INTRODUCTION

CAUSE OF FAILURE AND IMPACT

The Penang jetty incident 31 years ago has a few factors which causes the jetty to
collapses which causes people to be injured as well as killed a few numbers of people. In the
jetty collapse case, a few factors have been considered to be the main cause of the tragedy to
occur. The accident has been found to be due to the overcrowded of the jetty and also the
reinforcement of the structure could not withstand the load given to the jetty.

On the 31st of July 1988, there were two simultaneous festivities involving the Chinese
ethnic which is the Kwan Yon Goddess festival taken place in George Town and the
anniversary of St. Anne’s Church in Bukit Mertajam. The two festival has drawn a huge
number of people from our country and also tourist coming from Singapore, Hong Kong and
Taiwan visiting the Penang Island. In order to prevent from congestion of traffic on the Penang
bridge, the authority closes the bridge thus causing the people who wanted to visit the island
would have to take the ferries to the island, thus causes the jetty to be crowded which are the
main cause of the jetty to collapse.

The Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal had two levels which are divided into two levels,
a lower level which has cars and other small vehicles to roll-on or off as well as an upper level
which are for the passengers from and to the Butterworth bus station. The 1956 terminal was
not able to withstand the overcrowded number of passengers, the columns that were made of
reinforced concrete and thick boards as the floor. Meanwhile, the floor beams, fencing and
walls were made out of dense steel covering the passageway for vehicle at the lower part of the
jetty to move in and out of the jetty. At 4:40 p.m. the beam buckled and snapped, the floor
boards consequently collapsed, the steel wall and roof caved in. The passengers above the slid
were crushed by columns and platform boards meanwhile the vehicles beneath were smashed.

The impact of the collapse has killed 32 people and injured 1674 people which are taken
to the Butterworth Hospital, Bukit Mertajam Hospital and other nearby hospitals to be treat
their injuries. The fire brigades face a lot of struggle extricating and rescuing the victims of the
accident. The passage of the jetty on the right side are still operating and are able to let
passengers travel to the island and back to aid with the rescue,
ENGINEERING ETHICS
LESSONS LEARNT
RECOMMENDED ACTION