well, if there is, they don't do a fat lot).

[Dougal]

Yep, those safety pins ARE the connectors

[smullenpe]

Do they have a building code or safety code in Thailand? I don't think so but decided to ask.

[Dougal]

Building Regs? If you mean do you have to submit plans, I think it depends where you live. You seem to be able to get away with a lot more upcountry compared to 'organised' cities like Bangkok and Pattaya. Perhaps DD can comment on whether a building inspector actaully comes round to sign off those pier column footings that are supposed to be a meter deep.

In Jan 2005 a seven story building collapsed in Bangkok when a fire broke out - the top three stories had been added illegally. A subsequent government inspection of other building revealed that 3000 were in grave danger of collapse.

I saw one such five story building in Asoke earlier this year where the ground had sunk to such an extent that in several cases the ground floor support columns had torn away from the beams they were supposed to be holding up.

Safety regs? ROFL

[dirtydog]

58.147.98.35

Building inspectors rarely visit a site, the main reason they will visit is if you try to use smaller rebar and stuff like that and they know they can get a backhander out of you

[smullenpe]

Originally Posted by dirtydog

58.147.98.35

Building inspectors rarely visit a site, the main reason they will visit is if you try to use smaller rebar and stuff like that and they know they can get a backhander out of you

Without a standard building code, how do they determine the size of rebars? Besides, you can use smaller rebars in lieu of larger ones if it's configure properly with addition rebars within reinforce concrete to same required strength.