As they say, there is no loss of pie in the sky, but there is a risk that the sky may cause trouble. Apart from man-made high-altitude parabolics, the fall of bricks and tiles cannot be ignored. On 10 october, a security captain was unfortunately killed when he was hit by a falling tiles in a tragedy in part of changsha。
This breakout of tiles was located on the outer walls of three 14-storey buildings in the sector, more than 30 metres above the ground. In the afternoon of 10, the owners of the subdistricts told the property company that three external wall tiles had fallen off, breaking the windshield behind a mass vehicle parked on the side of the road. As a result, captain chen, 46-year-old member of the district security unit, went to visit and a colleague, where the tiles fell, pulled a cordon to alert the pedestrians. Unfortunately, both men were hit by another fall of tiles from the outer wall, and captain chen was crushed to the ground and died unfortunately after being saved. Another security guard sustained minor injuries to his skin, which are now harmless。
A similar incident involving the removal of tiles from the outer wall and injury to human beings has occurred in many cities throughout the country in recent years, and in changsha too in recent years. On 29 october 2019, according to the “long sand in hand”, two bricks fell from a three-storey building on the southern side of the changtung building, severely injuring a female citizen who was cleaning. On the morning of 6 may 2018, while walking in front of the main entrance to his home district, deng, ning township, was hit by a tile falling from the wall of the main gate building of the district, with a head injury, and spent more than $30,000 on hospital expenses for 15 days。
Building tiles, with their decorative outer walls rising in the 1980s and 1990s, can make the outside of a house look more beautiful and high-end, and they are more anti-fouling and low maintenance costs。
However, with the wind blowing out, the glue to the tiles and the walls slowly aging, which led to these tiles, which once added points to the buildings, becoming invisible “high-air killers”。
In the face of this “high-altitude killer”, the focus of public attention is twofold: who is responsible for the accident? How can existing hazards be eliminated? In response, journalists consulted lawyers and construction professionals。
According to counsel for zou dongteng, hunan central law office, article 3 of the supreme people's court interpretation of the specific application of the law in the case concerning the distinction of ownership of buildings provides that the outer wall belongs to the owner. In accordance with the provisions of article ii of the property regulations and in accordance with the relevant agreements under articles i and ii of the property services contract, the property company maintains and manages the shared premises and facilities. It is therefore up to the circumstances to determine who is responsible for the injury and the fall of the tiles from the outer wall. The developers and construction units are certainly responsible if the quality assurance period is still in place. If the quality assurance period is exceeded, the property may be held liable. In the absence of property in the subdistricts, joint responsibility may be shared by the owners。
In addition, under article 85 of the tort liability act, the owner, manager or user of a building, building or other facility, and its holds, and the loss or fall of a hanger, causing damage to others, is liable for the violation if he or she cannot prove that he or she was not guilty. If the owner, administrator or user compensates, other responsible persons have the right to recover from the other responsible persons. There are many instances where the same matter is decided differently in the jurisprudence of such cases in various parts of the country, but once the term of quality assurance has passed, property and owners cannot escape. Of course, the person concerned should also be more aware of security. In cases where tiles have fallen off, safety hats should be worn for information purposes。
In the same vein, mr. Yeung wen, a lawyer at hunan yun tian law office, argued that if the exterior tiles were “quality problems” during the quality assurance period, a claim for compensation could be brought against the construction unit; the excess of the quality assurance period was “management problems” and liability should be the primary responsibility of the property companies. If the property company can prove that the damage was caused by the quality of the outer wall itself rather than by management, it can recover from the owner of the property. Under the relevant law, the outer wall of the district is part of the ownership and is legally liable to the owner。
In accordance with article 23 of the regulation on energy conservation in civil construction, the minimum warranty period for temperature preservation works under normal conditions is five years. So, what's the life span of the tall walls? How can people living in cities avoid this security risk
Architects have analysed the fact that exterior bricks tend to be excavated during the years in which they are used, for many reasons. The pasting process of tiles is more demanding for pasting materials, wall surfaces and the construction environment, otherwise, with thermal swelling and condensation, the tiles and walls will be severed, cracks will be formed, the separation between tiles and walls will be accelerated by rainwater penetration and the wall will fall as a result of air flow and gravity。
Clearly, timely maintenance is required to address security concerns. Since the exterior wall falls under the management of the property company, maintenance of the exterior wall is an obligation of the property. However, the use of public maintenance funds for maintenance purposes makes it difficult, if the owners agree, to start the process if there is greater disagreement among the owners。
Property experts are of the view that, in the event of walling and tiles falling off, the property company should check, through the building safety inspectorate, in a timely manner that the conditions for the emergency disbursement of maintenance funds are met, and start the collection and maintenance of maintenance funds in a timely manner, with a view to achieving early repair or further improvement. In this way, property companies can prove exoneration from due diligence. Conversely, in the event of an accident, the property company would become the first liable person。
The fall of high-rise tiles is as harmful as the fall of high-altitude parabolics. While the use of exterior tiles in urban buildings is now decreasing, and the use of exterior coatings for their renovation, buildings built earlier in the years are in large stock, with years of erosion and, in some cases, potential safety hazards. In this regard, developers, properties and owners must take their responsibilities seriously. The developer performs quality duties, the property performs management duties and the owner performs supervisory duties. The owner, in particular, should not consider the discovery of the risk as “involved, high-profile” or as being indifferent to our family, and should promptly and assiduously urge the developers or property companies to remove the risk. With regard to the use of public maintenance funds, it is clear that such security-related exterior wall maintenance should be placed in a more critical and prominent position, pending the development of systems and social consensus, including owners。
