#EpicFAILS [Structural Engineering]

"At med school I was an obsessive compulsive. I did very well, and I graduated with honours. And I came out of medical school with the impression that if I memorized everything and knew everything, or as much as possible, as close to everything as possible, that it would immunize me against making mistakes. And it worked for a while, until I met Mrs. Drucker." Dr Brian Goldman - emergency-room physician in Toronto and radio show host.

The TED Talk from which the quote above came from is something that every Engineer should really take a close look at. It will hopefully kick-start some reflective thoughts on whether we have what it takes to assume the mantle of technical and social responsibility that we shoulder. Or at the very least, as Dr Brian Goldman suggests, force us to talk about it - get it out there. Discuss it.

For this post I have been Google and Wiki-researching a number of pertinent structural failures from our past. This post is not intended to cover every major disaster, nor every recent engineering screw-up. What I have done is look at them for you, and highlighted some interesting ones, based upon a few different key factors;

1. Size and magnitude of destruction.
2. Who's fault was it?
3. The fall out. What happened as a result?
4. Can we learn anything from this. 

I don't mean to scare you [OK I do], but as it happens there is a mind boggling wealth of subject matter to choose from should you decide to look into historical structural failures. Many lives lost.

I intend to stretch a few posts out over the next week, and deal with 15 such disasters.

So let's get this morbid show on the road. In no particular order of importance or significance - here are the Structural Engineering failures which would have, undoubtedly rocked many peoples worlds, in a very sad way.

The Hyatt Regency Hotel Walkway Collapse, Kansas City, USA [1981]
#Killed [injured] - 114 [216]
Structural Engineers - Jack D. Gillum & Associates
Contractors - Haven Steel
This disaster easily makes it way into my blog post, because this costly failure was considered to have been caused by a lack of communication between the Structural Engineers - Jack D. Gillum & Associates, and the specialist steelwork subcontractors - Havens Steel.

This was also one of the very few structural engineering mistakes which was case studied during my Civil Engineering degree course at Nottingham Trent University.

Photo sourced from

http://commandsafety.com

My thoughts on this disaster are that this quite possibly is one of the worst possible modern failures of a Structural Engineer to carry out their duties. 

The engineers involved were convicted of criminal negligence and also had their license to practice engineering removed.

As a direct result of this tragedy, $140million dollars was award to the victims and their families. Also, and most importantly, the now retired owner of JD Gillum's, Jack Gillum, has been involved in the occasional speaking engagement for engineering conferences - sharing his experiences and those of his company. In the hope that a disaster like this will never be repeated again. [please check the wiki-link for full information].


The Dee Bridge Disaster, Chester, England [1847]

#Killed [injured] - 5 [9]
Structural Engineer - Robert Stephenson
Material - Cast Iron Girders

The cause for the disaster was eventually explained by the Railway Inspectorate to be a design error. Specifically, by making a poor choice of materials - in this case, cast iron girders. The hugely celebrated Civil and Locomotive Engineer vehemently argued that the fault for the failure lay elsewhere, and was not caused by a fracturing of the girders due to poor ductility.

The disaster never had much of an effect on the career of Robert Stephenson as his very close friends Isambard Brunel and Joseph Locke [who were called to be expert witnesses in the trial] refused to criticise Roberts design. Afterwards, a number of similar failures occurred using cast iron girder designs.

This and other structural failures halted the design and construction of identical bridges across the globe. Steel began to replace cast iron very quickly afterwards. It was believed that the increased ductility and less likelihood for hidden internal defects made it a better material to design and build bridges with.


Versailles Wedding Hall Disaster, Talpiot, Jerusalem [2001]

#Killed [injured] - 23 [380]
Structural Engineer - Eli Ron [and 3 other Engineers]
Construction Method - Pal-Kal


At the time, until footage was rescued, it was believed due to the visible amount of devastation, that a terrorist had bombed the hall. Later it would prove to be a series of structural engineering mistakes and alterations to the building during construction and afterwards which led to the floor collapsing and claiming 23 lives.

