KOCHI: The incident at the construction site in Panampilly Nagar would have been more disastrous if the concrete beam had collapsed to the ground from the 14th floor. The Fire and Rescue Services Department will be preparing a detailed report on the incident that claimed the life of a worker and the circumstances that led to it.
The construction site engineer of Galaxy Homes said it was not a concrete beam but a slab for installing the name plaque of the project that collapsed. “It is really an unfortunate incident for us. It is not a beam but a concrete slab on which our project name was to be displayed. We are also conducting a probe to find the exact reasons for the accident. It has to be confirmed whether the rain or a mistake from workers led to it. Now, we are trying to move the slab which is currently stuck on the scaffolding. We are cutting the slab and moving it to a safe place,” he said.
A Fire and Rescue Services official said that luckily, the beam weighing over 1.5 tonnes got stuck on the scaffolding made of iron pipes installed for plastering work. “Had the heavy beam fallen to the ground from such a height, the impact would have been severe. There were workers moving frequently at the basement level,” the official said.
Gandhi Nagar fire station officer T B Ramakrishnan said the beam was concreted recently and it should have been given more time to become set before the wood support was removed.
“Similarly, the length and weight of the beam were more than what the pillars on which it was supported could bear. There was an imbalance in the weight and length of the beam. This will be included in our report. We will be preparing a detailed report. The police will be carrying out a further probe,” he said.