ECS 3361

Social Issues & Ethics in

Computer Science and
Engineering
Class 3
“Always do the right thing.” Mark Twain
Chapter 2 – Introduction to Ethics
Part 2
Case Study - Hyatt Regency Walkway
Collapse
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Case Study
Hyatt Regency
Walkway Collapse
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Executive Summary
 On July 17, 1981,
◦ 2 suspended walkways collapsed
◦ Hyatt Regency Hotel, Kansas City, Mo
 Devastating structural failure
◦ 114 dead
◦ 200+ injured.
 Millions in costs
 Hundreds of lives adversely
affected
 A powerful, painful lesson
◦ meaning and practice of ethics in
engineering
 Loss of PE License
All photos publically available
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What Happened?
 Party in atrium
 Walkways full of people
 Many Dancing
Walkway entrances

Failed supports
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Background Information
March 1976: Crown Center Redevelopment Corporation begins project

April 4, 1978: Gillum-Colaco, Inc., (GCE)

• GCE to provide "all structural engineering services”
• Jack D. Gillum (supervisor of the P.E. activities)
• Daniel M. Duncan (supervised by Gillum)
• Engineer responsible for the actual structural engineering work,
• Assisted in developing plans for project
• Deciding on basic design

December 1978:
• Subcontract with Havens Steel Company
• Fabricate and erect the atrium steel
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Original Design
 Walkways suspended by long rods
 Rods pass through the top walkway
and down to the bottom walkway
 Under each walkway, a load-carrying
nut used on each of the rods to carry
the load
 Original design calls for running the
nuts 30 feet up the rods,
◦ Threading 30 feet of rod
◦ Difficult
◦ Costly

The fabricator asks to modify the original design

easier and less costly construction
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Design, as modified
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Design Modification
• Modification for ease of construction
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Miscommunication

 Design changed over a year before the collapse (1979)

◦ Series of events and miscommunications
◦ between the fabricator (Havens Steel Company)
◦ and the engineering design team (GCE)
 Havens Steel, changed the design from a one-rod to a two-
rod system to simplify the assembly task
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Change Doubles Load
 MAKE A FREE BODY DIAGRAM!!!
 Doubles the load on one rod –
◦ increased from 90kN to 180kN
 The deviations
◦ One end attached to the atrium’s roof cross
beams
◦ Bottom end went through the box beam
◦ Attached with a washer and nut
◦ Second rod attached to the box beam
 4 inches from the first rod
 Runs to lower walkway

Engineer did not check the change

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KC Hyatt
• Nut pull through
• Shear failure
• Not loaded on shear center
• Weld failure
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Findings of the Deutsch Commission
 “…it is only upon a proper communication of the engineer’s desire or
acquiescence that the fabricator perform a function or obligation of
design.” -- Deutsch (1985)
 Engineers argued omission of information should alert the fabricator to
design responsibility
 This decision does not conform to the general “custom and practice”
 “The determination of connection type and hence designation of design
responsibility falls clearly within the parameters of the design engineer’s
responsibilities.” –Deutsch (1985)
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Deutsch cont’d.
 “Relying on a subordinate to detect unspoken intent and perform
the omitted engineering calculations is not permissible.” –
Deutsch (1985)
 The structural engineer “bears the burden of communicating his
[sic] intent to the contractor and assumes the risk of confusion or
non-communication.” –Deutsch (1985)
 “…The burden of and responsibility for clear
communication lies with the engineer who assumes the risk
of ambiguity in his [sic] design drawings.” – Deutsch (1985)

