East excavation ‘an accident waiting to happen’
The hole was dug more than a month ago after a water pipe leak was repaired by the municipality.
An excavated area at the intersection of Ajax and Achilles roads in Olympus, Pretoria East, remains a headache to residents and motorists.
The hole was dug more than a month ago after a water pipe leak was repaired by the municipality.
Resident Reinhard Hettasch said the hole was a safety hazard and the municipality has made very little effort to ensure it was covered.
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“No attempts are made to properly backfill the excavations left by the water teams and demarcation is not maintained until such time as the backfill and road repairs are carried out,” he said.
“The latter creates a serious safety risk, especially for the children.”
Hettasch, who is also an engineer, said contractors had the obligation to ensure that all the standard conditions were met in accordance with the municipality’s procedures and that all safety measure were adhered to.
He said the hole had no proper signage or buffering to warn motorists or keep children out.
“I have witnessed near-accidents happen there because motorists try to avoid the hole by driving into oncoming traffic,” he said.
“At night a person can easily fall into the hole and get injured.”
He said one of the standard conditions was that all excavations were to be left in a safe manner at the end of a work shift.
“That would entail secure demarcations to prevent people (including children) from possibly slipping and falling into the excavation, and the required warning to vehicular traffic and the required signage being positioned at the correct distances on the approaches to the excavations and at the work areas, all in accordance with the national road traffic act (act 93 of 1996) and the Southern African development community road traffic signs manual.”
Hettasch said residents raised the issue that the ward councillor has not given “satisfactory” feedback on the issue.
“As ratepayers, we are concerned, with good reason,” he said.
“The current situation of work left undone and the associated safety risks for the public is not acceptable and cannot be tolerated anymore.”
He said in recent years, the area has had numerous pipe bursts leading to a marked increase in the number of excavation holes that were left unfilled.
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Ward councillor Mike Strange said the municipality’s region 6 management was well aware of the issue and has escalated numerous times.
“I received word that the new tender is in its final stages and it looks promising that the backlog on these exposed excavations can commence [this] week.”
He said he was not aware of any accidents that were caused by the hole, but said by law people could claim from the municipality if it is argued that the accident arose directly as a result of negligence on behalf of the Tshwane metro.
“If people travel at the lawful speed and slow down for the obvious obstruction and observe the stop street, there should be no cause for an accident,” he said.
He reassured the residence that the hole was first priority in ward 101.
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