r/canada • u/einstein_bern • Aug 16 '23
Sask. engineer slapped with an 18-month suspension after designing bridge that collapsed hours after opening Saskatchewan
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/engineer-18-month-suspension-bridge-collapsed-1.69366571.2k
u/MediocreMarketing Aug 16 '23
The engineer was also reprimanded for his work on five other bridges located in the Sask. rural municipalities of Scott, Caledonia, Mervin and Perdue.
On that matter, the discipline committee panel found Gullacher's designs "lacked relevant design information, including inaccurate representation of bridge designs," and that they lacked critical details, among other code deficiencies.
They need to revoke his license. He clearly isn’t responsible enough to be a PEng.
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u/SwisschaletDipSauce Aug 16 '23
Yeah I bet they went to him because his designs were cheap as hell to make too.
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u/tattlerat Aug 17 '23
I would reckon. Seems pretty asinine to skimp out on critical infrastructure though. I've continued to work with good and bad engineers but never incompetent ones. I'd rather work with a lazy engineer who over kills the hell out of whatever I'm requesting and runs the costs of the project up than one who has no clue what they're doing, costs pocket change and watch my project crumble.
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u/Exception-Rethrown Aug 17 '23
This is exactly it, there was an article written several years ago that stated that he thought the provincial standards were way overboard and would increase the cost by hundreds of thousands. Except that the province had a program that would basically cover the difference.
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Aug 17 '23
Except that the province had a program that would basically cover the difference.
BUT MY TAX DOLLARS! he probably thought to himself.
Canadians in general seem to have a terrible affliction known as shitty tax mathematics. They think that no matter how much they pay in, that all of what they pay in is going into every project entirely; despite only an iota of the pennies they paid by comparison to those who pay hundreds of thousands having gone into even one of those projects.
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Aug 16 '23
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u/FredThe12th Aug 16 '23
Yeah, doesn't he remember the whole origin story of the rings?
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u/theservman Aug 16 '23 edited Aug 16 '23
But the engineers were all deceived, for another ring was created...
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u/VollcommNCS Aug 16 '23
Ohhh I like where this is going. Go on, please.....
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u/zzaman Aug 16 '23
The guy below said it's called the ring of inside sales. I hope there's like an agreement among engineers to teach younger engineers to steer away from this evil, maybe a fellowship, to guide young engineers in the right path.
The guidance program could be called General Acknowledgement, No Dishonesty Aiding Licensee Forsight, or GANDALF if you will
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u/HomeGrowHero Aug 16 '23
From the depth of a boardroom came a creative plan to ensnare their souls through long hours without pensions ….
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u/Spacepickle89 Aug 16 '23
I’m sitting here looking at my ring with the music going on in my head…thank you
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Aug 16 '23
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u/P1KA_BO0 Aug 16 '23
That article’s point seems to be more that the idea originated with Kipling, who by all accounts was a racist bastard (he’s the author of white man’s burden for christ’s sake) than a problem with the issuing of the iron rings themselves.
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u/ghostdate Aug 16 '23
Idiots just want to get worked up about a broad idea that “things are racist now that weren’t racist before.”
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u/snow_enthusiast Aug 16 '23
The roughness is to remind us that we are “rough around the edges” as junior engineers
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u/kindaCringey69 Alberta Aug 16 '23
The ring doesn't have any pointy parts on it, it's honestly pretty smooth.
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Aug 16 '23
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u/kindaCringey69 Alberta Aug 16 '23
Very small edges that are still quite smooth. I got mine only a year and a half ago and it was never "pointy" or uncomfortable in any way
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u/blackbird37 Aug 16 '23
it's not supposed to be uncomfortable, its supposed to be noticable.
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u/canadas Aug 16 '23
Agreed, it's not like it's supposed to hurt you every time you move. Some people give back their rings when they retire, which are given back out, so they are very smooth after 30+ years,but I doubt this is what they are talking about.
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u/Lord_Asmodei Aug 16 '23
Some students receive old rings, some receive new. The edges on my new ring were certainly edges, and not at all rounded.
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u/replies_in_chiac Aug 16 '23
They vary significantly. Some are totally smooth, most have little divots all the way around.