Engineer approved (stamped) the drawings

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Major Technical Factors
1. Changes: resulted in high concentrations of stress on
particular areas
2. Engineering Change Review:
◦ Lack of consideration for every force acting on particular connections
3. Engineering: Failure to take motion and rotation into account
in the design
◦ Walkways not designed for excessive motion
◦ Walkways designed for guests to pass from one side of the hotel to the other
◦ Engineers did not consider as dance floors. 
◦ Failure to take motion and rotation into account proved to be deadly
4. Engineering: Fundamental Design Flaw
◦ Walkways placed on top of each other
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Communication Failures
 Havens Steel, in sworn testimony before the administrative judicial
hearings after the accident,
◦ Telephoned G.C.E. for approval to change to the box-beam/hanging-rod design
 G.C.E. denied ever receiving such a call from Havens
 Havens claims that on February 16, 1979, they sent 42 shop
drawings—including revised Shop Drawing 30 and Erection Drawing
E-3) to GCE
 Havens claims that on February 26, 1979, GCE returned the set of
drawings to Havens,
◦ along with Gillum’s engineering review seal, authorizing construction
 GCE claimed miscommunication
◦ Argued the drawings only preliminary sketches
◦ Interpreted by Havens as finalized drawings.
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Ethical Analysis
 Act Utilitarianism –
◦ Savings - $2M (an estimate)
◦ Costs – 114 dead, others injured, cost of lawsuits
◦ Cost clearly exceed benefits = Unethical
 Social Contract –
◦ Public has the right to assume that engineers, architects, and
builders will construct buildings that don’t fall down under use.
◦ Engineers first ethical obligation is to the safety of the public.
◦ Unethical
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Violation of ASCE Code of Ethics
 1. “Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the
pubic in the performance of their professional duties.”
◦ Violated starting in early design stage and onto the construction stage—the change
rendered the structure hardly able to hold its own weight.
◦ If the engineers were concerned with the potential risks the change would produce,
the flawed design might not have been constructed
 3. “Engineers shall issue public statements only in an objective and
truthful manner.”
◦ The attempts, by GCE, to accuse others of the faulty design and claiming the
design change was not approved clearly violated this code
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Violation of ASCE Code of Ethics
 6. “Engineers shall act in such a manner as to uphold and enhance the honor,
integrity, and dignity of the engineering profession.”
◦ The charge of “gross negligence, incompetence, misconduct and unprofessional conduct in
the practice of engineering” greatly tarnished the dignity and respectability of the engineering
profession in general
 1.b.“Engineers shall not complete, sign, or seal plans and/or specifications that
are not of a design safe to the public health and welfare and in conformity with
accepted engineering standards.”
◦ Routine computations should have revealed the inadequacy of the walkway supports
◦ !!!DRAW A FREE BODY DIAGRAM!!!

 Violation of Standard of Care Principle

◦ “Services performed in a manner consistent with that degree of care and skill ordinarily
exercised by members of the same profession currently practicing under similar
circumstances.”
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NSPE
 II. Rules of Practice
 1. Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health, and

welfare of the public.

◦ b. Engineers shall approve only those engineering documents that are
in conformity with applicable standards.
 III. Professional Obligations
 1. Engineers shall be guided in all their relations by the

highest standards of honesty and integrity.

◦ a. Engineers shall acknowledge their errors and shall not distort or
alter the facts

Clearly Violated Much of the NSPE Code

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Lessons Learned
 Engineers are responsible for the health and safety of the
public
 Communication of clear intent crucial
 Check and verify the final design and build

Never assume it will be built to your intent

Old aircraft engineer’s saying: “The only time the shop

builds it to the print is when the print is wrong.”
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Conclusion
 Never let Cost & Schedule trump Safety
 Communication is key
 There are consequences to our actions

GCE acted unethically – lost license

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Review & Next Week

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Review
 Workable Ethical Theories
◦ Kantianism
◦ Utilitarianism
 Rule & Act
◦ Social Contract
◦ Virtue Ethics
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Next Week
 Week 4:
 Read Chapter 9- Professional Ethics
 HW#2 Due
 Project Plan due

◦ Sample Posted in eLearning – using MS Project software

◦ Object is to provide a plan and status
 Who on your team is doing what
 What are they doing
 When does it start and finish
 Status of effort
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Discussion #2