Two years ago, a highway bridge in Shaanxi, China that had been in use for less than six years collapsed, resulting in 62 people dead or missing. The latest official report points out multiple cases of fraud in the project, including the construction unit not following the blueprints and third-party acceptance falsification.
On July 19, 2024, a bridge section on the Shuizhen segment of the Daning highway in Zhashui County, Shangluo City, Shaanxi Province suddenly collapsed due to flash flooding, causing 62 deaths and missing persons.
This Monday (June 8), the Office of China's State Council Work Safety Committee reported several typical cases of fraud in the field of work safety, including this highway bridge project, which revealed serious supervision and inspection fraud behind the construction.
The investigation found that the supervising unit, Beijing Huahong Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd., illegally agreed to allow the construction unit to raise the tie beams without following the blueprints, failed to truthfully record the supervision logs; despite discrepancies between actual conditions and design, they conducted acceptance based on the original construction drawings and improperly signed off during final inspection and acceptance before completion.
The third-party testing unit, formerly Shaanxi Jiaojian Highway Engineering Test and Inspection Co., Ltd., had a project leader who discovered that the actual pile lengths of the bridge did not match the design, but still arbitrarily altered the pile length and original ultrasound graphics. When the company was made aware, it failed to correct the issue and still issued the inspection report.
After the disaster, the project’s on-site supervisor and the third-party testing service project leader involved in the case were suspected of criminal offenses and placed under compulsory judicial measures; the Shaanxi Department of Transportation imposed administrative penalties on Beijing Huahong Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd., Shaanxi Jiaokong Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. (formerly Shaanxi Jiaojian Highway Engineering Test and Inspection Co., Ltd.), and the relevant responsible persons.
The Work Safety Committee Office indicated that in recent years, investigations into several accidents and disasters have revealed that some units have engaged in falsification in multiple links, including survey, design, construction, supervision, evaluation, inspection, and testing. This has been a major inducement for the occurrence of such accidents and disasters, exposing these units' weak awareness of safety production bottom lines and virtualized implementation of responsibilities, with serious nature and severely negative impact.
Disclosed simultaneously with the Shaanxi bridge collapse case was another typical incident: on August 22 last year, the construction project of the Xicheng Railway Jianzhai Yellow River Grand Bridge, undertaken by the Seventh Engineering Co. Ltd. of China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group, suffered a major collapse, resulting in 16 people dead or missing.
The investigation found that the XCTJ11 project management department of the Xicheng Railway had illegally purchased substandard bolts; of the 21 labor subcontract agreements involved, 18 showed evidence of illegal subcontracting. A separate set of "compliant" contracts and supporting materials was specifically fabricated to pass inspections.
The Seventh Engineering Company of the Major Bridge Bureau and the construction project department only went through the motions when allocating beam processing quality inspections and tower installation acceptance, with important indicators not being checked but still signed off as confirmed on the relevant forms.
After the incident, the chief engineer of the Seventh Engineering Company, the project department manager, deputy chief engineer, and director of the equipment and material department were suspected of major liability accident crimes and handed over to judicial authorities for treatment; the emergency management department of Qinghai Province imposed administrative penalties on the Seventh Engineering Company of the Major Bridge Bureau.