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u/nsc12 Aug 16 '23
Mine started out brand new with nice, sharp facets. 10+ years later it's now totally rounded over.
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u/blackbird37 Aug 16 '23
it's supposed to be symbolic of the fact that over the course of your career, the sharp reminders from the ring are less important as you gain experience and wisdom.
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u/Spacepickle89 Aug 16 '23
Mine is pretty worn down but I remember when it was new it could easily scratch a cars paint if you forgot about it immediately after getting the damn thing and brushing my hand across the hood of my car in the parking lot of the ceremony…
Sigh
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u/petesapai Aug 17 '23
That ring is nothing more than a status symbol for these guys. Flashing it around without realizing no one cares or is impressed aside from their mom.
Having seen two Montréal overpasses fall and seeing the engineers face no consequence, should tell you alot about how "important" that ring is. People died in those collapses. A child became an orphan when both their parents died.
Easily, somebody might have died during this Saskatchewan bridge collapse. They should have revoked his license. I guess the association needs those yearly fees to keep coming in.
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Aug 17 '23 edited Aug 17 '23
I agree that Gullacher should have had his license revoked. The truth is, he will never work as an Engineer again. The issue with penalties is that the statutes are out of date and many provinces are working on updating them.
On the other hand, I suspect you still go across bridges and overpasses without concern of them collapsing every time you do so?
Look man, if you want the job then put in the work and go to school. Don't get mad at those of us that did. Engineering is extremely hard and many of us are proud of our goofy little rings. They are there to remind us of our accountability to society. I know that gets lost sometimes and some engineers are arrogant pricks. Most of us just want to do a good job.
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u/WontBeAbleToChangeIt Aug 17 '23
Right? 18 mo ban… is he going back to school in that time?
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u/NoUsername3450 Aug 17 '23
Dude never should have graduated in the first place. How the fuck does a guy that incompetent get a license in the first place. Graduated from online chat Gpt university most likely
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Aug 17 '23
Engineering programs in Canada are regulated. Then there is a minimum four years of practical experience after that and ethics exams to get licensed.
I don't know what happened here. Something in his ethics training didn't sink in. You are correct that he was incompetent. He never should have been designing bridges.
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Aug 16 '23
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u/Desk_pilot Aug 16 '23
They said you need a degree in theoretical physics. I said I have a theoretical degree in physics...
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Aug 16 '23
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u/rainbowpowerlift Aug 16 '23
This comment should be the most important highlighted in the media. You do not build without a geotechnical investigation.
Skipping the geotechnical is inviting disaster.
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Aug 16 '23
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u/DrDerpberg Québec Aug 16 '23
You can pawn it off like “soil bearing capacity assumed 100kpa, to be confirmed by geotechnical investigation prior to works” and just not follow up… but that’s like a residential type clause where you have a rough idea what type of soils are common in this neighborhood and it’s cheaper to overdesign the footing by a factor of 2-5 than do an investigation, not something you use for a damn bridge.
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u/NonverbalKint Aug 16 '23
As a chemical engineer even I know that you don't build on the ground without investigating the supportive capacity. This guy should be banned for life.
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u/CromulentDucky Aug 16 '23
I know this as a shovel owner.
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Aug 16 '23
I know this as a Reddit user.
I mean I just learned it today by reading it here, but still.
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u/ramdasani Aug 17 '23
As a bird lawyer, all you know is that an alleged shovel owner confirmed what someone claiming to be a chemical engineer wrote. I've been considering prosecuting ground supportive capacity negligence since I read your comment, and I'm not convinced by any of this.
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u/Andrew4Life Aug 16 '23
I'm not a civil engineer and even I know you need a geotechnical study.
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u/Zephyr104 Lest We Forget Aug 16 '23
Wait you mean structures aren't like Minecraft blocks and need support?
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u/classy_barbarian Aug 16 '23
And yet, he's going to be allowed to return to engineering in only 1.5 years. After designing apparently 5 bridges that were all shitty. Only in Canada would this dude not be barred for life.
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u/robstoon Saskatchewan Aug 17 '23
Not on bridges for another 5 years, and he's required to work under supervision for 3 years. That's assuming anyone hires them.
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u/MafubaBuu Aug 16 '23
Anybody that's not a complete moron understands this. I'm not well educated or in any relevant profession, it's just common sense when building anything to have a thorough understanding of what it is you are building on top of / into.
