On 14th March 2019, part of the ‘Himalaya’ pedestrian bridge near CST in Mumbai collapsed, resulting in 6 deaths and dozens of serious injuries.
The ‘Mumbai Mirror’ newspaper on 16th March 2019 has carried a report that says that one possible factor that MAY have contributed to this terrible tragedy is the fact that the bridge department rushed to do the ‘beautification job’ of the bridge , to prepare for visit of some ‘big bosses’. This beautification effort (applying a fresh coat of paint and fixing of new tiles) would have seriously come in the way of doing a proper structural and safety audit. Knowing this implication of beautification process fully well, the team still completed this job first, – we can guess, to ensure that they ‘showcased’ a beautiful bridge to the big bosses during their visit. When I read this report, I could see so many parallels that we see in workplaces every day and thought of asking ourselves a few questions.
