Closure on a 2016 Collapse in Sioux Falls, SD, USA

[JAE]

The original thread: thread815-417934

Apparently a $4 million settlement...not sure if this covered only the young man who died, or the young woman trapped in the rubble for hours.
But a closure of sorts. $4 million doesn't seem adequate for a life.

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[JAE]

And a bit more info:

https://blog.newdayunderwriting.com...-case-end-in-multi-million-dollar-settlement/

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[stookeyfpe]

The construction worker is dead and the developer moves on to build a new hazard. Another day that starts with "Y".

 

[charliealphabravo]

I didn't see a location or street view link in the original post.

Pre

Post

 

[IRstuff]

Another day that starts with "Y".

ends with Y?...


TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[charliealphabravo]

I found a few more photographs online to go with the OP.

 

[JAE]

Yes that last photo actually shows the overall problem....that's a brick load bearing wall that they've totally removed from the side of the building that workman is inhabiting.
The wall remaining is the wall for the adjacent building. Just wow.



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[itsmoked]

Yep JAE. Think of the weight above that. Sheesh.

Keith Cress
kcress -

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[charliealphabravo]

Anybody care to share what they would do if they walked up on this, even if it was unrelated to their reason for being there?

I had a situation where a friend asked me to help him build a garage. It was a weekend and his entire family was there. Another friend of his was a contractor and was basically in charge as I discovered. I expressed a concern with the way the trusses were being installed (no temporary diagonal braces) and even when so far as to install a diagonal brace on the gable. That didn't go over well and the brace was removed with the contractor citing 40 yrs experience building like that. At that point I realized that I had no business being there and excused myself.

Anyway that got me thinking about how little authority an engineer actually has in these kind of situations, especially when there is no contractual connection. Does one make an a$$ of oneself until the matter is resolved. Call the police? Code enforcement? In my case the risk would have been over before anyone arrived and what would they care.

 

[oldestguy]

Charlie A=B: I've run into stuff like this. However in these cases they knew I was very experienced and my advice was followed to the letter. In a case like this mentioning to the owner's wife what the risk is and you might find it works.

 

[3DDave]

It's pretty tough to get people out of the haze. I watched a guy put a 200 pound casting into a vice, most of it hanging off to the side, so that he could part it parallel to the vice jaws with a mill. When I pointed out that at some time during that cut the vice would no longer have a grip on the part and drop the remaining 199.5 pounds of steel onto him he was not immediately accepting of the situation. It took a while for the problem to sink in.

 

[TigerGuy]

Just because they've done it that way for 20, 30, 40 years or more, doesn't mean they are doing it right.

It only takes one time of forgetting to connect your safety harness at 400 feet to learn that lesson.