The light weight coffered concrete floor system which had been innovated by the Structural Engineer responsible for the disaster, was believed to be the main contributor to the floor collapsing. As it happens, partitions erected directly below the floor spread the load well enough to support the loads temporarily. That was up and until the wedding hall owners decided to remove them.

When the floor began to excessively deflect [this being the sign of imminent failure], instead of consulting the Engineers, they levelled off the floor using a concrete screed. Effectively worsening the situation. Please refer to the [link] here for a more detailed report.

As a result the Engineer responsible for the system of construction [Eli Ron] was found guilty of manslaughter and the building owners also convicted of causing death by negligence.



Each of the structural failures include very different reasons for the mistakes. Some were related to a quick succession of engineering mishaps combined with construction difficulties. One in particular will register heavily with many of us - design developments due to onsite buildability issues.


My advice is as soon as you hear the words, not "do you remember..." but "can we change...", then you all should be reaching for the design file, and thinking well on what you are about to say to a screaming contractor.

Next time I will be briefly looking at The Quebec Bridge Disaster, The I-35W Mississippi River Bridge Disaster amongst others.

Until then, please don't have nightmares.

If you have spotted any engineering project which is suspiciously lack lustre or feel under pressure not to spend enough time on a project that deserves it then please follow this link to the CROSS and SCROSS structural safety website. There you will find advice on how to report your findings.

Engine[er]

Dipping in your Toes [the journey begins here]

Good morning. Last post I spoke of marketing [in 60seconds] for an Engineer.

Well, to that end I have recently been frequenting a newfangled [networking] get together in St Albans, my home town. A completely dressed down and informal way to meet local business owners, and a rare opportunity to chat about marketing, SEO and social media with the experts - without being the subject of a sales pitch.

I managed to glean many golden nuggets of information from the afternoons socialising [special thanks to a kindred snowboarder Gabriel Homer]

The group call themselves An Afternoon in the Pub. I warmly suggest that if you are in the area of Hertfordshire when one of their meets is scheduled, come over and have a chat with them.

So, without further ado... please follow this [link] to my guest post for them.

As usual, let me know what you think and watch out for my Friday blog post later!!




Engine[er]

Engineering a Personal Brand [in 60seconds]

Never has it been so important to present yourself to your employers, colleagues and clients as somebody special and worth investing time in.


The final quarter of last year saw another dip in national construction output and with the prediction being that the economy is expected to move sideways for the first quarter of this year - it spells tough market conditions and limited project availability for most of us. [Double Dip Recession?]

If you are a graduate looking for your next placmement, a self-employed freelancer or an Engineering business owner seeking to increase both the quality and and quantity of your client base - you have lots of work to do, and it starts with Personal Branding.

Q. Why is it important to market yourself as an Engineer?
A. Simple, most of us engineering types are initailly thought of as 'safety first', non-practical, nerdy and introverted. Differentiating yourself from the crowd, and making use of rare opportunities to show off your unique personality and skills are key. Be the exception.
"First impressions are the most lasting, and they both open and close doors."


Q. How do we even begin to market ourselves?
A. The first stage is to understand what it is that you are working with. Ask your friends, family, colleagues and clients to be frank with you. Have them tell you what it is that you impress upon them, their lives or their businesses. You may not fall in love with their initial comments, but take heart from those willing to take the time to help you out. As it is obvious that they are interested in continuing a relationship with you.
"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things" - Winston Churchill.

Q. When do we begin to market ourselves?
A. Now. Take the positives from what you already learned about your personality or 'personal
brand' and amplify those sentiments using a 60 second pitch [elevator pitch], and online tools - such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and blogging etc. Practice and apply consistently your key personal selling points, and this will in time begin to form the pillar of why your clients decide to do business with you, rather than than your competitors. Give them a reason to come back rather than relying upon selling cheaper or quicker design. Every Engineer can provide that at some point in their careers.
"When networking, nothing is more essential than having a prepared 60 second pitch"


This has been [60 seconds].


Engine[er]

Guilt Saves Lives [and money]

Approximately 10 years ago my world fell through the floor in an instant.

I had just finished designing a new foundations scheme for a big property developer, it was my first completely unaided design project.

