Building Structure Failures in Malaysia 2015 to 2016

A lot of structures failure in Malaysia either the building still under construction or have been completed and it was occupied. It might be the interest of public to understand why such things can be happened even thought a lot of precautions at site construction based on IEM Regulations on Professional Conduct have been taken into consideration.

In this topic, a few of construction projects that facing structure failure have been highlighted as contemporary issues in order to support the statement of professionalism of an engineer that cannot be taught by regurgitating IEM Regulations on Professional Conduct nor by memorising a set of rules.
 

1. A Concrete Water Storage Tank Under-Construction Collapsed at University Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) 

A construction worker is reported by New Straits Times online portal was died when the concrete water storage tank under-construction collapsed on him while he is mixing cement and the other two workers were injured in an incident at University Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) on 20th October 2016 around 3pm.

The possible cause of this failure might be due to the structure of the concrete water storage tank could not withstand its self weight.

2. Two Workers Buried in 6m Mud of Construction Site at Jalan Segambut Dalam 

A Bangladeshi construction worker died after buried in 6m mudslide under PLUS Highway bridge when the structure that they working on for a building construction of a condominium project collapsed at Jalan Segambut Dalam, Kuala Lumpur on 30th August 2016 that reported by Astro Awani online portal.

Samsol Maarif Saibani who is a Fire and Rescue Department Kuala Lumpur (FRDKL) Operations Division officer said that there is another local worker also trapped in the mud together with the Bangladeshi corpse at the initial investigation. However, a 28 years old local man worker was rescued and sent to Kuala Lumpur Hospital for treatment.

The cause of this structure failure might be due to the strength of the foundations were weaken by the water from rainfall trapped in the soil layer beneath the structure that need self-awareness and agreement of a professional engineer on the importance of rules and regulations in order to carry out any works at site construction.

3. Indonesian Worker Dies after a Building Under-Construction Collapsed at Jalan New Ferry, Penang

On 9th August 2016, part of a building under-construction collapsed on an Indonesian worker at Jalan New Ferry food court Penang that reported by New Straits Times Online portal. The spokesman of Fire and Rescue Department said that the corpse was trapped in between the debris.

The possible cause of this structure failure might be due to the negligence of standard operating procedure (SOPs) which is the important elements in this SOP including experience, knowledge, and commitment in order to deliver the best method of building construction to the industry.

4. A Floor of a Building Under-Construction Collapse in Petaling Jaya

Six Bangladeshi injured when the temporary works used for slab installation were collapsed on them at the fourth floor of a building under construction. The incident happened around 9.00 am on 15th May 2016 at Persiaran Barat, Petaling Jaya. The building is constructed for office suites and two-multi level parking blocks and then temporarily stopped after the incident happened.

According to Ir. Tan Yean Chin who is the President of Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM), the main causes of temporary structures’ collapse are lack of safety consideration at the design stage, improper or bad construction practice, using of inferior materials, lack of enforcement, and lack of maintenance.

5. Three Foreign Workers Injured after the Floor of a Factory Building Under-Construction Collapsed at Bayan Lepas

400-tonnes of concrete floor of a six-floor factory building under-construction fallen under the Bangladeshi workers were working on the first floor at Bayan Lepan, George Town on 17th March 2016.

The incident cause of these workers experienced a serious head and back injuries with broken hands and legs.

The investigation carried out by the State Fire and Rescue Department at the site construction found that the failure was caused by the floor structure itself could not sustained the load of concrete frame, said the department’s deputy director Mohamad Shoki Hamzah and this statement was reported by Astro Awani online portal.

6. Four Foreign Workers Escape Death after Structure of a Shop House Under-Construction Collapses at Telok Gong, Port Klang

The structure of second floor collapsed when the workers were carrying out the concrete works on the first floor of a double-storey shop lot at Telok Gong, Port Klang on 23rd January 2016 around 3pm.

Source

One out of four workers rushed to the Tunku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang for treatment due to broken arm and another three workers experienced light injuries said Mohd Sani Harul who is the Selangor Fire and Rescue Department assistant director of operations.

The structures are not strong enough that caused collapsed might be the possible reason why the second floor collapsed while the first floor did not affected by the loading of rubble fell on it. It shows that the structure of the first floor at the part of building under-construction is stronger than the structure of second floor.

