Religious building collapses: The heavy price of short cuts in places of worship and pilgrimage site construction.

摘要

South Africa is a highly pluralistic and religious society with the majority of the populace embracing either Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, or Judaism as their religion. The rationale for the study was to determine if faith-based organisations took the health and safety needs of their members into account when constructing buildings for religious purposes. Research had shown that religion gives human existence meaning and purpose. Religion allows people to transcend everyday reality. This study reports information collected through questionnaires and interviews with religious leaders. An issue-based risk assessment was also conducted on some buildings owned by faith-based organisations. The study showed that more often than not, health and safety issues were relegated to the background in the construction of new religious structures. It became obvious that these buildings had been constructed out of spiritual expediency, not for ensuring members' health and safety. There is a belief across all religious groups that prayer is the best medicine and God is the best doctor. These spiritual arguments are justified by various scriptural references, for example Psalm 127:1 "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it." [8]. God is held responsible for health and safety of members through his providence. The research findings revealed that a number of religious leaders were grossly ignorant of health and safety issues affecting their members; and of relevant pieces of legislation on health and safety in South Africa. A disconcerting finding was the lack of safety management system to manage health and safety hazards and risks, across all religious groups. The research also revealed the need for safety inspections at religious building; and enforcement of laws and by-laws at faith-based religious sites.