Just as I was about to turn the calculations over [Scheme A] to a checking Engineer, I decided to pull out a similar previous scheme [Scheme B] as a control subject. I needed to do this as I was still a design rookie. A quick investigation to see if the loads were similar - that's all I needed to do.

The two housing schemes were practically identical, apart from Scheme B's foundations [already built] were constructed from piled ground beams.

First glances told me that I may have been a bit conservative during the design of my first unaided design project. Infact the pudding seemed to have been over egged by as much as 100%!

Returning to my calculations I worked my way through them once more, and could't seem to justify any load reductions. Confusion set in.

It was then that I took the rather hard decision to review the mature scheme.  They were calculations which I had originally carried out, and once I thoroughly reviewed them, it was at that point in time my whole world came crashing down around me.

Essentially I had forgotten to multiply the floor loads by 2, as the foundation I was checking was on a party wall line. The 4-storey terraced home was already built, sold and no doubt families would be moving in soon.

What happened afterwards was one of the most uncomfortable conversations that I had ever had to have with another Engineer, my boss at the time.

Due to making that mistake, an obvious advantage to experiencing such hell was born. Since then, I have had the opportunity to 'save' many other Engineers from making that same mistake in their calculations. As it turns out, it is easily done and one of the very first things that I look at.

"Experience is simply the name we give to making mistakes" Oscar Wilde.

Still to this very day I feel pangs of guilt [controlled guilt] for what happened many years ago. But why?

Guilt is and incredibly difficult emotion to understand. Psychologists appear to be divided on how or why we evolved to feel guilty. The general consensus is that this destructive and stressful emotion helps balance our future interactions in our social circles.

All I know is that it is a persistent feeling which never seems to give up its host. The powerful negativity drives a massive change to behaviour and just like tooth ache, you never want to feel that pain ever again - if you can help it, that is.

Amongst many others, Dr David M.Amodio of the University of New York, and his team of researchers Patricia G.Devine and Eddie Harman-Jones studied the affects of what guilt has upon our psychology.

There was a theory being banded around by researchers that the punitive feeling of guilt may keep you from repeating the same transgressions of behaviour into the future, which psychologists call "withdrawal motivation."

Some researchers view guilt in a strictly societal context, in that; it keeps people's behavior in line with the moral standards of their community. This is a more positive emotional experience and is associated with "approach motivation."

What Dr Amodio believed was that guilt is initially associated with withdrawal motivation, which then transforms into approach-motivated behavior when an opportunity for reparation presents itself.

From painful experience, I can empathise with Dr Amodio and his researchers beliefs.

It would appear that we as Engineers need this deminutive emotion to help prevent us from re-enacting the same mistakes time and time again.

So next time, when it is presented to you that repeating the same mistakes is a bad thing, you will be able to associate this with the painful state of feeling guilty.

As it turns out, by tapping directly into this dark emotion and nurturing your feelings of guilt, you are not only saving lives and your bosses money, but you are attenuating the spectre of stress. Which could also be saving you from stress related health issues.

Guilt and feeling responsible for ones actions is as essential to the life of an Engineer, as 'the force' is to a Jedi Knight. Without it you are as normal as everybody else [Bantha fodder]. But with it, you can balance and protect society. Neat.



Engine[er]

PS. Links to be attached later

Rhinoceroses are household pets and piano's are weapons

No I'm not crazy, but don't let that stop you from reading this post. You will still find it amusing.

Trust me, the rather off the wall title and aforementioned promise of insane content will slowly come into focus as you digest the following written words.

Just recently my attention was redirected from designing a new floor, towards a rather tantalising tweet aimed at me by one of my networking friends in St Albans [nice guy - Nigel]. We had previously spoke at length, he knew I was an Engineer and blogger, and thought that I might enjoy reading an article. In it starred an American Civil Engineer who in 1900, made a name for himself by predicting what the last 100 years might bring to our world. Heavily centred on America, of course. You don't know of him? His name was John Elfreth Watkins (1852-1903).

I apologise to all those who are already familiar with the article, but for those who are not familiar, I wish to quickly summarise the piece which was published in the Ladies' Home Journal.

