Landslide experts for the Gjerdrum committee: – Free for junk

In a month, the government-appointed The Gjerdrum committee submit its first report on the landslide tragedy in Nystulia in Gjerdrum municipality on 30 December last year, which cost ten people their lives.

The committee will also give recommendations for better quick clay safety in Norway.

Dagbladet can now report on concerns about the conditions in the industry, among experts in geotechnics (groundwork and ground conditions) who, at the invitation of the committee, have sent their input.

The input does not apply to the Gjerdrum landslide or the reasons for this, but the industry in general.

“There is no one who regulates the industry, and which players are in the industry. Unscrupulous actors are therefore given free rein, until things get really bad “, it says in one of them.

Concerns

Among those concerned are the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), the trade association Norwegian Geotechnical Association (NGF), and municipalities and private companies.

Here are some of the statements:

– Rogue players get free rein.

– The professional community has sent reports of concern about rogue actors

– Some register themselves as specialists, without the competence being checked

“NGF has received several inquiries that players with a lack of competence and / or experience in the area of ​​responsibility for geotechnics have central approval for engineering geotechnics”, writes NGF, which has 700 members.

NGF tells about letters they have sent to the Directorate for Building Quality, after several reports of concern from the professional community about rogue actors.

Proposes supervision scheme

The Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), which is considered one of the country’s foremost landslide experts, calls the current system «not working well».

«Actors themselves can register as geotechnically knowledgeable without the competence actually being checked. As a result, there are today several companies that perform geotechnical consulting without possessing the necessary formal expertise in geotechnics “, writes NGI.

The private institute proposes to legislate a scheme with central approval for actors who can perform area stability assessments.

Area stability assessments take a position on the risk of landslides in a development area.

“In that case, this approval must have a better supervisory system than the system we have today,” it is stated in the input from NGI.

Race for life: – No warning

– Free rein

Among the private companies that have given the Gjerdrum committee input is Era Geo in Molde, which works with geotechnical engineering in construction, railway and road projects.

– We have written in an easy-to-understand, open and honest way about this, says geotechnician and professional leader Sigurd Holo Leikarnes to Dagbladet.

Era Geo writes, among other things, that «There is no one who regulates the industry, and which players are in the industry. Unscrupulous actors are therefore given free rein, until things get really bad ».

– False security

Leikarnes would therefore like to have a body that can be notified, and a control body that checks that those who receive central approval for geotechnics actually have the competence they should have.

– We welcome that, says Sigurd Holo Leikarnes.

“Today, there are a number of companies that do not have geotechnicians, who have central approval in geotechnics in measure classes 2 and 3. This provides a false sense of security, and the system helps to build up rogue players,” writes Era Geo.

Runs nursing homes at risk

– Voluntary arrangement

Director Per-Arne Horne in the Directorate for Building Quality (DiBK) does not recognize himself in the input to the Gjerdrum committee, because “the right competence is crucial for obtaining central approval”.

He writes that central approval is voluntary, and that those who apply have their qualifications assessed against the requirements in the building regulations.

“Applicants for central approval for liability law must be able to document that professional management meets the requirements for educational level and work practice,” he writes.

“Enterprises are obliged, without undue delay, to notify the Directorate for Building Quality of changes that are important for the approval,” Horne writes to Dagbladet.

Among such changes, he mentions resignations, dismissals or significant reorganisations, and writes that the company may lose approval if the professional management resigns.

“It is thus not the case that players themselves can register as experts in geotechnics,” writes Per-Arne Horne.

Unknown landslide shocks Gudny (77)

– Speaks for himself

Professor of geotechnics Gudmund Eiksund at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim also emphasizes that central approval is voluntary.

According to Eiksund, the individual municipality can accept that companies without central approval are responsible, but that they must then in principle have documentation in the form of relevant education and experience.

He says that great pressure in the construction industry, with high activity and little procurement competence in the municipalities in the field of geotechnics, opens up opportunities for companies with insufficient competence to receive geotechnical consulting assignments.

– Is there a need for a system that checks that the geotechnicians actually have the competence they need?

– The consultation inputs really speak for themselves. There is room for improvement of both the approval scheme and the competence in the municipalities, says Gudmund Eiksund.

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