Construction accidents in Malé, not far and few in between

The entire country was taken aback at the start of this week by a fatal construction accident, which took the life of 7-year-old Rawshan Jian. People and politician alike were put on alert in their response to the tragic affair.

The company managing the site has had all its licenses revoked and the City Council, the Ministry of Housing, and several other institutions have launched a city-wide inspection to ensure adherence to safety code. The time has only now come for this inspection, for discussion with local contractors, and for action.

To say that action should have been taken earlier may be unfair. However, such events are not far and few in between. Despite how a council member recently pushed her head towards a microphone at a press conference to ensure she was within frame of the broadcasting camera and promised the country that ‘Rawshan’s name shall not be forgotten’, similar accidents have taken the lives of people before. A woman was hit and fatally injured by a steel pipes that fell from a vehicle parked near a site just in 2015. To their loved ones, a person never dies. But the public has forgotten. To quote a man with notorious disrepute, ‘the public has a short attention span, and a shorter memory’.

Perhaps it was because this incident did not involve a child, or a foreigner, or was not caught on a camera, leaked, and then uploaded for the entire world to see.

Former Attorney General Dhiyana Saeed had also only recently survived a near-death encounter. Only weeks ago, she shared a photograph of a nail-struck wooden stick that landed a few paces away from her as she was walking on the road. God forbid, had she made haste that day, this sentence would be framed quite differently. Perhaps the horrible incident this week may have even be avoided.

Complaints of construction material and even debris falling on parked vehicles have always been common. Having to wipe debris, dirt, and dust off of motorcycles before a commute has become something residents of Malé City have accepted as a characteristic of living in this city, one that Dostoyevsky might have found to be part of the city’s charm.

As regrettable as it is, construction workers clad in nothing more than a t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of slippers is a common sight in this city. Some of them complain that managers do not provide them with hard hats or working shoes. Some managers say workers decline to use them, claiming discomfort. The stories are as different and as many as there are buildings under construction in this city.

A construction act or a law on regulating these sites were passed only in 2014, and after this week’s heart-wrenching accident, it was revealed that 14 guidelines that should be in the safety code remains to even be drafted, let alone formed. Governments that could afford to spend millions on fireworks and new year’s shows could not afford to fund expertise advise to form these guidelines. Shameful, especially given how much the construction industry as a whole contributes to our gross domestic product.

A number of lawyers have asked the Civil Court for an order to halt all construction in Malé until these guidelines are formed. It maybe unfair, but it is the responsible thing to do.

‘Falling or flying objects’ is common at construction sites around the world and residents of Malé are especially at risk because it is one the most congested urban dwellings in the world. However, the risk is the same for residential places as well. While not having made headlines, several people have stories of how they were hit or nearly hit by a falling pot, vase, or some other object a resident deemed appropriate to leave out on a balcony.

But regulating this is nearly impossible. For now, residents need to accept that this may be the state of our city. We need to accept that we have a right to call for change, and that it may be heard, but action may take some time. Indeed, Rawshan’s name should not be forgotten and her death should not have happened.