Perspectives from Ethiopia: Construction Standards

Since my first day in Ethiopia I've had this post in mind, but not the energy of wherewithall to write it. Now that I'm home, I'm going to take a stab at it. This one is for my friends and colleagues at work at Nuprecon. Nuprecon has been my professional home now for around three years. It's one of the biggest and best building demolition companies in the country and safety is a very important part of the culture there.

When I arrived in Ethiopia, I had some difficulty being able to discern the construction projects from the demolition projects, and that got me thinking about my friends back at home. Everyone in the construction industry is aware of the possibilities for industrial accidents, and we have OSHA and WISHA and multiple training and education resources to guard against having to make that terrible phone call back to someone's family--to let them know that their loved one is injured on a job site--or worse.

I couldn't believe how hazardous these job sites looked. The scaffoldings made of sticks (Only once did we see proper steel scaffolds), there's no shoring, there's people digging in the soft ground in holes and ditches neck-deep.

Most buildings are either concrete (sand and water really, it's not a proper concrete--it's more flaky), or corrugated tin--I usually think of this as like a barn roofing material. Concrete is poured by hand by men who climb the stick scafolds and pass pails of concrete fire-brigade style up several stories and then into the forms. Later when the concrete hardens, some "lucky" guy gets the odd job of breaking the metal or wood forms off the concrete and seeing if it stays.

Hard hats aren't worn unless someone is riding a motorcycle, and even then, generally it's hanging on the handlebar for show. Flip flops or barefoot are the norm (by the way, see my earlier posts about how EVERYTHING is slippery!). Tie offs or harnesses--not hardly. I didn't see them--anywhere.

I'm attaching here a few photos, two of a school (white walls and a blue rail), which was really nice--about ten stories of classrooms pretty much straight up, with zig-zag staircases on either end of the long narrow building. There was a large home (not ordinary housing) being built near our guesthouse, and that's on the hillside with the valley in the background. Also, several photos of some governemnt housing projects which have been in process for the past ten years and still aren't complete or even beginning to be occupied. This is an area desperate for affordable housing, and the jobs, but with builidng materials being costly and work being slow, they're doing what they can do.

This is just a reminder to be thankful for all that we have in the science and technology of workplace safety, and to stay alert and don't get hurt. Work safely everyone--I hope that one day too some of these safety measures will reach the Ethiopian construction workforce as well.