When disasters challenge the limits of engineering, all too often death and destruction follow. That is because engineering is, in a basic sense, a set of protective disciplines that enable people to live and work safely in the presence of forces that would other-wise kill them. The American Society of Civil Engineers has long recognized its responsibility, as one of the nation’s leading engineering societies, to try and answer the questions that arise when forces overtake engineered structures. ASCE regularly has been dispatching analysis teams of volunteer experts to disaster sites since 1889, when a poorly maintained dam impounding 20-million
The debate over the number of economic stimulus jobs created or saved by the $787-billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will continue long after the recession is over, but the only apparent success so far is related to the infrastructure jobs fostered by the $130 billion earmarked in ARRA for that purpose. As the government coffers run dry, the only way to end the financial crisis is for Washington to start building real public confidence in the U.S. economy and help move massive amounts of private money off the sidelines and into productive parts of the economy. This amount is
Strict college professors like to shake up their students on the first day of class by telling them, “Look to your left, look to your right. One of you will not be here at the end of the year.” That same scenario applies to the construction industry this year. When the market meltdown began last fall, you could have taken a group of construction executives and told them, “Look to your left, look to your right. One of your firms won’t be here in a year.” The industry is coming up on the first anniversary of the 2008 stock-market crash
As the political debate rages over government-mandated, health-care reform, there is one fundamental fact that all parties agree on: Health-care insurance is a necessity for everyone and there must be a way to make it available in a cost-effective manner without adding to the already huge federal budget deficit. The only solution is to engage the private sector and legislate meaningful tort reform. The latest data indicates nearly 46 million people in the U.S. have no health-care insurance—about 18% of the population under age 65—and 30% of all insurance premiums go to pay for the cost of assisting those people.
With the Supreme Court’s decision to hear arguments in Bilski vs. Doll, a case that already has set a new standard for granting patents on business methods, the ability to protect groundbreaking innovations in process and workflow will soon be determined. It seems obvious, after the case first appeared on the docket of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, that the 12 judges called in to hear the appeal were feeling particularly creative. To the dismay of many in the patent community, the appeals court seemed to effortlessly overstep its bounds by writing into existence a new test
As America digs itself deeper into a financial hole, Congress and states are using a venerable political ploy to justify even more spending: increasing taxes on the wealthy and big companies ostensibly to help those with less. That ploy may have worked in the early 1900s when big bosses often were so-called robber barons. Today, however, even people at the bottom of the economic ladder realize wealthy individuals help fuel the nation’s economic development in important ways. The U.S. is a democracy, but wealthy individuals faced with confiscatory taxes can easily vote with their feet by moving their operations and
In some ways the green movement has created a new generation of skeptics by generating doubt about the benefits of new products and services designed to mitigate human impact on the environment. But “greenwash” charges should not be lathered on the ones that really do deliver the goods. In heavy construction equipment, there is a huge opportunity for machinery to move down the green path, and some manufacturers are gingerly moving in that direction. Iowa State University Caterpillar Inc. is about to go into production with its diesel-electric dozer, which is 25% more fuel-efficient than its predecessor. Intelligent compaction is
There are some things nature does spectacularly well on its own, such as creating the great vistas of the Grand Canyon and many picturesque lakes and streams. There are some things nature does that don’t quite measure up, even though they are in areas where people wish there were more natural beauty. And then there are man-made activities that can make everything worse through development, neglect and poor planning. Photo: Highline / Iwan Baan High Line Park Engineers traditionally have taken the lead in creating systems that replace natural functions on a grand scale to support sprawling populations. These drainage,
The current recession in the construction industry and other sectors is worse than most, but not as bad as the Great Depression. Everyone who has been around for a while knew how this downturn would happen, based on the many booms and busts that have come before. At the heart of it is a herd mentality among investors and industry firms that causes irrational behavior. This leads to a bubble market that eventually bursts due to unrealistic expectations. Midway through the crisis, the industry now is caught up in another predictable trap as huge numbers of competitors try to snag
Safety is everybody’s business in the construction world because the consequences of failure can be catastrophic, as demonstrated by the major crane accidents that kill dozens of people every year. In this light, it is critically important to study near-misses—accidents that never happen because trained and concerned persons are on the scene, a serious safety program is in place or just, plain dumb luck saved the day. The recent case involving a cracked casting in a tower-crane mast at the Blue-Cross building extension in Chicago is a good example of how a near-miss should be handled. The operator heard a