Engineering Ethics: The Tay Bridge Disaster (Webinar)

In Engineering Ethics: The Tay Bridge Disaster, you'll learn ...

• The decisions and actions (or inactions) led to the destruction of the bridge
• The detrimental effects that a lack of effective leadership can have on a project
• A project manager’s responsibility to ensure public safety above that of financial gain

Overview

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The Tay Bridge opened to great fanfare on June 1st, 1878 as the longest iron bridge in the world. It was a key link in the Scottish east coast railway line. For the main players, it brought honors and business success. But that success was short lived.

On the night of December 28th, 1879, in one of the worst storms in living memory, the bridge collapsed, taking with it the Edinburgh train and 59 passengers. The subsequent public inquiry and later analysis identified several technical failures. But, this is a tale of an inspirational project, a pinnacle of Victorian engineering, that was undermined by greed and lack of leadership.

Specific Knowledge or Skill Obtained

This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:

• Factors that contributed to the disaster
• Warning signs that, if taken into consideration, could have prevented the disaster
• The danger of prioritizing time and/or profit over public health
• The importance of the selection and supervision of a competent workforce