Detailed analysis of construction disasters that occurred in 2019.

The construction supervision authority (district or provincial construction supervision inspector) responsible for conducting proceedings regarding a construction disaster is obliged to immediately notify the Chief Inspector of Construction Supervision after its occurrence. These notifications constitute the content of the entries in the relevant register. Reports on construction disasters are published on the website of the Chief Office of Construction Supervision.[1].

In 2019, data on 251 construction disasters were entered into the register. As of July 27, 2020, investigations into the causes of the disasters were concluded in relation to 244 (97.2%) cases. The majority of disasters, as many as 220 (87.6%), involved facilities put into use where no construction work was carried out. The most common disasters concerned:

• residential, agricultural, or livestock buildings,

• low-rise buildings with masonry construction,
• buildings owned by individuals or private investors.

The main cause of 189 (75.3%) disasters was random events. In 2019, the events causing construction disasters primarily included strong, gusty winds, often accompanied by heavy rainfall, fires, explosions, lightning strikes, as well as traffic accidents. A significantly smaller group consisted of 33 (13.1%) disasters resulting from maintenance errors, with poor technical condition being the most common cause. Statistically, fewer disasters occurred due to errors during construction work – 22 such cases were recorded (8.8%). No construction disasters were recorded as a result of design errors.[2]

Construction disasters most often affected residential, agricultural, or livestock buildings. The least frequent incidents concerned collective housing, storage, and individual recreation buildings. The breakdown by types of construction objects that suffered disasters is as follows:

• residential buildings - 99 (39.4% of all disasters),
• agricultural or livestock buildings - 89 (35.5% of all disasters),
• other construction objects - 21 (8.4% of all disasters),
• industrial facilities - 16 (6.4% of all disasters),
• public utility buildings - 14 (5.6% of all disasters),
• storage buildings - 8 (3.2% of all disasters),
• individual recreation buildings - 3 (1.2% of all disasters),
• collective housing buildings - 1 (0.3% of all disasters).[3]

Figure 2.2.1. Construction objects that suffered disasters in 2019.[4].

As the main cause of construction disasters in 2019, it was indicated:

• in 189 (77.5%) casesrandom events, such as: heavy rainfall, strong winds, landslides, lightning strikes, as well as those related to human actions, e.g., gas explosions, fires, or traffic accidents,
• in 33 (13.5%) caseserrors during the maintenance of the construction object,in 22 (9.0%) cases
• errors during the construction of a new objectorperforming other construction works in an existing object

[5].Analysis regarding the type of random event

shows that the cause of the disaster:in 80 (42%) cases were strong winds,

• in 57 (30%) cases was a fire,
• in 22 (12%) cases was an explosion of a gas installation,
• in 9 (5%) cases were heavy rainfall,
• in 7 (4%) cases were lightning strikes,
• in 2 (1%) cases were landslides, ice phenomena on rivers and seas, as well as lakes and water reservoirs.
• Figure 2.2.2. Random events of disasters in 2019.

[6].In relation to 18 (9.5%) disasters, it was indicated 

other causes, such as:short circuit of the electrical installation (4),

• deliberate actions of third parties (4),
• explosion of a technical gas cylinder (2),
• traffic accidents (2),
• explosion of coal dust (1),
• loading with wet snow (1).
• In 4 cases, the main cause of the disaster was not identified.
• Figure 2.2.3. Other causes of disasters in 2019.

[7].Among the registered 80 disasters caused by 

strong windsthe most occurred in the provinces:Opole - 25 disasters (61% of all events in the province),

• Masovian - 14 disasters (47% of all events in the province),
• Lesser Poland - 12 disasters (40% of all events in the province).
• Figure 2.2.4. Disasters caused by strong winds in 2019.

[8].Among the 57 disasters resulting from 

fires.pożarówThe highest number was recorded in the provinces:

• Mazowieckie - 11 (37% of all events in the province),
• Opolskie - 11 (27% of all events in the province),
• Wielkopolskie - 9 (38% of all events in the province),
• Małopolskie - 9 (30% of all events in the province).

Chart 2.2.5. Fires in provinces in 2019.[9]. 

Buildings affected by fire disasters:

• Residential - 28 (49%), including 23 single-family and 5 multi-family,
• Economic or livestock - 11 (19%),
• Industrial - 9 (16%),
• Warehouse - 5 (9%),
• Public utility - 2 (3%),
• Collective housing - 1 (2%),
• Individual recreation - 1 (2%).

In the group of 22 disasters caused by gas explosions. The most events caused by this factor occurred in the provinces:

• Silesian, Wielkopolskie, Podlaskie, Małopolskie - 3 each (14%),
• Kuyavian-Pomeranian - 2 (9%).

Buildings affected by gas explosions:

• Single-family residential - 13 (59.1%),
• Multi-family residential - 6 (27.3%),
• Public utility - 1 (4.5%),
• Others - 2 (9.1%)[10].

