Two subcontractors for the Taipei Dome project have been fined a total NT$90,000 after steel rods fell from the construction site onto a road, the Taipei City Government said yesterday.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) said she received a tip-off about reinforcing steel rods having fallen from the structure, smashing an outer fence and landing partly on the road surface of Guangfu S Road at about 8am on Sunday.
The incident was captured by the dashboard camera of a vehicle parked on the road, Hsu said, adding that fortunately no one was passing by the area at the time, which prevented injuries.
Photo: CNA
When she asked the Taipei Department of Sports and the Taipei Construction Management Office for daily construction reports and security logs from Feb. 28 to Sunday, the two agencies passed the buck to each other and were unable to provide the data, Hsu said.
She accused the city government of neglecting public safety and urged it to investigate the incident.
Taipei Dome Preparatory Office Deputy Director Chen Shih-hao (陳世浩) said the city government regrets the incident.
The Dome’s contractor, Farglory Land Development Co, was initially unable to provide an explanation, Chen said.
The city government yesterday morning ordered the construction be temporarily halted to clarify the situation and conduct a through examination, he said.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) told an impromptu news conference in the afternoon that fines of NT$30,000 and NT$60,000 have been imposed on two subcontractors.
She said one of the subcontractors used an excavator instead of a crane to lift a bundle of steel rods, but the machine was not strong enough to hold the rods, so they fell onto the fence.
The subcontractor’s action has contravened the Regulations Governing the Installation of Occupational Safety and Health Facilities (職業安全衛生設施規則), she said.
The Dome would be listed as a high-risk construction site, subject to a safety examination every week, Huang said, adding that real-time surveillance cameras would be installed to oversee the construction site, as well as other major construction projects in the city, for the public to help monitor public safety.
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