New York City Crane Collapse

On March 15^th, 2008, a six ton crane collapsed in New York city killing 7 people. The collapse was believed to happen due to a massive piece of steel, which was used to secure the crane to a new high rise building, came loose and fell on a second support nine stories below. This caused whole crane to topple 22 stories below. When the crane collapsed it collapsed on a town house and few other buildings.

High rise construction is a very risky in NYC. There are constructions all over the city and accidents are bound happen. Some of these accidents are fatal and some are not that serious. What makes this case interesting is that the crane was inspected the day before and logged to be safe. Then why did the crane collapse? Another interesting fact about this case is that, on March 4^th a complaint was filed against the crane and an inspection was done by Edward Marquette, but later it was learned that the inspection was never done. Had Marquette actually done the inspection on March 4^th, would it have prevented the accident 11 days later? Officials believe that it would not have prevented the accident because the parts that failed where not on site on the day of the inspection. But even after the new parts were installed an inspection should have been done. It is also learned later that many safety complaints were filed against the crane and Marquette was the one responsible for the inspections.

The really question here is that would the proper inspection of the crane prevented the collapse and would it have saved the 7 lives that were lost? No one can really answer this question. Some people believe it would have and some believe it won’t have. I believe that it would have prevented the accident. Another question that is unanswered by the officials is that, who inspected the crane the day before it collapsed? If Marquette is the one who did the inspection, then the blame goes on him. The charges on him should be stricken and should face more time in jail, rather then the 4 years that he might get for falsifying the records.

It is sad that seven lives were lost but it also fortunate that lot more lives weren’t lost. As a safety inspector, Marquette has a lot of responsibilities on his hand. He has broken the trust that the people of NYC has placed in him. Other inspectors should learn from his mistakes and make NYC proud.

Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/nyregion/17building.html?ex=1221364800&en=d3e458bf0f1704b3&ei=5087&excamp=OVGNcranecollapsenyc&WT.srch=1&WT.mc_ev=click&WT.mc_id=GN-S-E-YH-NA-NA-crane_collapse_nyc

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/20/crane.accident.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Integrity Interactive and the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute to Deliver Ethics and Compliance Courses

WALTHAM, Mass.-(Business Wire)-March 18, 2008 - Integrity Interactive(R) Corporation, a company that helps leading global corporations build ethical cultures reducing risk, and Carnegie Mellon(R) University's Software Engineering Institute (SEI), a federally funded research and development center, today announced a partnership that provides Integrity Interactive's culture building and risk reduction services to more than 1,400 SEI Authorized/Certified Professionals (ACPs). SEI ACPs provide consulting, training, and education services worldwide via the SEI Partner Network.

"As Integrity Interactive partners with government and education customers around the world, our experts provide needed ethics and compliance tools and services which help individuals recognize and avoid ethically or legally risky behavior," said Richard Cellini, vice president for Integrity Interactive. "Integrity Interactive's partnership with the Software Engineering Institute allows us to provide authorized/certified professionals with the risk-avoidance skills to encourage and promote ethical and legal behavior, as well as to recognize and address potential ethical and legal issues they see in their daily work."

Source - DigitalNewsDirect.com

New York governor sex scandal

I know this is an engineering ethics class but I found the topic about the governor of New York for more appealing because it also has to do with ethics, what is morally right or wrong and I feel that this case has to do with exactly that and that’s why I chose to do a blog on it instead of doing the typical blog. A sex scandal has rock the politic realms of the New York State government and the main figure involved with this scandal is none another then the governor of New York Eliot Spitzer. The scandal erupted Monday when allegations surfaced that the 48-year-old Spitzer spent thousands of dollars on a call girl at a swanky Washington D.C. hotel on the night before Valentine's Day. To me being a governor of a State is not only about running a state but up holding an image, I feel that he had a moral obligation to the people who elected him. It is stated by the New York's Newsday that Governor Spitzer had as many as seven or eight liaisons over the past several years with prostitutes who was supplied by an international call girl ring based in New Jersey. It is also being stated by unidentified law enforcement officials, reported that the investigation began last year during an Internal Revenue Service review of suspicious financial transactions basically that sound to me like he is using tax payer’s money to pay for his extra curricula activities and this is being reported by banks. The same guy who is known as "Mr. Clean" for taking down organized crime and tackling Wall Street corruption, is himself committing a criminal act. Spitzer was once named Time magazine's "Crusader of the Year," he used his inauguration address to pledge to bring ethical government to New York isn’t that funny he wants to bring ethical government to New York but is involved in a sex scandal, I feel the position he puts himself in regards to the sex scandal and being married also show that he has no ethical standards how can you bring something such as ethics when you don’t have none, I’m just curious to see what you guys think of this case.

http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6013229&version=11&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

Undersigned Gusset Plates Cited by NTSB in I-35 Bridge Collapse Investigation

On August 1, 2007, the Minneapolis bridge collapsed that connected Interstate 35W over the Mississippi River, killing 13 people and injuring 145 others. On January 15th the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued recommendations informing the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the interim findings of its investigation. The board discovered undersigned gusset plates that fractured early in the collapse. Then the NTSB asked that the FHWA require every owner and operator of bridges with similar designs to determine whether gusset plates on those bridges were strong enough to withstand any loads greater than they were originally designed for. The I-35W bridge was originally designed by the firm of Sverdrup & Parcel and was built between 1964 and 1967 by Hurcon Incorporated and Industrial Construction Company, both from Cleveland Ohio. This bridge is fracture critical, in that it contained no redundancies in its load paths and if one element were to fail the entire bridge could also fail. Mark Rosenker, the chairman of the NTSB said that they had not seen anything happen like it before. They found that there was an error in calculations and the gussets were undersigned. In August the FHWA issued recommendations advising bridge owners to immediately reinspect all steel deck tress bridges since the collapse of the Minneapolis bridge. Recommendations were made on January 15th by the US Department of Transportation about the gusset plates to ensure bridge safety. The collapse of this bridge is quite an ethical problem in more ways than one, including the flaw in design. Then comes the usual red tape to uncover whose to blame for the disaster. Since the design flaw was not detected by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), lives were lost. I really don't want to place any blame because all parties involved should step up to the plate. Hopefully the US Department of Transportation's recommendations about this issue will be used in every way to ensure the safety of all passengers who travel along our highways, road and bridges across the nation.

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=29436958&site=ehost-livehttp://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=29436958&site=ehost-live