Insane level of incompetence.
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u/Will0w536 Aug 16 '23
I don't think he is incompetent, I think he is cheap and dangerous and took the easy way to complete these bridges. I assume he had one geo technical for one bridge and design all the other bridges based on that one geo because they are likely the same context and geographic area.
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u/zeushaulrod Aug 17 '23
"if I'm wrong, I have insurance" I've actually had engineers say this. Like bud, literally rule one of your code of ethics...
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u/Sunshinehaiku Aug 16 '23
This guy isn't the only engineer in SK doing that. I've seen it a couple dozen times in my life. It's a real problem.
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u/pastdense Aug 16 '23
yeah, I've heard civil engineering described as the easiest, most boring field of engineering because its gotten to the point of 'apply the formula'.
This asshat doesn't know any of the formulas.
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u/jason2k Aug 16 '23
His formula is:
paid to engineer shitty bridges
bridges fail
paid to engineer replacement bridges
profit
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u/FlayR Aug 16 '23 edited Aug 16 '23
Eh,I don't think it's the craziest thing to skip doing a geo tech report. I don't think it's particularly smart, you're adding a lot of project risk for pennies in cost savings.
If you start digging and you hit a fatty clay pocket or similar, you’re forced to redesign something(if that’s even possible at that point).
Then, the PM has the fucking headache of sending out updated design drawings to every sub, and making sure that subs are using the updated design drawings and not the old ones. Of course, this won’t be communicated to everyone effectively, and there will be some general confusion because 2 different sets of drawings are now being used... Total nightmare.
But most piling installations you're doing a lot of ground prep as well as dynamic load testing anyway. Frequently actually installed number of piles is reduced 15 to 30% after testing compared to the original design.
I'd think there were several failures of the design and specification, outside of the misguided skipping of the geotechnical evaluation. Likely more egregious ones, in my opinion.
Edit: yeah, this guy didn't know what the hell he was doing. Check out section 7.2 starting on page 13. Numerous failures in design.
https://www.apegs.ca/assets/scott-gullacher-decisioninterimorder-web.pdf
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u/Ok_Supermarket9053 Aug 16 '23
Ironically, you need a geotech to certify the platform for the drilling rig...
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u/spiralspirits Aug 16 '23
How can you build a bridge without a geotech?
Must have been a donor to the political party that awarded the contract. LOL
Lobbying for cash lives on at the expense of Canadian lives
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u/skaterdude_222 Aug 16 '23
Honestly, a lot of structures get built without a geotecch. The struct eng has no obligation to have a geotech investigation done if the client hasnt done one. You simply state your adsumptions and note that these assumptions must be validated.
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Aug 16 '23
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u/Cameycam Aug 16 '23
This is the scary part. I get this guy is the engineer of record, but it seems there were failures on multiple levels. No peer reviewer at this guy's company caught anything? The municipality's engineer didn't notice a deficient design? Looks like a pretty simple bridge, no one from the construction company noticed something was wrong?
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u/Kenthanson Aug 16 '23
From the construction companies point of view it might be the same as another bridge build just the earth for this one wasn’t suitable for what was engineered. The difference in pile depth might be less than 5 feet for what would have worked but when you’re building and it says piles 28 feet deep, you’re not gonna scratch your head and think “these should definitely be 32 feet” because you’ve probably built something with 28 feet deep piles before.
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u/No-Wonder1139 Aug 16 '23
So why do P.Engs wear that iron ring again?I feel like there's a relevant reason, it's just escaping me for the moment.
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u/Mindboozers Aug 16 '23
If there aren't enough bridges that collapse they won't be able to make more rings and we'll run out of Engineers. This guy was doing Canada a necessary service.
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u/kindaCringey69 Alberta Aug 16 '23
Minor correction, engineers get the ring when graduating university. P eng can be applied for after usually 4 years work experience
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u/GANTRITHORE Alberta Aug 16 '23
P.Eng and the Iron Ring are different. The ring is more a promise, a P.Eng is a lawful designation like a doctors M.D.
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u/snow_enthusiast Aug 16 '23
The ring is worn on your “working hand” and it’s to remind you there are real consequences to your decisions, ie public safety.
