DTI warns vs proliferation of sub-standard steel bars

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has cautioned home builders, construction firms and real estate developers about the real dangers of using sub-standard steel angle bars.

Pete Mendoza, head of the Bureau of Product Standards of the DTI, said sub-standard angle bars being sold in the market do not conform with industry standards and puts public safety at great risk.

In a press conference held in Makati, the DTI said fake or counterfeit steel angle bars lack the standard tensile strength needed to support structures like houses and billboards. Since these steel angle bars did not go through quality standards tests, Mendoza said using them could put the entire project at great risk and the lives of people using those structures.

Mendoza recalled what happened during Typhoon Melenyo where 21 billboard structures collapsed along EDSA. Mendoza said these structures used sub-standard steel angle bars which easily twisted and several others broke due to the strong winds brought by the typhoon. Locally produced steel angle bars do not easily break because it conforms to DTI industry standards.

Philippine National Standard 657:2008 is the law being implemented by the DTI for hot-rolled equal-leg angle bars. It covers steel angle bars that are normally intended for bolted, riveted or welded structures. It excludes angle bars that are heat treated.

“Typhoon Melenyo was a wake-up call for us at the DTI to fully and strictly implement the checking and confiscation of these sub-standard steel angle bars because it puts people’s lives at risk. Seeing those billboard structures collapsed one by one, and one upon the other, showed how dangerous using these steel angle bars are. Imagine these sub-standard steel angle bars being used to support your house as pillars. The lives of your loved ones would surely be put under great risk,” Mendoza said.

Ramon Tan, a steel angle expert and spokesperson for SASSMAPI or Steel Angles, Shapes & Sections Manufacturers Association of the Philippines Inc., said counterfeit bars can easily be identified by reading the markings on the product. Tan said, those without proper markings approved by the DTI are considered fake or counterfeit. Likewise, fake angle bars are shorter and leaner than locally manufactured steel angle bars.