7. Two Foreign Construction Workers Escape Death after a Scaffoldig Crash near Abdullah Hukum LRT Station

Two foreign construction workers escape death when the scaffolding suddenly fell from the structure of first floor while they were levelling cement on the ground floor of a building under-construction near Abdullah Hukum LRT Station on 27th June 2016 around 11.21pm.

The Bangladesh worker suffered broken waist while the Myanmar national sustained minor hand injuries said Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Operations assistant director Azizan Ismail to Bernama.

The major contribution to this incident might be due to the structure of scaffolding is not connected properly and causing it could not withstand the heavy and continuous loading during construction process. The engineer should check the safety of scaffolding structure regularly.

8. Three Killed, Six Injured When a Parking Lot Under-Construction Collapsed at Pulau Sebang, Alor Gajah

There are three Myanmar construction workers died and six other workers were injured when the structure of parking of a shopping mall under construction collapsed after the removal of the staging from the hardened concrete floor in Pulau Sebang, Alor Gajah.

The incident happened on 22nd June 2015 around 2.15 pm which cause those three men died on the spot according to the State Police Chief, Datuk Chuah Ghee Lye that reported by New Straits Times Online portal.

In a building construction, curing of concrete is the important process because the duration of curing determined the strength of a concrete structure. If this process was neglected then it might be the possible cause of this parking lot under-construction collapsed because this structure could not withstand its loading when the stagings were removed.

Discussion

Based on the examples of building structures failure in previous issues, it can be understood that the best way to enhance the professionalism of an engineer is by involvement in a lot of projects with the right of code of ethic practices.

For example, in the case of floor collapse in PJ building on 15th May 2016 temporary structure such as temporary supporting system or formwork is a critical element for safety construction plan that need a professional engineer to perform the proper structural design and service in order to comply with in accordance with Department of Safety and Health (DOSH) guidelines.

Meanwhile in the case of two workers buried in 6m mud of construction site at Jalan Segambut Dalam, a Professional Engineer has the responsibility to consider the safety of site condition such as soil and structure condition as well.

The construction works should not in progress after heavy rain occurs at the location because the foundation structure might be fail due to the strength of soil was decreased by continuous water infiltrated beneath the soil. Besides that, the safety of workers needs to be considered as a first priority because it involved human lives.  

Conclusion

In conclusion, professionalism of an engineer cannot be taught by regurgitating IEM Regulations on Professional Conduct nor by memorising a set of rules.

It means that, the set of rules and IEM Regulations on Professional Conduct are introduction and basic qualifying requirement and essential guidelines that all members must remember.

Hence, self-awareness, self-discipline, continuous professional development, mentor system and agreement on the importance of rules and regulations are the way to develop professionalism of an engineer.

References

Dermawan, A. (2016). Indonesian worker dies after under-construction building in Penang collapses. Retrieved Oct 25, 2016, from New Straits Times Online: www.nst.com.my

Achariam, T. (2016). Two buried in 6m mud in freak accident (Updated). Retrieved Oct 25, 2016, from The Sun Daily: www.thesundaily.my

Mohd, H. (2016). Construction worker buried alive in Taman Segambut landslip tragedy. Retrieved Oct 25, 2016, from New Straits Times Online: www.nst.com.my

Awani, A. (2016). Structure collapse in Segambut, two construction workers buried. Retrieved Oct 2016, from Astro Awani: www.astroawani.com

Koh, K. (2015). Three killed, six injured when building floor collapsed. Retrieved Oct 26, 2016, from New Straits Times Online: www.nst.com.my

Awani, A. (2016). Two workers seriously injured by collapsing floor in Bayan Lepas. Retrieved Oct 26, 2016, from Astro Awani: www.astroawani.com

Lim, J., Priya, S. S., & Menon, P. (2016). DBKL and councils have a system in place to monitor construction sites but all safety aspects come under DOSH. Retrieved Oct 26, 2016, from The Star Online: www.thestar.com.my

Examples of Reinforced Concrete Beam

Here are some examples of Reinforced Concrete Beams that you may find in practice.

1. Singly Reinforced Concrete

2. Doubly Reinforced Concrete

3) 'T' Beam

4) 'L' Beam

Here also you can find the same thing in this video for more comfirtable learning process because some people love to hear music while learning.

Green Building - The Effects of Urbanization Processes versus the Advanced Construction Materials and Technology

Green building can be defined as the selection of suitable building materials which involved some basic principles of science.

