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Xinlu Liang

Six people have been detained over the collapse of a roof on an ice rink building in northeastern China last month, with investigators blaming the failure on poor engineering.
Jilin provincial authorities said on Friday that the preliminary investigation indicated the collapse in the city of Baicheng was “a production safety accident caused by substandard quality in construction engineering”.
Police were continuing to investigate the incident, which resulted in no casualties, the authorities said, without saying who was in custody.

The roof collapsed on the five-year-old building in the morning before the rink was due to open on November 18.
Eyewitness accounts and surveillance footage indicated that the roof collapsed suddenly, sending up clouds of dust and debris.
A staff member from the Baicheng Sports Team told various media outlets that the collapse occurred between 7.30am and 7.40am.
Employees at the rink generally started work at 8.30am so none were in the building at the time. But two cleaners outside were pushed back by the force of the collapse and suffered minor injuries.
“The entire roof came down, but the walls remained intact, and thankfully, there were no casualties,” the staff member was quoted as saying.
Local officials established an investigation team, and initial assessments suggested that construction deficiencies might have been big factors.
Earlier last month, officials told state broadcaster CCTV that the main cause of the failure appeared to be deformation of the roof’s steel structure.
Public records indicate that the ice rink was granted a construction permit in 2017 and was up and running by the end of 2019. It passed its final inspection and fire safety registration in February 2021.
It cost more than 50 million yuan (US$6.88 million) to build and covers more than 7,000 square metres (75,350 square feet). It was designed to host indoor competitions for sports such as short-track speedskating and figure skating.
Meanwhile on Saturday, nine people were missing in a blaze in a warehouse in Rongcheng in the eastern province of Shandong, the Beijing News reported.
The fire broke out in a cold chain warehouse under construction for a food processing company, the report said, adding that rescue efforts were under way.


The announcement of the detentions came two days after a collapse in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen, where 13 workers remain missing after ground gave way at a construction site near a high-speed railway line.
Guangdong’s emergency management department said on Thursday night that a special investigative task force had been set up to look into the case.
It has offered no update since then but the name of the task force, “Shenzhen Shenjiang Railway Major Collapse Incident Provincial Government Investigation Team”, indicates that authorities have classified it as a “major incident” rather than an accident.
According to State Council regulations on the reporting and investigation of production safety accidents, a “major incident” is defined as one resulting in fatalities between 10 and 30 people.
Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV reported on Friday that the construction site was surrounded by several industrial estates, including various employee residential complexes and electronics factories.
Emergency workers were assessing the geological conditions of the site and reinforcing the area to prevent further collapse.
The incidents have added to concerns about safety oversight at construction sites across the country.
In July last year, 11 people died when the roof of a school gymnasium collapsed in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang province. That major incident was attributed to excessive loads from multiple roof repairs and the improper storage of a building material, which caused water accumulation and structural overload.
Less than five months later, another gymnasium in Heilongjiang collapsed, killing three people. That failure stemmed from unauthorised changes to the roof’s design.
And in May this year, a highway in Guangdong province collapsed and claimed 48 lives, marking the deadliest road incident in more than a decade.
“The human loss from engineering safety incidents is shocking. What is the cause of this? It is certainly not inevitable; it should be avoidable; otherwise, construction would not proceed,” one commenter said on social media on Friday.
“The only reason is that safety measures were inadequate, and the awareness of safety production has not deeply penetrated into the hearts of people.”


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China

Initial investigation blames failure on poor construction of the building, which has been in use since late 2019


Initial investigation blames failure on poor construction of the building, which has been in use since late 2019.


Safety in China

6 detained over ice rink roof collapse in northeast China

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Initial investigation blames failure on poor construction of the building, which has been in use since late 2019

Initial investigation blames failure on poor construction of the building, which has been in use since late 2019