When I read the digital copy, I counted 28 paragraphed predictions which Watkins made [most paragraphs contained a few bonus ones though - so there are load more]. Some of his predictions are eerily accurate, like;

• Americans in the year 2000 will likely be 1-2 inches taller on average than they were in the 1900's. Apparently this has already been shown to be true. 
• Watkins also predicted that wireless telephones would exist in the future, and would allow a husband in the middle of the Atlantic to converse with his wife 'real-time' in her boudoir in Chicago. I think that he meant his mistress. 

• This rather insightful Civil Engineer also predicted colour digital photography, along with foreseeing that these images would be transported across the globe in seconds, and be published in the news in the matter of hours. Twitter or Facebook?

In amongst his fabulously accurate predictions were to be found a number of 'curve balls' if you are American, or crackpot ideas.

• One such idea was there will be no wild animals left in the world, except for menageries and I suspect zoos. 
• He also predicted that rats and mice would become extinct, 
• and that strawberries as large as apples would be eaten by his great great grandchildren on Christmas day. Apparently only one strawberry each would do. So no 5-a-day then? All of your nutritional needs in one giant strawberry. Excellent.

As you can see, from the above - John Watkins was an interesting breed of Civil Engineer.

But I didn't want to talk to you about his predictions or how accurate they were, or even if he was some kind of genius... what I wanted to talk to you about was more to do with the reporting of this article.

When my friend brought the piece by Watkins to my attention, I (a) read the article which I was pointed towards, (b) read the article which it was resourced from, then (c) I read the actual piece which Watkins wrote. It was then that something struck me.

I then searched the internet for more instances where this 1900's article had been critiqued or blogged about. There I found my second bolt of lightening. Hundreds of times, this very same piece had been birthed in some dark bloggy corner of the web, grown into news articles and then it eventually croaked. My findings stretched back to 2007. There may be older examples out there.

It occurred to me that many [not all] of those who found the Watkins piece had indeed found it second or third hand like me. They, like me recognised that some of their network may well enjoy this wee bit of whimsy, and republished it for their pleasure. Nothing wrong with that either.

EXCEPT, it appeared that some of us had simply skimmed the Watkins piece to check its validity and then accepted the second hand news article as accurate. By not paying due attention and spending a little time reading the actual Watkins document, they were loosing some of the vital facts. They were also rushing to publish their blog and news feed before their competition did too... this is plainly obvious. 

Links to some of the sites I visited:

Paleofuture / The Sun / i09 Welcome from the future / BBC News / Daniel H Pink / Stupidest.com / London Street Spiritual Church / Salem Chamber of Commerce / Saturday Eveningpost

My favourite one above is the 'stupidest ides of what everyday life would be like in the future'. Very funny.

What happened amongst these news articles and posts, was a minor distortion of the truth. Not particularly on purpose either. Due to the amazing amount of information that we attempt to absorb nowadays, and the speed in which we are able to share it, a little laziness seems to have crept in. No longer do we have the time to check out each and every post, before we retweet or 'like' it. 

Well, I do not wish to spend anymore time on that particular realisation [as I do not want to dwell on how very late I was in finding this news piece :-)], apart from to set a few things straight about the Watkins piece.

Firstly, he did not predict these future occurrences with absolute certainty in mind. He merely stated 'What may happen...'. That may be semantics to you, but to me, that's just writing down and publishing the results of an entertaining pub chat, which commonly occurs between colleagues and friends, in many bars in many countries across the world. 

Also quite interestingly, even though it appears that John Watkins wrote the piece and took the credit for it, all he did was round up a pomposity of professors and an asylum of industry experts [probably in a pub] and regurgitate their ideas on 'what gives' for the next 100 years. Also, because John didn't think to mention the names of his colleagues in the piece, we are currently stumped to know who they all were. Note - if access to those names is possible, and my armchair research wasn't thorough enough... then many apologies.

You will be forgiven for thinking that some of their ideas are so close to the truth, that they deserve our attention. This is true, very true in fact. One paragraph predicts vegetables will be grown by electricity both night and day was quite cool. Although I have to say that the prediction which states there would be no use for C, X or Q in our everyday alphabet in the future, is Quite wrong and fills me up with a eXCeeding amount of sCeptiCism. Perhaps they were on their fourth pint by then and already lining up the sambuca shots.

