Here’s what to do:

Either we need to pull back from development and progress, which will be practically impossible for it stands at odds with human nature and propensities, or we have to move towards realizing the following intricate equation: to achieve development with zero risk.

However, the complete elimination of risk seems equally implausible and is hard to apply for the following reasons:

• Human development is inevitable.
• Human knowledge, in almost any subject, is limited and can never be all encompassing.
• There is no technology without gaps.
• Errors, inattention and negligence are bound to arise, for they are part of human nature.
• The occurrence of unpredictable things beyond human will is inescapable.

Therefore, we are left with one solution:

• Push towards supplementing the technical and scientific capacities, which induce urban sprawl, with the ability to ensure the best protection of human life from risks, without necessarily eliminating them.
• Predicate the assessment of urban projects on human values, rather than just on economic feasibility.

Conclusion

In parallel to the existence or contrivance of a new knowledge or technology aimed at driving urban prosperity or equipment manufacture, there must be a counter-technology or knowledge aimed at preserving human life. This is the reason additional standards and specifications emerged during the construction and equipping processes.

Examples in everyday life:

Means of transportation: Car

• Despite the staggering numbers of annual deaths from traffic-related accidents, nobody accepts the idea of dispensing with the car. In Lebanon, around 500 people annually die on the roads and another 6000 sustain severe injuries and disabilities. Road traffic fatalities have risen in the US to 45,000 per year, which is equal to the number of deaths recorded in the US army during the American war in Vietnam, despite the fact that the US has the best record worldwide as to the number of fatalities per 100 million vehicle-kilometers traveled.
• New items have been taken into account by the auto manufacturing industry:

• Adding new safety measures such as the seatbelt and the airbag.
• Amending the technology used to design the front of the car in a manner that makes it more prone to deform and crumple in order to absorb the excess forces of collision impact. The crumple zone has been designed despite the presence of the air bag and the use of seatbelts.

2- Public safety applications for Lebanon’s buildings and facilities

When it comes to ensuring public safety in the buildings and facilities in Lebanon, the official concern is limited to protection against the hazards of earthquakes, fire and elevators.

Since 1997, this concern has gone through multiple transitions:

First transition

On November 11, 1997, three Decrees numbered 11266, 11264 and 11267 were issued to guarantee safety against earthquakes, fire and elevators respectively.

However, the Decrees did not come into effect for administrative, technical and regulatory reasons among which we highlight the following:

• Holding municipalities, the Directorate General of Urban Planning, Civil Defense teams and fire squads responsible for inspection and examination functions that are beyond their qualifications or adequate preparedness.
• Overlap of powers and responsibilities between the Directorate General of Urban Planning and the municipalities or the municipal union.
• Drawbacks to the efficiency of the Lebanese Standards Institution in following through and updating the standards stipulated by the decrees.
• Overseeing the implementation of all provisions on buildings of all sizes and types at the same time and without preparing the public, which transcends the powers of even the topmost administrations.

Second transition

Later on March 11, 2005, Decree No. 14293 was issued, canceling its three predecessors and revolutionizing the principles of public safety applications for Lebanon’s buildings and facilities. The decree was predicated upon new foundations:

• Entrusting the private sector with the performance of technical inspection, after due consideration and assessment of this task, through specialized technical offices, all in conformity with the criteria postulated by the Decree.
• Adopting the principle of progression while implementing mandatory technical inspection. The procedure was thus divided into three phases, starting with the large buildings or those designed to receive a huge number of people.
• Granting the Lebanese Standards Institution full scope to resume its work in introducing, developing and updating standards, until they finally become binding.

Accordingly, the application of the standards designed to prevent seismic and fire perils and guarantee elevator safety became mandatory to all buildings lacking permits as of the date of issuance of the Decree, i.e. March 11, 2005, provided that those standards had gained a binding capacity as per the provisions of the Lebanese Standards Institution. Otherwise, the specifications adopted by the European Union, the US or Canada should apply.

However, the coercion of inspection did not materialize under this Decree. The disturbance that had been plaguing state institutions for a relatively long period prevented the formation of the special committee responsible for accrediting the inspection offices, especially the fact that the committee was assigned 11 members mandated to operate for only 2 years.

Third transition

The above-mentioned Decree has been amended recently by virtue of Decree No. 7964 dated April 7, 2012. To facilitate the formation of the accreditation committee and help it proceed with its work, the amendment reduced the number of members to 5 and also increased their tenure to 5 years.

Among other amendments, the Decree stipulated a technical modification in the seismic sphere raising the minimum horizontal acceleration from 0,20 g to 0,25 g, following evidence provided in the past few years about the presence of a fault line in the sea that poses greater hazards than the onshore fault.

The Decree has practically resulted in imposing compulsory technical inspections starting December 6, 2012 for the first stage, then gradually starting December 6, 2014 and December 6, 2016 for the second and third stages respectively, as per the table pertaining to the classification of buildings and facilities. It is understood that the binding application of standards is permanent and continuous from March 11, 2005.

3- Content of public safety applications against seismic risks (Mission L + Mission PS)

• Verifying the implementation of the standards pertaining to the strength and sturdiness of the facility as well as its integral equipment elements, according to the static condition parameters. (Mission L)
• Verifying the implementation of the seismic safety standards according to the horizontal acceleration parameter. This does not only cover the measurements and sizes of the building structure components but also pertains s to certain aspects of design as well, such as the location of walls, pillars and staircases and the interconnection between the building’s parts and joints, and other technical issues. (Mission PS)

NB: Applying Mission PS standards to the building structure entails an additional cost that ranges between 5% and 8% of the cost incurred in the case of Mission L standards.

4- Content of public safety applications against fire and elevator risks (Task S)

Fire

This mission entails a close examination of the implementation of technical standards aimed at the prevention of a potential fire or the protection from it should it occur. This involves inspecting the electrical equipment and installations as well as the heating and air conditioning systems and by providing emergency exits, fire alarm and extinguishing systems and opening to vent out smoke naturally.

Elevators

This mission attends to examining the implementation of the standards central to safety in passenger and freight elevators as well as escalators and moving walkways.

Others

Mission S is also designed to look into the application of the standards necessary to prevent falls from abutments, railings, facades and windows.

Diverse Highlights

• The binding implementation of public safety standards, coupled with the compulsory technical inspection, requires a transformative leap in the field of structural engineering and construction at large in a manner that ensures both the sturdiness of the building and the safety of the people using it.
• In cooperation with the Directorate General of Urban Planning, the Order of Engineers and Architects has had a substantial and positive role in devising and following up the Decrees that encouraged this leap.
• This turnaround promotes engineering and makes way for newer specialties in the field thus expanding employment opportunities.
• The need to raise the awareness of those people profiting from the buildings and facilities to their right to verify and even claim the availability of public safety elements. This would in turn lead to precedence being given to those buildings holding a certificate of conformity, thus creating a prosperous cycle that would prove useful to everybody, including both project owners and beneficiaries.
• Expanding educational curricula at the various Faculties of Engineering to include courses in the application of these standards, for although deriving from a general knowledge and technology, these should be studied as separate and independent materials.