The Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) reported on Thursday that it would decide whether or not to take disciplinary action against any ECSA-registered person involved in the project to build a pedestrian bridge over Johannesburg’s M1 motorway only after the conclusion of its investigation into the deadly collapse.

A bridge-support structure failed on October 14, resulting in the death of two people and the injury of 22 others.

ECSA has a statutory responsibility, in terms of the Engineering Profession Act, to investigate any engineering-profession-related matter where public health and safety have been compromised and violated.

The council said in a statement that a team of experts had been appointed to conduct an inspection and preliminary investigation with the intention of establishing whether the collapse was “due to an act of negligence or malpractice by an ECSA-registered person and also ascertaining if such an act was in contravention of the ECSA Code of Conduct”.

“If after an investigation, any ECSA-registered person is found to have breached the ECSA Code of Conduct, ECSA will take disciplinary actions against the guilty party,” the council said.

Besides the ECSA probe, investigations had also been initiated by the Department of Labour, the City of Johannesburg and the South African Police Service.

A Department of Labour occupational health and safety specialist, accompanied by inspectors, had inspected the site and were preparing a preliminary report. The report would be used by the Chief Inspector to determine if a formal inquiry was necessary and to establish if there had been contraventions by the client (the Gauteng provincial government) and/or M&R in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act.

Construction group Murray & Roberts (M&R), which is responsible for the project, confirmed that it too had launched a formal investigation into the possible causes of collapse. But it stressed that the causes had not yet been determined, despite ongoing speculation.

The JSE-listed company said the various investigations would include analysis and research conducted by technical, engineering, legal and forensic specialists.

“At this point, we are unable to comment on how long the investigations will take and when they will conclude and we appeal to the public to await the outcome. We are as concerned as everyone to understand what happened, and commit to sharing information as soon as the investigation is complete,” M&R said in a statement.