Collapsed Tunnel in China

Why all the secrecy?  Is it worth the lives of six people?

Earlier this week, construction came to a halt for workers in Beijing, China when a section of tunnel they were working on collapsed.  Almost immediately after this occurred, the management locked the gates to the site and tried to keep the incident to themselves.  Cell phones were confiscated in order to prevent word from spreading, and there was even word of some kind of monetary incentive to keep the accident secret from the rest of the world.

Six people were trapped when the earth collapsed in on them and, after 50 hours of digging, only one body was recovered.  There’s little hope on finding the remaining workers alive.

The incident occurred around 9:20 am, and oddly enough, the actions taken by management had kept the story quiet until 5 pm, when people were able to leave.  The police did know something was wrong, as a crowd had gathered, but the management who spoke to the authorities said that everything was normal, and eventually the police left.

I have to admit … I feel sorry for every person involved in this project, and wonder if a similar situation might happen in Vancouver as the city prepares for the Olympic events in 2010.

With less than a year to go before the games, Beijing is under incredible pressure to complete all the construction on time.  This pressure is then pushed down to the companies who face stiff penalties for not completing by certain dates, and that pressure is then transferred to management who then try and push their front-line workers harder.  Breaks are shorter, people are asked to cut corners, and safety precautions are ignored in order to complete sections faster.  We’ve seen in every huge engineering project what happens when safety is secondary, but we just never learn.

Despite Beijing’s perceived urgency on the completion of their expanded subways and towering skyscrapers, I hope that the lessons learned here will not be soon forgotten.  There have been several accidents in the last year on several of the subway projects, and they’ve all stemmed from lack of safety precautions.

The Olympics are still a year away, and the events are only for two weeks.  While these events will create for a greater awareness of Beijing and Chinese culture for many throughout the world, repeated incidents like this will only make us think the country is little more than a fascade.  Sure, it looks nice from a distance.  But once you get up close, you can see what it actually cost to make it.

As for trying to keep this secret … it seems that people still need to learn that there are very few secrets in the world.  Secrets that cost lives tend to get noticed right away.  The managers and designer of the tunnel have all been arrested by police, and I’m sure they’re all sorry for the loss.  In the name of expediency they ignored the people working for them … their most important resource.

So please slow down, Beijing.  Poor planning on your part should not make it an emergency for others.  I’m sure that we’d understand if there were still some parts of the city under construction when the world comes to play.