The importance of structural prevention and structural checks
On the causes and responsibilities he will pronounce himself as always the judiciary and we cannot nor do we at the moment express judgments in the absence of in -depth technical appraisals. However, some basic reflections are always necessary to raise public awareness on how these collapses can be avoided operating in time i due investigations That a building no longer young would deserve, in the same way as to be necessary periodic medical analyzes (the so -called prevention) for a person who is no longer young.
From the information found in the press, it is clear that the building was built in the 1950s with reinforced concrete frameThen raised of a plane About 50 years ago. We are in the period of the building boom, of which we already know the critical issues in terms of quality and durability of materialswhen building legislation left maximum freedom to the private initiative.
The structures of the 1950s – 60s, conceived with technical standards very different from the currentIn fact, they deserve greater attention in safety checks. Laconic is the image published in the newspapers of the SPANCEMENT OF THE COVERFERRO and the degradation of the armor At the base of one of the pillars in the basement, not different from other situations similar to some structures of the same years. The concrete and the steel of the armor are not eternal, and like every constructive element they need extraordinary revision and maintenance, especially if they have never been carried out after many decades from its construction.
The criticality in the management of safety and interventions
The building, which housed about 20 families, following the structural checks had been evacuated in February 2024 After the ordinance of the Municipality, in which the immediate dot also imposed on the structurally critical areas. The condominium, as reported by the press, had made the provisional works required in the prescribed terms carried out, subsequently assigned professionals to draw up the Reinforcement and safety project Up to find the economic funds to contract the work on the company that the construction site had started a few days ago.
After the municipal ordinance, all the technical steps necessary to recover the safety of the building seem to have been carried out, however It was not enough to prevent the collapse.
Reiterating that the final conclusions will have to emerge only from the perital checks in judicial, however it is legitimate to ask, in this as in other similar cases, if the structural criticality could be addressed in advancegiven the seniority of the structure, in order to also avoid the unusability and subsequent complications that derive from it?
It is important to reflect on the concept of timeliness of verification and prevention With regard to the main structural degrades and vulnerabilities due to the see of buildings, such as the temporal regression of the resistance of the structural elements. These structures today deserve particular attention and inspections in order not to get to compromised situations of the load -bearing elements.
Lessons to be learned for the future
What also appears surreal is how it was possible that after a year of the eviction order, a person still regularly lived and even other owners entered and occasionally came out as reported by the press. With the exception of technical verification inspections (to be held with qualified personnel and with the appropriate safety devices), the property should not have been technically closed and inaccessible to anyone? The evidence demonstrates thefatalistic approach that is often towards risk. But in this case, unlike the unpredictability of an earthquake, the risk was evident and even certified.
Pending the necessary technical insights, we can only hypothesize that the seriously degraded pillar was probably the weak ring that triggered the implosion of the palace on itself. In the design of those years There was still no concept of robustness which instead is required for current new buildings. The crisis of a structural element must not determine the so -called “Progressive collapse” of the entire structure, which must demonstrate sufficient hyperstaticity to facilitate the transfer of actions by exploiting alternative load paths following an exceptional event, such as the crisis of a pillar.
Intercept in time the presence and progression of structural instability It is possible today thanks to technologies and technical skills. Above all for more dated structures, intervening in advance means solving vulnerabilities without fatalistically waiting for the aggravation of critical issues that are then more complex to manage, both in technical and socio-economic terms, such as a forced unusability, the need to find an alternative residence and the risk of losing the property for collapse.
The possible causality between the collapse and the recent start of the works will certainly be another element of investigation by the judiciary, which will have to deepen the correctness of the project, the management of the safety of the construction site and the execution of the interventions performed before the subsidence of the structure. Operating in already strongly compromised situations requires a more complex and delicate design and execution of structural interventions.
Delays, defects of behavior and poor culture of security seem every time to make us forget, or even not let us listen, the lesson that every structural collapse has to teach us.
Understand the errors of the past It is the first step in changing the approach in prevention, guaranteeing greater safety and life to our structures.