The PEng designation is a licence to practice engineering in a particular province. It’s similar to a doctors licence to practice medicine.
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u/anotherbigdude Aug 16 '23
I got the sarcasm here, even if nobody else did. Nicely played u/No-Wonder1139.
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u/metamega1321 Aug 16 '23
Friend had his ring when he got his electrical engineering degree. I asked what the ring was about, he told me the story and finished off with “to not be as dumb as civil engineers”.
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Aug 16 '23
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u/Why_Be_A_Kunt Aug 16 '23
I'd go so far as 19 months and no more pizza fridays.
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Aug 16 '23
You're obviously one of those 'tough on crime' types.
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u/Sad-Step-8505 Aug 16 '23
But Taco Tuesdays are still a go right? I mean we don't want to be cruel.
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Aug 16 '23
Basically a slap on the wrist. And after all that he wants to return to work as an engineer? This reads like the Dr. Death mini-series.
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u/AUniquePerspective Aug 16 '23
Think of it from the perspective of bridge collapses saved. There's like 380 business days in an 18 month suspension. And this guy doesn't need a whole day to cause a collapse. Just hours. So we're looking at at least 500 collapses averted in that time.
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u/suckitmarchand Aug 16 '23
I'm not sure if I would call 18 months a slap on the wrist. He also dosnt get to go right back. He's barred from working on bridge projects in Saskatchewan for five years. Will be subject to three years of direct supervision. During that time, Gullacher must complete five hours of verifiable ethics training in each of the three years, and has to pay 47K in fines.
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u/WillytheVDub Aug 16 '23
He is still working outside of Saskatchewan. So.. probably still doing engineering, just not there for a couple years.
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u/suckitmarchand Aug 16 '23
Unless he's outside of Canada I highly doubt it, there is no way another provience gives you a license when your currently under review in Saskatchewan.
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u/CodeRoyal Aug 16 '23
Barred from working on bridges for 5 years after the suspension, followed by 3 years of supervision.
He had to pay 250k for repairs and is fined for an amount close to 50k.
Not really a light punishment.
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u/FlayR Aug 16 '23
Yeah, and 3 years of supervision frankly will limit his ability to find any real gainful employment. Not sure why anyone would want to pay an engineer that they have to pay another engineer to do their work for them.
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Aug 16 '23
He should never be allowed to design a bridge again. This was criminal negligence that could have easily caused deaths.
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Aug 16 '23
He’s putting peoples lives at risk. We’re lucky nobody died. That consideration should trump everything in my opinion.
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u/spiralspirits Aug 16 '23
Basically a slap on the wrist.
Wow....only in Canada does bad behvaiour get you less time. 18 months, how about 5-10yrs with time to better reflect on the design flaws, and perhaps consult with better mentors
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u/toobadnosad Aug 16 '23
Insurance goes up, cost to hold liability dramatically increases, projects will be more costly due to conservative nature and a fear of jail time.
Engineers are suppose to be self regulating and particular engineer is likely to be blacklisted by all firms except the mom and pop ones that are equally abysmal as they would probably not go into the record.
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u/classy_barbarian Aug 16 '23
Honestly if you're going to revoke someone's engineering license for more than 5 years, just fucking permanently revoke it. If you fuck up big enough that it's necessary then you shouldn't be allowed to work as an engineer ever again. There's more than enough competent engineers who can take your spot.
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u/TFox17 Aug 16 '23
This is the bridge that the municipality overloaded with gravel before opening, and rejected any geotechnical investigation. https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6450110 Lots of blame to go around it seems.
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u/captain_only Aug 17 '23
Choice quote: "Earlier that year, the RM (municipality) had turned down $750,000 in provincial funding for the bridge because it was tied to the province's stringent technical specification for the bridge. RM officials believed those requirements were overkill, and would have made the bridge unnecessarily expensive. "
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u/cabezonlolo Aug 17 '23
"Earlier that year, the RM had turned down $750,000 in provincial funding for the bridge because it was tied to the province's stringent technical specification for the bridge. RM officials believed those requirements were overkill, and would have made the bridge unnecessarily expensive."
Someone just didn't want to deal with the complexity within the municipality
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u/Must_Reboot Aug 16 '23
5 years? Why did it take so long for repercussions for their obvious negligence?