As a result of errors during the maintenance of a building, there were 52 cases of disasters, with 33 of them indicated as the main cause of the disaster. In most cases, several factors contributed to the disaster, for example, in addition to allowing excessive deterioration of technical efficiency, preventive actions were also not taken, such as not conducting periodic inspections or not implementing recommendations resulting from those inspections. The most common errors during the maintenance of buildings, identified as the main causes of disasters were:

• Poor technical condition of the building (28, i.e., 84.8%),
• Failure to conduct inspections of the building (9, i.e., 27.2%),
• Failure to take required actions by the owner or manager resulting from the building inspection (3, i.e., 9.1%),
• Use of the building for unintended purposes (2, i.e., 6.1%),
• Failure to take required actions by the owner or manager resulting from other technical studies (1, i.e., 3.0%),
• Failure to fulfill required obligations by the owner or manager resulting from actions of building supervision authorities (1, i.e., 3%),
• Other circumstances (6, i.e., 18.1%).

The most construction disasters, where the main or additional cause was errors during the maintenance of the building, were recorded in the provinces:

• Silesian - 14 (27%),
• Łódź - 11 (21%),
• Kuyavian-Pomeranian - 6 (12%).

Such disasters most often involved residential buildings (23, i.e., 44%), including 12 multi-family and 11 single-family, as well as economic or livestock buildings (20, i.e., 38%). The poor technical condition of buildings was most often due to technical wear and tear and a lack of renovations and ongoing repairs, as well as a lack of information about the need to carry out such work, due to not conducting periodic inspections. Adverse weather conditions, such as strong winds or heavy rain, which accelerated the disaster of some buildings in poor technical condition, were also indicated as an additional cause.[11]As a result of errors during the construction of a new building or carrying out other construction works in an existing building, there were 22 disasters. As with the previously discussed causes, more than one irregularity generally contributed to the occurrence of the event. These errors most often concerned:

Failure to adhere to execution technology - 12 (55%) cases,

• Improper actions - violations of obligations by participants in the construction process - 9 (41%) cases,
• Deviations from the construction project - 1 (5%) case,
• Other circumstances - 6 (27%) cases
• [12].During construction disasters, walls and roofs of buildings were most often destroyed. The elements of buildings affected by disasters were in:

251 cases of vertical structural elements (100% of all disasters),

• 199 cases of roof structure (79.3% of all disasters),
• 120 cases of ceiling structure (47.8% of all disasters),
• 74 cases of other elements of the building (29.5% of all disasters),
• 9 cases of structures as a whole (bridges, viaducts, roads, embankments, dams, locks, weirs, and networks, i.e., 3.6% of all disasters).
• In addition, in 2019, there were disasters involving the destruction of:

Structural elements of scaffolding - 4 cases,

• Sheet piles and excavation supports - 4 cases,
• Forming elements - 2 cases
• [13][13].

The most construction disasters involved masonry structures, while the least involved reinforced concrete structures. The load-bearing structure of the buildings that experienced disasters is:

• masonry - 148 buildings (59.0% of all disasters),
• wooden - 38 buildings (15.1% of all disasters),
• steel - 9 buildings (3.6% of all disasters),
• prefabricated reinforced concrete - 4 buildings (1.6% of all disasters),
• monolithic reinforced concrete - 1 building (0.4% of all disasters),
• other, e.g. mixed - 51 buildings (20.3% of all disasters)[14].

According to the register, 240 disasters involved existing buildings, either in use or decommissioned. The period of operation of these buildings until the disaster occurred was:

• less than 10 years for 17 buildings (7%),
• in the range of 11 - 50 years for 83 buildings (35%),
• in the range of 51 - 100 years for 99 buildings (41%),
• over 100 years for 41 buildings (17%).

From the above analysis, it follows that 140 construction buildings (58.3% of the buildings in use) that experienced disasters had been in operation for more than 50 years[15].

Division according to the entity being the investor or owner of the construction building that experienced the disaster:

• 186 (74.1%) - individuals,
• 9 (3.6%) - the State Treasury,
• 56 (22.3%) - other entities, e.g. legal persons, local government units,

housing communities, housing cooperatives[16].

In 2019, a total of 91 people were injured in 47 disasters. 28 people died, and 63 were injured. The following were recorded:

• 14 incidents in which at least one person died,
• 33 incidents in which injured persons were recorded,
• 204 incidents in which no injured persons were reported[17].

Compared to 2018, the number of construction disasters in 2019 was at a similar level. Additionally, regarding the previous year, there was a slight change in the proportions of construction disasters grouped by the causes of their occurrence. The percentage of disasters caused by random events increased, as well as the percentage of disasters caused by human errors during the construction of a new building or performing other construction work in an existing building. However, the number of construction disasters caused by errors in the maintenance phase of the construction building decreased[18].

Details are presented in the chart below.

Chart 2.2.6. Statistics of construction disasters 2014-2019.[19]. 

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