Building code violations, the use of inferior building materials, and the flood of unqualified contractors have all been blamed for the recent collapse of buildings around the nation.
According to the Ghanaian chapter of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), institutions are not upholding standards as required by law.
At least five building collapses have been reported in the nation over the last week, the most recent of which occurred at a church site in Accra's Kasoa Bortianor and injured construction workers.
Such situations result in fatalities, serious injuries, and lost investments.
Building collapses have been on the rise, and IFMA blames lax infrastructure oversight for this.
Sampson Opare-Manu, president of the IFMA Ghana Chapter, blames the recent building failures on the availability of subpar building materials, unskilled workers, and lax oversight.
He is concerned about lax building oversight.
"There are institutions that are not carrying out their duties. People must put the drawing's instructions into practice when they receive building licenses and travel to the construction site. Additionally, experts from the assembly must patrol the area to make sure everyone is adhering to the building permit. However, the majority of the time, they are granted in questionable ways. When we visit the site, no specialists are there to oversee their application. We now have inferior products on the market. What's the Ghana Standards Authority up to?" he questioned.
Professor Emmanuel Adinyira, vice dean of the Faculty of Built Environment at KNUST, thinks strengthening supervisory institutions will clean up the building and construction sectors.
"The system has many quarks, and the industry is not well controlled. Even though some of the safeguards have already been put in place, we still need to make the laws stricter and give institutions greater power. A body that can sanitize the business would exist after the Construction Business Development Bill is enacted, he added. Discussions on the bill are now taking place.
To celebrate and recognize facility managers and the whole facility management profession, facility managers and academics joined other international players to observe World FM Day.
Professor John Tiah Bugiri, provost of the College of Art and Built Environment at KNUST, wants rules to be implemented to boost professionalism in the built sector.
He thinks partnerships between academics and businesses might help the sector overcome obstacles.
To advance the development of our sector and truly change the world, we must cooperate. The actual difference will depend on how well we are able to close the gaps. Despite the size of the work we have ahead of us as facility management professionals, I am certain that we can all rise to the challenge. We can all show that, as facility management practitioners, we are more than capable of bridging the gaps thanks to the skills we have acquired.
Only 277 facility management professionals work in Ghana at the moment.
According to Dr. Anthony Adjei-Twum of the Department of Land Economy at KNUST, academic institutions need to boost their research to fulfill market expectations and include facility managers in an organization's structure.
"Typically, facility managers are not included on the construction team. They are the ones who oversee the facility during its full lifespan. If someone is responsible for managing a facility but is not involved in its design or offering any advice, how will he do so? Facility managers must be involved from the outset, not only at the management level, he said.
"Facility Management: Making a Real Difference in Ghana" was the subject of the 2023 World Facility Management Day.
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