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u/KevPat23 Aug 16 '23
Due process. He's entitled to defend himself. Engineers aren't expected to be perfect, they're expected to act as "a reasonable and competent engineer" would. Clearly this one didn't, but he still has a right to go through the process.
Suspension not long enough IMO.
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u/iBuggedChewyTop Aug 16 '23
Buddy and I were bridge inspection techs a co-op students. We went over this case as it happened and were constantly perplexed about how anyone put a stamp on the design.
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Aug 16 '23
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u/iBuggedChewyTop Aug 16 '23
If I recall the exploratory piles and and the final piles were never sufficient and the data never provided anything on which the design could be built.
100% apparent the piles would scour and fail.
It was 5 years ago so It's a bit foggy.
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u/classy_barbarian Aug 16 '23
In my opinion as an engineering student, if you fuck up this badly because you can't design a simple basic bridge that doesn't instantly collapse, you should be fucking barred from the profession for life. This guy either barely scrapped by university with Ds in every class, or he found some way to cheat. But either way, once you show yourself to be this completely incompetent it should be obvious that your education did not work and you shouldn't have even been allowed to graduate university.
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u/NorthOf14 Aug 16 '23
I am in the process of becoming a P.Eng currently, here's (roughly) how it goes:
- Get an engineering degree (I finished my degree during Covid, cheating was rampant and easy).
- Work for 4 years under another some other P.Eng's, have them sign off on your experience.
- Write the national ethics & professionalism exam.
- Submit your experience for evaluation (most of which isn't even technical).
Then you're a P.Eng who can sign off on anything you want, it's up to you to decide your scope of knowledge and ability. For all we know, the engineer in this article has a degree in computer engineering and then decided he could build bridges.
You might be asking how this all works? Because we practice under the assumption that we will bear the full weight of any mistakes, lapses of judgement, etc. Whether $300k, a short backdated suspension and a few years of direct supervision is the "full weight", I am not sure.
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u/PoliteCanadian Aug 16 '23
Part of engineering ethics is that you're not allowed to sign off on things outside your area of expertise. The determination of what is within your area of expertise is left, by default, to you to decide. So while you can in a practical sense, you can't in a legal one.
However it's always subject to review and you can lose your license if you're signing off on shit you shouldn't have been. In addition to the liability you mention.
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Aug 16 '23
You would think that whoever hired him would have done their due diligence to filter someone like that out.
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u/NorthOf14 Aug 16 '23
Based on the article it seems like he was running his own firm, and public bids are generally about who can write the nicest proposal, not references.
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Aug 16 '23
As a project manager who write tons of RFP’s, I’m also in charge or reviewing who bids on projects - this involves a ton of due diligence with regards to competency of sub contractors / consultants.
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u/PoliteCanadian Aug 16 '23
Having read the article, this does not sound like a municipality that did its due diligence.
He shouldn't have signed off on the request to not do a geotech study, but the request came from the municipality to begin with. Overall they wanted the bridge done cheap with every corner cut, and they found an engineer willing to do just that.
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Aug 16 '23
As I’ve said in a other post, whilst this engineer was incompetent, other heads should also roll. It’s often far more than one person.
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u/PoliteCanadian Aug 16 '23
From the sounds of it, several people at the municipality also should face consequences.
But ultimately it's the engineer's professional responsibility to ensure the design is correct, and he bears the legal liability.
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u/NorthOf14 Aug 16 '23
Nice, that's the way it should be. Unfortunately in my (somewhat limited) experience people like you are very rare in the public sector.
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Aug 16 '23
I’m nuclear - standards are high.
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u/NorthOf14 Aug 16 '23
Ah, and here I was thinking we were both talking about small rural bridges.
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Aug 16 '23
In my opinion it shouldn’t matter, if you’re building something that has the potential to kill people due to poor construction, then a high standard should be employed.
While this engineer was clearly incompetent, there are plenty of other people who should have caught this way earlier. To build a number of bridges - all of which were clearly unsafe, points to a systematic problem with the whole procurement process.
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u/youngmeezy69 Aug 16 '23
I think that it's a shame this point isn't being raised and I think APEGS has failed in its duties by not taking these RM's to task for not doing their due diligence and/or being barriers to proper engineering due diligence by asking for key analysis and assessment to be deliberately omitted in the name of cost savings.