The effects of building construction processes to the environment caused by the emission of Green House Gases (GHGs). The production of steel contributed about 3% of air pollution and 5% from concrete making. That is the reason why we need to adapt the green building technology in order to overcome the global warming issue.
     

In the United States (US), there are several factors that contribute large amount of Carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted to the atmosphere. There are 47% from buildings, 33% from transportation, and 19% from industry. It means that, the major contribution of climate changes is urbanization processes including deforestation, land excavation, water pollution from human activities that disturbed land and etc.

Green building technology can be adapted by planting the trees around the development area and using green building products as construction materials. The plants will increase the level of Oxygen (O2), hence increase air quality, decrease the amount of Carbon dioxide (CO2), hence provide more cooling effect as the moisture content increased, and increase health quality and productivity.

In conclusion, the building construction or urbanization processes to develop an area will causes the effects to the environment as well as global warming and climate changes due to the emission of Green House Gases (GHGs) to the air. As a result, people are suffering from many kinds of chronic diseases that caused by pollution and this situation requires the advanced technology known as green building to overcome those problems as well as to green back the Earth so that the next generations will experience the better quality of life such what the young Engineers thought and planning to do so.

  

The Implementation of E-learning System in Tertiary Education Level

1.0  Introduction

1.1.   Background

          In this 21^st Century, many countries are very competitive in developing technologies and multimedia field in order to reduce the communication gap. In this regard, the government of Malaysia is making a lot of efforts to establish the Multi-media Super Corridor (MSC) in the area of 750 kilometres square, the covered area from Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) and extended to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). The implementation of this project is giving a lot of implication that seen from different view such as the aspect of education, economic, industrial, social and politic.

          Nowadays, the exponential growth of technologies in the global markets makes people easier to learn more effectively. Meeting this new approach in gathering knowledge, the Ministry of Education Malaysia are decided to look forward and doing a lot of research regarding the learning style and thus design the E-Learning system to motivated students to develop self-learning skill to achieve higher performance especially at higher education level.

1.2 Objectives

1.21 To investigate the effectiveness of E-Learning method to students.

1.22 To study the purpose of implementation of E-Learning in higher education level.

1.23 To compare between E-Learning and traditional learning.

1.3 Procedure

1.3.1 Questionnaire

The survey was conducted by distribution of 40 sets of questionnaire to the students of UiTM as the main respondents to this case of studies. They were 26 numbers of respondents are from female students and 14 numbers of respondents are from  male students. From the result that we found from the survey, there are several findings that can be obtained and  thus be the main elements to be taken into consideration in implementation of E-Learning based studies in tertiary education  level  in Malaysia. 

2.0 Findings

2.1 Learning Time

The amount of time spent learning (or time-on-task), the quality of learning time has a real influence on learning performance. Quality of time in online learning depends on students’ time availability and their willingness to devote quality cognitive time to learning activities (Margarida & Elena, 2011).

Learning quality and quantity of the time spent by students on e-Learning can be reduced by several factors which are social activities, internet access, and time constraint due to university activities.  Student’s lives especially in the university are quite busy due to a lot of assignment, quizzes and tests. So the time allocate to their learning is reduced (after doing all the activities).

Figure 1: Total time spends by students per week.

Based on the pie chart above, the highest total time spends by student for e-learning are 3 hours with 65% followed by 1 hour with 20%, followed by 5 hours with 12.5% and lastly 12 hours and above which is 2.5%.

Internet access is one the factors why student spend less time on e-Learning system. In UiTM Shah Alam, the internet connection is provided by the university. Student may online by connect with student’s Wi-Fi known as “uitmsalamstudent”. However the connection at UiTM Shah Alam, is quite poor and slow, maybe due to excessive user or the modem is not good enough to support users in this campus which have more than ten thousand people. Thus, the time spent by student on the internet is lesser.

2.1.2 Learning Time Quality

Time quality is depends on student lifestyle. Time quality is made up of attributes related to a certain kind of activity. In academic, the quality of students’ learning time is considered to be cognitive. Depending on the nature of the learning activities, different attributes of the students’ time are required. These attributes depend not only on the task difficulty (Belmont & Butterfield, 1971; Kobasigawa& Metcalf-Haggert, 1993). Quality of learning time also based on learner ability to understand and digest whatever information gathered.

