CCC 2018 Proceedings of the Creative Construction Conference (2018) Edited by: Miroslaw J. Skibniewski & Miklos Hajdu DOI 10.3311/CCC2018-120 Corresponding author: John Smallwood E-mail address: john.smallwood@mandela.ac.za Creative Construction Conference 2018, CCC 2018, 30 June - 3 July 2018, Ljubljana, Slovenia Preventing the Collapse of Reinforced Concrete (RC) Structures, and Support Work During Construction: A Support Work Manufacturer’s Perceptions John Smallwood Department of Construction Management, Nelson Mandela University, PO Box 77000, Port Elizabeth, 6031, South Africa Abstract In recent years, there have been a spate of collapses in South Africa, in terms of buildings, slabs, and support work. Given the current reality, a study was initiated to determine, inter alia, the importance of fifty-five factors relative to preventing the collapse of RC structures during construction, and the importance of thirty factors relative to optimum support work and formwork and the integrity of structures under construction. The study reported on is based upon findings resulting from a self-administered survey of a temporary works designer and suppliers’ staff that attended a workshop presented by the author. The salient findings are as follows. 83.3% of the 55 factors are between near major to major / major importance, and 16.7% are between important to near major / near major importance relative to preventing the collapse of RC structures during construction. 83.3% of the 30 factors are between near major to major / major importance, and 16.7% are between important to near major / near major importance relative to optimum support work and formwork and the integrity of structures under construction. Recommendations include that conformance to requirements is the key, that such requirements be scientifically evolved and communicated, a pre-requisite being that the required competencies exist, which can only be assured through a formal registration process, including that of contractors. Ideally, multi-stakeholder project H&S, quality, and risk plans should be evolved, and design and construction must be integrated. Then, general construction management and H&S planning must be a hallmark of all projects, and then optimum management and supervision to ensure execution of such planning. © 2018 The Authors. Published by Diamond Congress Ltd., Budapest University of Technology and Economics Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Creative Construction Conference 2018. Keywords: Collapses; Construction; Structures; Support work; Zero 1. Introduction The report ‘Construction Health & Safety Status & Recommendations’ highlighted the considerable number of accidents, fatalities, and other injuries that occur in the South African construction industry [1]. The report cited the high-level of non-compliance with H&S legislative requirements, which is indicative of a deficiency of effective management and supervision of H&S on construction sites as well as planning from the inception / conception of projects within the context of project management. The report also cited a lack of sufficiently skilled, experienced, and knowledgeable persons to manage H&S on construction sites. The spate of collapses in South Africa include the Pretoria North slab collapse, 1996, a notable collapse, which was ‘flagged’ in the ‘Construction Health & Safety Status & Recommendations’ report [1]. Then, more recently the Tongaat mall collapse in November 2013 [2] while under construction, highlighted the nature and extent of collapses involving reinforced concrete structures and support work. Furthermore, there have been a plethora of collapses between these two collapses, including the Injaka bridge collapse in July 1998 [3]. 922