Recently, there have been several incidents involving exterior tiles falling off buildings and injuring passers-by.
One such incident occurred last week in Taipei, when a piece of concrete debris fell from a building on Linsen N Road (林森北路), penetrated a safety net and struck the roof of a car that was waiting at a red light. The car’s roof was dented and a child sitting in the back seat was injured. This incident clearly illustrates that installing safety nets as a temporary measure is not enough to guarantee safety.
December to March is Taiwan’s “tile injury season.” Dramatic temperature fluctuations cause the tiles on exterior walls to peel off and fall. If such an incident does not make a spectacular scene or cause enough damage or injury, the media would not even report it. Local government safety warnings are useless.
This issue has long been a part of daily life in Taiwanese society. The reason it continues to happen and no improvements are made lies in a lack of systematic thinking — many illogical blind spots exist at the common sense level, and none have ever been taken seriously or resolved.
Exterior tiles are prone to falling, so why not follow other countries and prohibit the installation of tiles on exterior walls above a certain height? Once a building’s exterior tiles begin to fall, that entire wall — or even the entire exterior — should not be trusted. It is also common to see buildings with sections of their exterior walls covered in tiles of different colors, indicating that new tiles were installed after the previous ones fell off. Is continuously replacing individual tiles not a complete waste of time?
Furthermore, many apartment buildings adopt such an illogical approach due to a lack of funds or a desire to save money. The Condominium Administration Act (公寓大廈管理條例) was promulgated nearly 30 years ago. Why does the public still lack the necessary thinking and concrete actions to adequately address these issues?
We know that the government is aware of these circumstances — why, then, has there not been action to improve the situation?
The answer is simple — it is because no one is in charge. There is no systematic thinking if officials are not held accountable. To effectively resolve this threat to public safety, it is an absolute must that public officials be designated responsible should another accident occur. Otherwise, the public would be forced to continue living in fear of being struck by falling tiles.
Zou Ho-le is a cofounder of the Condominium Administration 2.0 movement.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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