2.1.3 Learning Time Flexibility

According to Margarida and Elena (2011) time flexibility as the students’ ability to regulate their time-on-task according to their learning time availability, the instructional time requirements, and the flexibility of the learning tasks. Learners’ time flexibility is determined by their capacity to allocate time to academic activities and the quantity and quality of time they can spend on these activities. Therefore, online learning time flexibility is in terms of both instructional time flexibility and student time flexibility.

On e-learning, time and location are flexible, learners can adjust their time when to study or do some revision on the internet. They also can save whatever information they want and can study whenever they free.

2.2 Learning Materials

The learning materials will be the important element of e-learning process. Without a good preparation and selection of the topics as well as the elaboration the contents may be useless to students. There are a lot of considerations to be taken into accounts when using the virtual mode of studies, they were the availability, the accessibility, and the scopes of those particular materials were being used as a main reference.

2.2.1 Availability

A survey was conducted by our group members by distribution of 40 sets of questionnaire to the students of MARA University of Technology (UiTM). It was found that 60% of the UiTM students preferred to gain knowledge via electronic media rather than printed media, 65% of the students are spending time online 3 hours per week, and 65% of the students agreed that they are satisfied with the information that they gathered from the Internet.

Figure 2: Learning Media

The Pie Chart above shows that the media that the students prefer the most to gain knowledge. It was found that 60% of the respondents choose an electronic media as the main reference whereas 40% of them are prefer to use printed media as the main materials in their studies.

This situation will encourage students to learn very quickly because the materials are available and easy to get compared to traditional classes whereas the text books have to be read page by page because the elaboration of a particular topic is very details and students take a long time to understand the whole ideas. Hence, the available of learning materials will contribute to the successful of the implementation of e-learning based studies in tertiary education level.

2.2.2 Accessibility

Typically in the university the system is developed by the experts, normally a Web Master. Once the system is standby and connected to the server the learning materialswill beuploaded and always keep up-to-date by the lecturers who have the responsibility to prepared the useful contains for students. Then, the students will freely access the system with their own username and password, and the system is known as I-Learn in UiTM Student Portal.

Based on the observation, 100 % of the UiTM students from Faculty of Civil Engineering are familiar with the blended learning system which is the combination of traditional classes and e-learning session. In virtual classes for example the students have to complete about an hour classes for the attendance and submit the tutorial within the timeframe that given by the lecturer. As a result,the adaptation of e-learning based studies is accepted in Malaysia educational system in according with the divergence of technology and the Internet.

2.3 Benefit of e-learning

There are several benefits of e-learning for UiTM students. These benefits that respondents can obtain includes easy to use,lower cost ,more effective learning and can develop knowledge of internet and computer skills.

Figure 3: Benefit of E-Learning

The chart shows the benefits of e-learning for UiTM students. It shows that the highest percentage of 40% is to develop knowledge and computer skills.Then followed by more effective learning and lower cost which are 30% and 20% respectively.The lowest percentage of benefits of e-learning is easy to use which only contributes 10% of the total percentage.

From the data,we can say that almost the student uitm get benefit to improve their own knowledge about to use internet and computer skill.For example during the student do their assignment by using e-learning program,they are have train their ownself to use internet to get the information and use the computer to complete their assignment. At the same time the student also can  improve their knowledge about using the internet and computer skills.Other than that,today many of student use the smart phone as a electronic media to get the information and do their assignment by the e-learning.That have proved by the result of questionaire gets almost 60% student more choose electronic media compare to printed media.This is because its maybe to easy to get and and fasters compare to other.The result shows from the data such as the chart at below in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Media preferred by students

The lower percentage of benefit of e-learning that are student uitm get are easy to use.Almost of the student said that e-learning is not simply use.This is because once want to use e-learning that people should know properly to use computer or internet.Other than that, e-learning most use the connection of internet data and sometime if the internet data have a problem will give the bad impact to student when use e-learning.That why some part the student uitm like to prefer use hard copy or doing class like usually.From the report that why benifit e-learning easy to use only 10%.Otherwise, student also always takes the old way to study in a classroom compare the other develop country.

            2.4 The Ways to Encourange the Attraction to Use E-Learning

2.4.1 Students’ Prefer to Use

There are several ways to encourage the students to use the e-learning. The most students' prefer includes post video / audio lecturer recording, group forum / chat, open licensed learning materials and create a pleasant look and feel notes.