In an effort to combine one of my life's little pleasures with this train of thought though, I would like to leave you with this one video clip. It is only 2 minutes long so please watch it, as I think that it eloquently demonstrates the process of predicting the future, by reverse engineering a daft question. Therefore if you come up with a crazy thought or two of what the future may hold for us, you can by reasoning and generally making stuff up, justify your thoughts. Take it away Dr Sheldon Cooper [Big Bang Theory].

"In a world where rhinos are domesticated pets, who wins the second world war?" 

Video - Big Bang Theory [click here]

Engine[er]

Tools of the Trade [Super Engineer]

When first introduced to a new project you can expect a set of planning drawings, perhaps if you are lucky a project specification and/or a brief. You'd hope for at least a sketch or two though.

You will most definitely be offered an opportunity to take a closer look at the property by way of a site inspection. During this initial visit, it benefits everyone if the Engineer [that's you] can take away the maximum amount of information possible. Unless of course you live just round the corner.

Again, if you are a fortunate Engineer, you may well have access to the services of a builder, who will help you access hidden structure during the investigation.

But what happens if you don't?

Quite often the projects can be simple and straight forward, and if the Gods of Engineering smile sweetly upon you, then like the Red Sea parting, access will be granted and all will be revealed.

If not, then pulling up a bit of carpet reveals the direction of the floor boards, and hence the joist span direction. Tapping on a wall may reveal a light weight partition, or a load bearing block work wall.

This is all well and good, but what if the floor has a floating timber floor over, or tiled? How about a dot and dabbed block work wall, when you are expecting an non-load bearing one?

The truth is, the initial site visit made by the Engineer can quite often be revealed to have been an opportunity not taken advantage of.

So we make educated assumptions, and extensively caveat our work - SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION BY CONTRACTOR.

For everyone involved, this is less than satisfactory. It allows the contractor to adjust their costs [upwards], taking advantage of the proverbial 'foot in the door' position which they have. Also the Architect may [with good reason] withhold construction drawings until further investigation has taken place.

There isn't a single thing wrong with this process, it happens for most refurbishment projects. Although, from the clients point of view, it looks pretty wasteful, and frustrating.

So, what can we do? Not enough unfortunately, but we can be proactive, and give ourselves a better understanding of the building by being prepared. So I have learned.

"Fortune favours the prepared mind" Louis Pasteur

Below is a snap shop, and list of investigative tools which could very well push the odds back in our favour.

This list is not exhaustive or indeed THE optimum bag of tricks. It does however represent a great starting point. Add to the list as you see fit, and please tell me of your experiences too!

1. Collapsible step ladder. Trust me, not everyone owns an access ladder into their loft or roof space. If you carry some - you can actually look like you know what you are doing. [mine cost £80, you can buy smaller versions for around £50]
2. A million candle spot light/torch. When 999,999 candles just won't cut it... having this piece of kit with you will make you look like Superman. This is a great tool. [£3.99 from any petrol forecourt when you spend £30 on fuel]
3. Clip board. Simple, easy to use. Everybody knows that the guy or gal with the clip board is the one worth knowing. Kudos is only 50p away. Buy one.
4. Claw hammer and a few blocks of wood. Smash stuff and open up plaster board ceilings with one bound. [try and spend atleast fiver on this item]
5. Essential tool alert! Tape measure. [try and spend atleast fiver on this item]
6. Bonus weapon. Electric cutter. Can be very useful to cut accurate and tidy holes. Be careful though, pull out one of these and you start looking like a builder who turns up to work in a suit everyday. I like them, so I have one. [cordless will cost you around £100]
7. Wrecking bar. Tasty leverage, light weight and bullish. You can wreck all day with this tool without breaking into a sweat. [a good one will cost around £7]
8. Screwdrivers. An assortment of them will help out tremendously. [you could spend a minor fortune here, a fiver]
9. Pliers/pincers. I like them, you may not. [£5 from any good hardware shop]
10. Scissors or Stanley knife [other bladed knives are freely available]. Great at trimming and making good an edge. [£1 down Poundland]
11. Brush. Not absolutely necessary, but I keep one just in case I make a huge mess. [£1 down Poundland]
12. Digital Camera. I use the camera on my phone. Taking pictures during an investigation has helped me no end in the past and a serious investigator needs one. [Price? Where do I start?]

