failure of a temporary site assembled structure

[AE2970]

I am contemplating what would be a reasonable course of action if there is a failure of a particular site assembled temporary structure on an industrial site.

To protect the innocent lets say hypothetically that the structure is a large steel rack that was being used to store pipe at a strip mine. The rack is leased and shipped to the site on a truck and is then assembled with pins on bare earth by the manufacturer/distributing company. The rack fails, damaging a vehicle insured by my client, and the driver narrowly avoids death or injury.

Now suppose I have determined that the failure was the result of a serious design/construction error in a welded connection. The insurance company is notified of the cause in a report. There is no expectation that this report will naturally make its way to the designer of the tank and so I am interested in a discussion of what would be a reasonable way to proceed, irregardless of any action by Occupational H&S. The accident occurred in a hypothetical Canadian province.

Thanks all.

 

[MiketheEngineer]

BUY a lawyer

 

[concretemasonry]

It is difficult to answer or respond to a "hypothetical" in a "hypothetical" location with any degree of accuracy. Adding "supposed" into the question creates more clouds and vagueness. The fact it is leased and delivered by truck unassembled on site and assembled for use on ground with no controls, it looks like a possible gold mine for attorneys against you and the owners/clients insurance.

Since the designer of the tank is not mentioned early in the scenario, how does this it into the factitious picture?

Who specified the products and the site fabrication method?

Dick

Engineer and international traveler interested in construction techniques, problems and proper design.

 

[Ron]

There is no expectation that this report will naturally make its way to the designer of the tank

Is this a tank or a pipe rack?

Some questions I would ask, if you have not already done so, would be...

1. How many times does the rack get used (transported, assembled, disassembled....)before it is "decommissioned"?
2. Since it was assembled on bare ground, is there a problem with a bearing capacity failure that might have cause stresses in the pipe rack to be re-distributed, overloading a weld that wasn't designed for that condition?
3. Is is foreseeable that a bearing failure could occur, thus causing an overstress, thus necessitating a different design approach?
4. Were there any instructions on leveling, checking the stability of the ground, using contact mats, etc.?
5. Was the rack overloaded with pipe at the time of failure?
6. Was your client parked in an area that he/she should not have parked?
7. Was there evidence of damage to the rack prior to failure?

If the insurance company is paying a claim, particularly if it is a large one, they will subrogate against the owner of the rack, the designer, the delivery/setup people, the company that rented the rack and anyone else they can pursue to reclaim their money. So for that reason...you can bet your report will be read by everyone and his brother!

 

[msquared48]

Maybe even his sister!

If this goes to litigation, discovery, arbitration or otherwise, they will be notified via legal channels and read the report. Be assured of that.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

http://mmcengineering.tripod.com