Comparative study between dutch and spanish structural safety performances
Tutor / Supervisor
Vambersky, J.N.J.A
Student
Méndez Safont, Marta
Document type
Master thesis (pre-Bologna period)
Date
2009
rights
Restricted access - author's decision
Publisher
Technische Universiteit Delft
UPCommons
Abstract
Dutch building industry has faced several major structural incidents for the past years. Some of
them not only involved material damage and remarkable economical losses but also human
casualties. Therefore a great concern has grown among the parties belonging to the Dutch
building industry and the assumption is that a piece of the construction mechanism is inherently
working in a defective way.
Initiatives for locating the source of the mentioned problem and then trying to fix it have been
launched in great numbers. Some examples are the regular – anonymous and voluntary – online
registration of construction incidents, their later analysis and the publication of
recommendations in order to avoid repetition of mistakes and learn from them (this is an
initiative carried out by Platform Constructieve Veiligheid1 in combination with TNO2 and other
entities); or the compilations of guidelines specially addressed to clients and many articles
which discuss the situation from different perspectives. This proves that Dutch people are not
ones who sit and simply expect things to improve spontaneously or worsen. Yet the efforts
spent on the cause have not resulted in a concluding answer at this point. The boundaries of
the problem are still too broad and consequently, it is also handled with meandrous measures.
This investigation intends to make a contribution in this search from a different point of view.
The principle is simple: to know what is missing or working abnormally within Dutch building
industry by comparing it with an equivalent system. Hence a comparison with the Spanish
building industry is made in terms of structural safety and control procedures.
In first place, the functioning of both industries is described; that is, phases in the development
of a structural project and involved parties along with a brief mention on the most notable
structural incidents occurred in both countries during the same period of time, including an
approach to the their causes.
It is documented in many sources (e.g. [1], [2] ) that the design stage of a structural project is a
common origin for many of the mistakes which eventually turn into structural failures. For this
reason, secondly, it is performed and hereby presented a study in depth of engineering
companies which are entities mainly in charge of the project design. These companies are
sounded out by means of a digital survey.
The initial assumption is that indeed there is a leak in terms of structural safety within Dutch
building industry, somewhere in the development process of a structural project. Surprisingly,
results from the survey depict an industry – the Dutch one – which compared to the Spanish
industry, should be considered more reliable. In general, Dutch engineering companies posses
the resources of time and money to perform proper control tasks and ensure a high quality
product. Of course, shortages and improvable procedures have also been found, but they are
not significant enough to be pointed as the unequivocal cause of the problem.
Considering the results, it is finally recommended to keep the perspective described in this
report but to broaden it so that it includes the scrutiny of other parties, besides the thorough
reexamination of the engineering companies.
1 Platform Structural Safety
2 Independent research organization
Participating teacher
- Vambersky, J.N.J.A