Commercial eSpeaking: What to do When the Earth has Moved

What to do When the Earth has Moved

The recent Kaikoura earthquake was yet another reminder of the volatile and unpredictable nature of the land on which we all live. As we have seen, even earthquakes that don’t cause widespread destruction and/or loss of life can have a major impact on businesses and property owners. We set out below some guidance on points to keep in mind if you own, or are a tenant in, a commercial building potentially affected by earthquake damage.

Civil Defence Emergency Management

If you’re a building owner, you have primary responsibility to ensure your building is structurally safe. You must provide assistance to the local emergency management officials (if a state of emergency has been declared) or to the council if there’s no state of emergency.

If a state of emergency is declared, civil defence officials are likely to begin a rapid assessment to determine whether your building is structurally safe. They may inspect the building and issue a placard indicating it can be used, or that entry is restricted or prohibited.

You must co-operate fully with this inspection process, including providing any information requested (for example, any previous engineering advice received).

Civil defence officials can also require you to undertake structural assessments, and make safe or demolish all or part of those structures. They can also require evacuations, and close roads and public spaces. This often occurs where a building is at risk of collapse, and can significantly affect neighbouring businesses.

Health and safety

If your building is, or contains, a place of work, then both you and your tenant will have duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, including a duty to consult, co-operate and co-ordinate with each other.

Among other duties, a person who controls a workplace or fixtures and fittings within a workplace (shelving, for example) also has specific duties to ensure those things are without risks to the health and safety of any person.

After an earthquake

If there’s a risk that the structural integrity of the building has been affected by the quake, an inspection should be undertaken by a chartered professional engineer.

If a structural engineering report is already held, that may provide some recommendations as to the situations in which a further report is required (for7 example, an earthquake over a certain magnitude). If not, building owners and tenants will need to use their judgement as to whether the building’s structural integrity has potentially been affected.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (which administers both building law, and health and safety legislation) suggests that things to look for include:
»» Broken windows
»» Broken or cracked concrete/plaster/ masonry/linings
»» Damaged building components
»» Changes in building levels or tilting
»» Dangers from neighbouring buildings and environs, such as power lines
»» Dislodged services, and
»» Significant displacement of furniture and office components.

If engineers confirm the building is structurally safe, you and your tenant/s will need to decide whether it can be reoccupied. If the building is structurally sound,

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