Figure 5: Method of study prefered by students

The chart shows the students' prefer to use the e-learning. Most of the respondents surveyed are prefer to choose post video / audio lecturer recording which is 40%. Then followed by group forum / chat which is 30%. Only a small number of respondents implied that to use open licensed learning materials and create a pleasant look and feel notes which is both are 10% respectively.

From the data, we can say that most students are prefer to use e-learning based on post video / audio lecturer recording because the students can always refer when they have time or needed to know about the information. Otherwise, the students can repeat to watch the video or listen to the recorded to help them to remember about the important points that they have to remember. It also helps students when the final examination is around the corner. Then, the group forum / chat also are students chosen because lecturer likes to give an assessment to the students to interact them to communicate with the others. Other than that, lecturer can evaluate the students' potential such as soft skills, knowledge, writing skills, and others. However, not all students know about licensed learning materials so they are not prefer to use it. Lastly, not all the lecturer has enough time to spend to make the colourful and attach more picture as an example in their slides. Some of the students also doesn’t mind about look but most prefer about the contain that they can get from it.

  

3.0 Conclusions

3.1 Learning Time

Based on the data obtained, most of the respondents only spend about 3 hours per week on internet to study or to do their assignments. This indicates that students spend less time on e-learning compared with traditional learning system which is attend a lecture.

3.2 Learning Materials

The results of the investigation shows that majority of UiTM students are preferred to gain knowledge via electronic media and most of them are spending time online about 3 hours per week. Hence, they are satisfied with the knowledge and information that they gathered from the Internet.

3.3 Benefits of E-Learning

It means that,  most of student uitm get more benefit to develop knowledge internet and computer skill during e-learning compare to others.

4.0 Recommendations

Based on the findings and conclusions of the study, here are several recommendations to be considered:

4.1 Learning Time

 Students should have a proper timetable to divide between social activities and studies. Other than that, student should spend more time on e-learning because nowadays a lot of information can easily obtained from the internet. However, E-learning is just a tool to help students to gain more knowledge and get more understanding outside the classroom.

4.2 Learning Materials

The university should improve the contains of the learning materials and the Internet connectivity to encourage students to gain knowledge via electronic media so that they can select the best quality of materials provided online to be the references in order to enhance the ability of students to learn based on their own effort by using e-learning mode of studies .

4.3 Benefits of E-Learning

 Goverment or all institution should take action to expose about to study using e-learning all students and people.Goverment  make sure that all people especially student to know about e-learning because to create that student people know about internet and to use computer with the same time can improve skill to use it.That institution that use e-learning program such as uitm, it should introduce to their students about e-learning and to use it.By that ways, it will easy to study and understand to student use it.

References

Anuwar Ali (2007, May). Issues and Challenges In Implementing E-Learning in Malaysia. Open University Malaysia.

Belmont, J. M., & Butterfield, E. C. (1971).Learning strategies as determinants of memory deficiencies. Cognitive Psychology, 2(4), 411–420.

Margarida, R. & Elena, B. (2001, June). Quality of E-Learners’ Time and Learning Performance Beyond Quantitative Time-on-Task.The International Review of Research In Open And Distance Learning. Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/999/1870

Jason. R & Maria, H. (2003,Oct). The Business Case for E-Learning.Advantages of E-Learning.

                Retrieved from http://www.home.teleport.com/elearning/advantages.html

Sustainable term in Engineering context

The term sustainable in engineering context refers to the way to minimize the adverse effects to the environment caused by the development activities in order to upgrade the living standards in relation with the social, economy, and ecology. The developments implemented by the local authorities are depends on the increasing of the population numbers are living in those areas. As we can see in Malaysia itself, a lot of construction projects are in progress everywhere especially in town areas in order to fulfil the demands. When a project is proposed to be implemented in a particular place, a lot of considerations need to be taken into account. This is the time that the engineers have to play the main role to keep the sustainable environment because the characteristics should have in an engineer is a decision maker, problem solver, and so on.

Drainage construction process.

Back to the main issue, the sustainable management became a critical problem when the Earths keep changing naturally and artificially. These are the challenges to the next engineers where they have to have a wide knowledge and good understanding of scientific and technical matters. As a future engineer we should have the high inquisitive behavior to learn more regarding environmental issues whether through the natural disasters or from the reading materials related to the science phenomenon and current technologies. On the other hand, the sustainable engineering curricular and teaching method become a crucial part to develop a future engineer's thought. This curricular is very important to the engineering students worldwide to develop the critical thinking skill in order to solve the global environmental issues.