The Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse And The Challenger Space Shuttle Explosion

It holds true that government organizations gradually decline; the enthusiasm is replaced with bureaucracy, employees are resistant to change and overall performance is decreased. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is no exception to this. NASA is an example of bureaucracy having a detrimental effect on an organization. The lines of communication became skewed and were often broken while the organization was locked in an internal battle over who exactly was in charge. While there were heads of each department and heads of each branch, critical information often slipped through the cracks. It was this breakdown in communication and the failure to address known issues that was the direct cause for both the Challenger and Columbia explosions. The explosions, though separated by seventeen years, were incredibly similar. Concerns had been brought to the table and similarly dismissed as “acceptable risk.” This acceptable risk proved fatal for the crews of both space shuttles. Bureaucracy and financial expediency led to reduced federal funding, general distrust from the public, and growing disinterest. The organization that sent men to the moon is vastly different than the organization in charge today. NASA’s beginnings were less clouded in red tape and bureaucratic policies. Ideas were

An investigation into the design flaw of two floating balconies above the atrium of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, is discussed in this report. The following investigation includes a closer look at disputes in design between the engineering consultants and the fabrication company, as well as an examination of load capacity. In the design, three walkways were intertwined between the second, third, and fourth floors above the hotel’s atrium (Leyendecker, E., Marshall, R., Pfrang, E., & Woodward, K., 1982). The second floor’s walkway was suspended from the fourth, which was suspended from the roof. The third floor’s walkway was hanging from the roof of the atrium, independent to the other two. When a collapse occurred on July 17, 1981, the fourth floor, which was suspended from the roof, collapsed and landed on top of the second floor. As a result, both floors crashed into the atrium at ground-level (Leyendecker, E., Marshall, R., Pfrang, E., & Woodward, K., 1982). The main causes of the collapse are questionable engineering ethics, negligence, and disputing agencies. These two factors resulted in a poor foundation with lack of consideration of large stress on the structure (Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse, 2006).

Although many things about engineering are positive there is a dark side. We depend on them and while engineers are making innovations for us, and maintaining life as the way we know it they also struggle with ethical issues such as plagiarism, confidentiality, and whistleblowing. Just like the list of golden rules we learned as young children, engineers uphold a list of ethical rules to guide them to make the ethically correct decision when one of these situations arise. Bribery the act of receiving or giving a gift with something required in return is another example of an ethical issue that can entice engineers to break the code (“Gifts and Bribes”, 2006). Unfortunately this was the case for a former manager of the Army Corps of Engineers whose greed caused him to break the ethical canons to “avoid deceptive acts”, to “conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, and lawfully as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession”, and finally to “hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public” (“Code of Ethics”). His misconduct is an example of the unethical decisions some engineers make.

The Hyatt Regency Hotel, the newest hotel built in Kansas City Missouri featuring an open atrium design at its entrance with floating walkways suspended on the second, third, and fourth floors. Only one year after its final construction did a suspended walkway fall, injuring and killing partygoers the night of July 17th, 1981. What may have initially appeared as an accident was the result of many factors including the design and construction of the walkways supports, but more importantly communication between all involved parties in its design and construction. Ethical concerns over this tragedy were raised as well as further investigation of possible negligence resulting in the deaths and injuries.

William LeMessurier and the Citicorp Tower controversy provide examples of engineering ethics. He followed the NSPE Code of Ethics when dealing with the tower’s faults. The decision to tell his employers and ultimately fix the tower showed that he acknowledged his errors, acted as a faithful agent to his employers, and that he held paramount the safety of the public as seen in professional obligations 1 and the fundamental canons 4 and 1. Even when faced with the moral decision of risking his reputation by fixing the tower, he still thought that the safety of the public was more important than his own personal gain. He was willing to admit his errors and fix the tower.

The defense industry is one of the largest recruiters of STEM graduates in the nation. Thousands of engineering students enter this industry and must justify the morality of their work. These engineers work on projects that affect themselves, the engineering profession, and the entire world population. This paper will look into some of the facts surrounding engineering in the defense industry, its intended and unintended consequences, and judge the work of these engineers by applying Egoism, Utilitarianism, and Kantian ethical theories.

The case study I chose to analyze was the Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion by Ronald C. Kramer. Kramer discussed four main components that led to the catastrophic explosion. These components include the societal context, the final flaw, the persons behind the final decision to launch, and lastly the failure of social control mechanisms. There was not just one factor that led to the failure of the launch. As Kramer discusses the different concepts that led to the failure point to state-corporate crime as a private business and government agency interacted.

On 1st of February, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia exploded when it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere after finished a 16 days mission in space. All seven astronauts were dead because of this incident. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had stopped the space shuttle program for more than two years to investigate this tragedy. In the 16 days period, the astronauts did approximately 80 experiments on different categories, for example, life science and material science [1]. An investigation later has found out that the disaster was caused by a problem on the day that took off on 16th of January.

What event or day could change how the United States citizens go about their everyday activities? Life has not been the same after that fatal day in September of 2001. The day is known as 9/11. This attack may have knocked the United States down briefly, but it has caused us to stand stronger for the freedom that we cherish. You may expect terrorism to happen places like Pakistan, India, the Middle East or South American but not here on American soil. This is not the first time that the United States has been targeted for terrorism. The United States has been the target for terrorist attacks more than you know. 9/11 helps us to remember that the United States is vulnerable to attacks just like other countries. Could 9/11 have been prevented? Did government agencies share information freely? Some people think that if the different government agencies would have shared information instead of having barriers that this terrible event may not have happened.

Boom! Snap! Crash! On the night of July, 19, 1981, the Hyatt Regency was having a tea party. Party attendees got on the fourth floor skywalk and they started to dance. The skywalk started shaking and it loosened the bolts.To the skywalk and it fell to the ground

In addition, after the Challenger shuttle disaster, the Presidential Commission had recommended some solutions to solve and improve the quality, such as hiring experts and establishment of a department to monitor the quality. Also the organizational culture is an issue that leads the disaster. Employee apprehension causes people in NASA management resist to change. Another possible reason analyzed by Jefferson (2002) is government funded firm, which applied quality management the National Health Service (NHS). He reports the failure and attributes it to the NHS culture of “cure, treat and save life”. It indicates that the treatment needs not to be a quality

and not even terrorism in the familiar sense. It was not a little bit of each

Seventy three seconds into its 10th flight, on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean, killing the seven crew members on board [1]. The Challenger was the second space shuttle constructed by NASA and had completed nine successful missions prior to the disaster. Following the accident, the shuttle program was suspended for 32 months as President Ronald Regan appointed a Commission, chaired by William P. Rogers and known as the Rogers Commission, to investigate the cause of the accident [1].

The Hyatt Corporation was founded by Jay Pritzker in 1957. The first hotel purchased was located in Los Angeles, California. Hyatt is a management company that runs the operations of each hotel even though most of the Hyatt hotel properties are privately owned. They currently have two hundred sixteen hotels around the world and recently purchased one hundred forty three AmeriSuite hotels which were renovated and are being operated under their new name, Hyatt Place. Hyatt is known for specializing in luxury hotels that also provide meeting facilities and special services. The Hyatt Regency in Columbus Ohio was built in 1980. This hotel has six hundred and thirty one guest rooms, which makes it the largest hotel in the State, based on

This being the case it is important for the engineer to consider the application to which the design will be used as well as how and to what extent it will be handled. In the instance that risks and dangers are present they must immediately be brought to the attention of the consumer, and if effected as a whole, the public.