Ethics of Engineering Presentation

Kansas City Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse

Aayan Ahmed, Luis Soriano and Francisco Diaz

Abstract Understanding the tragic incident with an engineering design at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City(1981): There

were several problems that were related to unethical practice and misconduct by the engineers behind the walkway that

collapsed. Due to poor miscommunication, ignorance of the problem design and lack of safety tests and changing the

method of the walkway caused 114 people to lose their lives and 200 others injured. This walkway collapse was one of the

most devastating failures where lots of people lost their lives and had been injured. Many legal cases were involved with

G.C.E International Inc. after the incident, who were the structural engineers that designed the walkway in the hotel.

[1][2]

Brief Disaster Summary “On July 17, 1981, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City,

Missouri, held a videotaped tea-dance party in their atrium lobby.

With many party-goers standing and dancing on the suspended

walkways, connections supporting the ceiling rods that held up the

second and fourth-floor walkways across the atrium failed, and

both walkways collapsed onto the crowded first-floor atrium

below. The fourth-floor walkway collapsed onto the second-floor

walkway, while the off set third-floor walkway remained intact. As

the United States' most devastating structural failure, in terms of

loss of life and injuries, the Kansas City Hyatt Regency walkways

collapse left 114 dead and in excess of 200 injured. In addition,

millions of dollars in costs resulted from the collapse, and

thousands of lives were adversely affected.”[1]

Cause of Disaster ● According to the first plan; a steel rod stretching from the second and

fourth floor bridge to the ceiling was needed.

● The fabricator spoke to Duncan to alter the idea by connecting the

second floor bridge to the forth.

● The fourth floor bridge connected to the ceiling.

● Duncan approved of the ‘concept’ drawing without any calculations.

● Due to the bottom bridge relying on the top bridge, the weight limit

reduced by 60%. [2]

● “Any first-year engineering student could figure it out…” -Jack Gillum [1]

Cause of Disaster (Continue)

● 7:00 PM, 17th of July, 1981 ● About 1000 people convened in the Hyatt

Regency Hotel for a tea dance.

● The fourth floor bridge collapsed bringing down the second floor bridge with it.

● Injuring over 200 people and killing 114. ● Workers from surrounding areas rushed in to

save civilians.

● People were stuck under the bridge and were amputated to get out.

1. Responsibility for Safety

● One of the major reasons of the collapse was the fabricator miscalculations.

● As the designer, Dan Duncan was responsible to approve of any drawing and calculations performed by the fabricator.

● The final error that would have possibly resolved the issue was if the team did an inspection.

● The team was required to inspect the building corner to corner.

● The workers believed everything was in good shape. ● Due to their irresponsibility and negligence, 1000s of

lives were affected.

2. Ignorance of Walkway Design ● Risk and safety procedures were ignored. ● Poor Structural Design. ● In 1979, there was an issue with the walkways being unstable and not enough hanger rods to

be held up for safety. They knew about the flaws in the design, but there was no action taken for it to safely work. [1-3]

● The design of the rod connections were changed, changing from a one-rod to a two-rod to make it easier to assemble. Contractors were opposed, and made the changes to the rods without inspection of safety hazards.[3][5]

● While the hotel was under constructions in october of 1979, more than 2700 sq ft of the roof collapsed due to the connections of the north atrium. Failure of the owner to not conduct and on-site presentation cause the incident.[1]

● Not just ignorance, but miscommunication between companies were the main reasons for unethical behaviors.

3. Lack of Effective Communication

● G.C.E’s original design was altered and firm technicians were worried about how alterations would affect the walkways structural integrity, yet the firm signed off on the final design.

● Daniel Duncan would be notified from the previously mentioned technicians and the hotels architect about how this design change was worrying, yet proceeded on without running a single calculation himself.

● All companies and contractors involved with the project never verified the new design, all assuming that someone else had already done the calculations required.

Ethical Course of Action If the engineers followed the code of conduct and took safety measures. They could

have avoided this tragedy. The fabricator should have done the calculations

beforehand and present to Dan Duncan. If Dan Duncan would have noticed the flaw

in the drawing then they could have prevented the load capacity from exceeding.

The workers should have communicated properly with Dan and explained the issue

with the drawing presented. If such actions were taken then an incident like this

would not have occured.

Changes Made After the Tragedy ● The curriculum for engineering students was overhauled

with a new emphasis on responsibility and safety

following this tragedy. [1]

● Following the collapse, the ASCE implemented the policy that

structural engineers are ultimately responsible for reviewing

shop drawings from fabricators as well as revising trade manuals

and how they performed peer reviews in order to improve

professionalism standards. [1][4]

Conclusion Glaring oversights that were caught by

some, and then ignored by others led to

this avoidable tragedy. Had Jack Gillum

or Daniel Duncan stepped back and seen

how the lack of promoting reasonable

conduct and lack of communication was

affecting this project, things could have

ended differently and perhaps the

deadliest non-deliberate structure

failure would have never happened.

References 1. https://onlineethics.org/cases/hyatt-regency-walkway-collapse 2. https://law.justia.com/cases/missouri/court-of-appeals/1988/52655-0.htm

l 3. https://uniquewritersbay.com/hyatt-regency-kansa-city-hotel-disaster-cas

e-of-risk-and-safety-management-procedures-ignorance/ 4. https://www.npr.org/2021/07/17/1016603199/one-of-the-deadliest-u-s-ac

cidental-structural-collapses-happened-40-years-ago-t 5. https://interestingengineering.com/understanding-hyatt-regency-walkway

-collapse