Construction Disasters

The timely dissemination of information on structural failures has long existed in the pages of Engineering News-Record, which is proud of its 110-year tradition of reporting and recording. While no one claims the back issues of ENR to be any official archive of failures, they certainly are a treasure trove, and the recently published book Construction Disasters by Steven S. Ross is an attempt to categorize some of the contents of that trove and to draw some lessons out of it. 

Ross, Steven S. Construction Disasters Design Failures, Causes, and Prevention. New York McGraw Hill Book Company, 1984. 

Ross, S. (1984). Construction disasters Design failures, causes, and prevention. New York McGraw-HiU. 

Weather data for a number of years should be assembled for each community being studied. Particular attention should be given to such natural disasters as hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods, which often can be predicted from meteorological data. In certain locations these catastrophic events must be assumed to be probable and this increases construction costs. E.xtremely cold weather often hampers process plant operation and requires special construction features to protect equipment from freezing. Predominantly warm weather permits cheaper construction but may also reduce the efllcicncy of the labor force. 

Disaster Planning. Plant managers should recognize the possibility of natural and industrial emergencies and should oversee formulation of a plan of action in case of disaster. The plan should be well documented and be made known to all personnel critical to its implementation. Practice fire and explosion drills should be carried out to make sure that all personnel, ie, employees, visitors, construction workers, contractors, vendors, etc, are accounted for, and that the participants know what to do in a major emergency. 

Hydrogen cyanide, is not, of course, utilized solely for the purpose of executions in American gas chambers, but for much more constructive purposes as well. Since approximately the end of WWI, hydrogen cyanide, or HCN, has been used to exterminate vermin such as bedbugs, lice, com weevils, termites, cockroaches, and other pests. It is, of course, important to be extremely cautious while applying hydrogen cyanide in order to avoid disaster, because it is in many ways a highly dangerous poison. 

The Flixborough disaster in June, 1974 (Lees, 1980), is an example of a case where a modification was introduced into a mostly well designed and constructed plant. This modification destroyed the plant s integrity and contributed to a major accident. The modification was made when a reactor failed (a large crack had formed). The modification was inadequate and the remaining reactors were not examined. 

The Southport County Health Department is holding a planning meeting with key public health officials and health care clinicians to address disaster preparedness. Southport is a town of 28,000 in northwest Montana and has experienced five blizzards and one flood in the past 3 years. Using the five focus areas of disaster planning, construct a disaster response plan for this community. 

Ideally, this book represents the foundation for best practice in disaster nursing and emergency preparedness, and is a stepping stone for the discipline of disaster nursing research. Chapters in this book were based on empirical evidence whenever it was available. However, the amount of research in existence addressing disaster nursing and health outcomes is limited, and much work remains to be done. The editor welcomes constructive comments regarding the content of this text. 

On April 26, 1986 at Chernobyl, Ukraine, a nuclear reaction went wrong and resulted in the explosion of one of the reactors in a nuclear power plant. These reactors were constructed without containment shells. The release of radioactive material covered hundreds of thousands of square kilometers. More than 3 million people in the surrounding suburbs suffered from this disaster. While 36 people died in the accident itself, the overall death toll has been estimated at 10,000. 

Fowlkes MR and Miller PY (1982) Love Canal The Social Construction of Disaster. Springfield, VA National Technical Information Service. 

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