Civil Engineering Information

India has been plagued by some catastrophic earthquake tremors in past that have caused loss of property and human beings:

Date	Location	Effect	Magnitude
January 3, 2016	North East India	11 dead, 200 injured	6.7
May 12, 2015	Northern India, North East India, Bihar West Bengal (Epicenter at Nepal)	218 (44 killed in India)	7.3
April 25, 2015	Northern India, North East India, Gujarat (Epicenter at Nepal)	8,900+	7.8
September 18, 2011	North East India, Gangtok, tremors felt in Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknow and Jaipur	118	6.9
October 8, 2005	Kashmir	1,30,000	7.6
December 26, 2004	Third deadliest earthquake in the history of the world, the tsunami generated off west coast northern Sumatra, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives	283106 (15000 killed in India)	9.1
January 26, 2001	Gujarat	20,000	7.6/7.7

However, during the earthquake in New Zealand on 3^rd September 2010 (magnitude on Richter’s scale: 7.0), only 2 people were injuredwhich was caused by falling masonry and glass. Interestingly, the said earthquake had struck when most people were asleep. Therefore it is clear that “EARTHQUAKES DON’T KILL PEOPLE, BUILDINGS DO!”
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INTRODUCTION
It was observed from our many of the project sites that the flooring tiles used in toilets are of joint free type. It was reported by from the handed over flats of deferent projects that toilet floor has the major problem of leakage.

While going through the issue it was found that the joint free tiles that we are using in the floor are the reason for the leakage. Since the joint between the tiles are too small, it difficult to seal the joint completely, this leads to the penetration of water through the joint and resulting in leakage. Also these joints does not account for the expansion and contraction due to temperature by tiles, it will result in the failure of tiles.

Hence as a corrective action for this issue we suggest for the usage of the Tile spacers during the tile lying in toilet floors.

Why use tile spacers?

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By
Mr.Sourav Dutta
Manager (Civil)
Tata Steel Ltd

Rusting/Corrosion are mainly caused due to:
1. Prolonged exposure of rebar to atmosphere/rainfall without any precaution.
2. Aggressive/saline/toxic environment.

RUST is caused by the reaction of air (O2) and moisture (H2O), and it is a common and natural phenomenon for most steel products. IT SHALL NEVER BE CAUSE OF CONCERN/REJECTION OF REBAR, AS PER BIS.

Fig : Guideline of BIS1786-2008

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By
Sreenivasa Hassan Jayaram
Manager-Projects, Jones Lang LaSalle India, Bangalore, Karnataka

Introduction:There are too many line items in life which you cannot calculate. Gravity is one among them. When you lose your balance and fall that’s called as Gravity at work. Many people life at risk got injured or died due to fall from height during the job. Fall from height results in serious injury than any other accidents in the industry. People suffer from broken bones, spinal injuries, paralysis and few more after the fall from height.

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BY
Sreenivasa Hassan Jayaram
Manager-Projects, Jones Lang LaSalle India, Bangalore, Karnataka

Introduction – Ladders are a great resource to help workers access materials or work areas that are out of reach. Additionally, ladder accidents are one of the leading causes of occupational injuries and fatalities.
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By
Sreenivasa Hassan Jayaram
Manager-Projects, Jones Lang LaSalle India, Bangalore, Karnataka

Introduction:Fall protection is the standby system provided for aemployee who could lose his or her equilibrium at height, in order to control or eradicatedamage potential. The fall protection is required to restraint or arrest the fall from heights. The person falling from height may lose balance or grip or may slip, or may trip or may misstep at any point of time. Fallen from height or elevated place results in serious injuries and it could be the most serious injury than any other accident in the industries.
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By
Sreenivasa Hassan Jayaram
Manager-Projects, Jones Lang LaSalle India, Bangalore, Karnataka

Anytime work is being performed overhead where others may be working or walking below, regardless if work is being performed from a scaffold, platform or ladder. Steps shall be taken to prevent hazards associated with falling objects.

• Toe boards shall be used on working platforms and scaffolds over 6 feet (1.8m) in height.
• Materials shall not be allowed to accumulate next to the edge of the work platform without a means to prevent objects from falling into the area below.
• Access to the lower area shall be restricted to protect workers or pedestrians in the area.
• Tools and materials shall be secured either through tethering or other means if they may be dropped to the lower level.

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For more than 2 metres, it is commonly defined as high level fall in which most injuries are resulted from. However, there is an increasing trend that there has been similar number of injuries from low level falls (i.e. less than 2 metres) and from high level falls. As such, some countries have deleted the “2 metre rule” as the definition of falling at height. Instead, it is newly defined as working at a place from which a person could be injured by falling from it, regardless of whether it is above, at or below ground level without stating the level of fall.

This question is taken from book named – A Self Learning Manual – Mastering Different Fields of Civil Engineering Works (VC-Q-A-Method) by Vincent T. H. CHU.

The main principle of safety helmet is to protect workers against impact by falling objects or struck by swinging object by energy absorption. Upon hitting by an object, the helmet dissipates some of the energy in the following mechanisms:

(i) Stretching of harness inside the helmet;
(ii) Partial damage of outer shell of helmet.

The remaining energy is then evenly spread around the head to reduce the hitting stress on worker’s head.

This question is taken from book named – A Self Learning Manual – Mastering Different Fields of Civil Engineering Works (VC-Q-A-Method) by Vincent T. H. CHU.

Following are the IS codes which are used for Clay and Stabilized Soil products for Construction. It includes standardization in the field of burnt, unburnt clay and stabilized soil products for construction.

IS 654:1992 Clay roofing tiles, mangalore pattern – Specification.

IS 1077:1992 Common burnt clay building bricks – Specification

IS 1464:1992 Clay ridge and ceiling tiles – Specification

IS 1478:1992 Clay flooring tile – Specification

IS 1725:1982 Specification for soil based blocks used in general building construction

IS 2117:1991 Guide for manufacture of hand-made common burnt clay building bricks
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