A number of other tools have not been included; for example a hand shear vane tester, engineers note book, reference material and calculator etc.

Please add to this as you see fit, and enjoy your new Super Engineer status.

Many thanks to Alexander from Building Doctors, and Brian Bonnett for the inspiration behind this post.

IMPORTANT ADDENDUM and warning
Please check your professional, employers and public liability insurances before personally taking on any of the invasive investigations mentioned over. If in doubt, always ask that a builder is present to open up structure. Thank you for your input Baz! [see below for Baz's comment]


Engine[er]

Engineers are like Homeless Bums [Transitions in Construction]

"Homeless people, like the rest of society, have goals that, if not met, can lead to feelings of loss. Even though homeless people may have some supports, their disconnection from society and inability to achieve basic goals may lead to low self-esteem" Frederick A. Diblasio , John R. Belcher

For us Engineers, LinkedIn is fast becoming a virulent breeding ground for many cool existential engineering debates. It is also managing to provide us with a forum capable of bearing the seeds from a few perplexing engineering problems too.

Off the back of a LinkedIn discussion around the pay & wages of Engineers [here], has come some rather rare opportunities to take an engineering analogy or two for a test spin. Let me share with you a great attack, parry, and riposte if I may.

It was mentioned that a fellow Engineers suggestion to "stop moaning about pay and just get out there and make some money" was akin to telling a homeless person to get a job or asking a depressed person to cheer up. Facile and less than constructive. [Kat Lai, LinkedIn Discussion, Structural Engineer – Group]
I believe that we are more like homeless people than a person with depressive tendencies, but they are in some way linked.

One of my close family members was made homeless for a while. He was a great guy - but there is no easy way to help someone who does not wish for or indeed need the assistance. You see I had come to the conclusion years ago that those of us who find themselves becoming trapped in these ill-conceived circumstances, will follow one or several of these lines of action;

1. Shocked into taking action. This appears as an explosive reminder to avert a life disaster, and they use this realisation to do something about it. Most of these will find a way to resolve their problems, and self-heal along the way. Highly motivated, if in a retrospective capacity.

2. Making do. Critically this involves the down trodden to loose self-belief and eventually accept their circumstances. Upon further investigation you will find that they genuinely believe that this is all they deserve out of life. Any attempt to help them needs to first tackle the key reasons why they are content to languish, before galvanising them for their triumphant return to status.

3. Addiction. The person is addicted to a particular 'thing' or 'way of being' which works against their currently held status. It is inevitable that they will fail. Until the addiction has been broken, then they will continuously fall short of the necessary motivation to raise their status back to the norm.

4. The Tribe. Some people choose this way in life because the alternatives are way too complicated. In society, we build highly dynamic groups of friends, where status, empathy and acceptance form a social understanding which can be tiring to some. The thought of becoming a member of an uncomplicated tribe who never judges you, is an enticing idea. No internal judgement, status free, uncomplicated.

There are of course lots of reasons why someone might become homeless, and the majority of them offer opportunities of return to status. For example, loose a job - find another job. This is obviously not as easy as just writing it.

For this post, I would like us Engineers to think on the 4 points above and try to understand how we can turn our need for greater 'pay and status' into a plan for the future.

If we are 'making do' with our position, then we have to understand the hidden reasons for our inaction. If we are addicted to a 'way of being', focussing only on our own business and career, then we have to begin to wean ourselves off this selfish behaviour.

Finally, if we plan on making this philosophy the secret mantra of our 'tribe', as many generations of Engineers have do so before us - simply because it is a less complicated existence... then it's about time we admitted to it. Time to move on, I think.

This post raises some important parallels between Structural/Civil Engineers and the homeless and you can also find it on Dr Dan Engström's incredibly interesting construction futures blog-site, Transitions in Construction.


Drop by and offer up a comment, I'm sure that he would love to chat to you all.




Engine[er]