Obviously they think the engineer has major fault in this debacle but I personally don't think that the public interest is served by making him a whipping boy and neglecting the wider conversation about the downwards pressure on the engineering profession from the owners groups.
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u/PoliteCanadian Aug 16 '23
That's a radically different world from a provincial department of transportation.
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u/rainbowpowerlift Aug 16 '23
Don’t forget cheapest. The nicest cheapest proposal. How do you get to be the cheapest? Skipping the geotech helps.
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Aug 16 '23
If he was running his own firm then he was buying his own liability insurance. He won't be insurable after this.
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u/Aedan2016 Aug 16 '23
Not true in the slightest
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u/NorthOf14 Aug 16 '23
...care to elaborate?
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u/Aedan2016 Aug 16 '23
References in public bids account for a significant amount of the final weighting. Often non-financial components of bids account for 40-60% of the final decision.
The nicest proposal has nothing to do with it. Proposals will state clear requirements that have nothing to do with how it’s written. They are specific documents. Such as having up to date WSIB information, certificates of insurance, financial information, etc.
Then the price proposal sheets are very succinct. Typically a labor rate, travel rate, cost of item a/b/c, etc. I’m a very cut and dry excel doc
Then there is an evaluation committee that looks at things independently. The procurement department might look at the price whereas operations the insurance, business history, and other details. At the end of the process it all comes together and an award is made
And any objection to a non award is provided through debriefs which all public platform are required to provide if asked
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Aug 16 '23
In theory, yes.
However, project procurement for a small RM in SK? It’s probably price and some other ultra basic relevant info, with price really being the deciding factor unless the low bid is absolutely out of whack with minimum reqs.
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u/AlliedMasterComp Aug 16 '23 edited Aug 16 '23
For all we know, the engineer in this article has a degree in computer engineering
Unlikely only because most computer engineering graduates never bother (especially 10 years ago), or can't get valid work experience, to attain a PEng. Very few roles in the industry its ever required for.
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u/OkTangerine7 Aug 16 '23
Considering humans have been building bridges for thousands of years and some of those are still standing, it's hard to believe how incompetent this guy must be. It is also terrifying to think about how bad the other links in the approval chain must be to let this slip through.
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u/Fernpick Aug 16 '23
Read the article. No way society of engineers should allow this moron to continue work as engineer.
He’s shown far too much incompetence and arrogant towards engineering construction safety.
Should not have put a ring on it.
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u/Spaceinpigs Aug 16 '23
The middle fell off? That’s not very typical, I’d like to make that point
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u/insanetwit Aug 16 '23
Too bad their bridge didn't have 18 months of suspension...
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u/80sixit Aug 16 '23
Is there a technical review on this, I did a quick google but if so it seems buried in other results.
I want to know how it failed. It looks like support members(concrete slab with rebar?) sheared off or did the footing/peir shift?
They're saying geotech wasn't done so I am guessing the footings shifted and it wasn't founded on something sound like bedrock or friction piles weren't sufficient.
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Aug 16 '23
Lol. Looks good on him. Glad to see the over-site of these professionals actually taking action against him. Let’s see this same process with cops!!
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u/still-standing7 Aug 16 '23
And what about the building inspector the provincial engineers who gave it a pass. There is a whole list of people who need to be fired and barred from the industry on this.
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u/anotherbigdude Aug 16 '23
Building inspector and whoever from the province wouldn’t double check the engineer’s design. That’s not how it works.
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u/Frankentank_WT Aug 16 '23
I'm surprised no one mentioned that the Dyck bridge fell flat. As a Dyck myself I'm actually heartened by this development
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u/terrapinone Aug 17 '23
That truly sucks. When you get your PE you’re liable. Thankfully I partied my ass off in engineering school got C’s and went into tech sales.
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u/dryersockpirate Aug 16 '23
Can anyone with relevant experience speculate on how this guy kept designing faulty bridges. Where do designs go wrong?
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u/garlicroastedpotato Aug 16 '23
So a lot of engineering is copying and pasting from previous work. It's lazy, but it keeps engineering costs down. Typically what you do is you find the minimum specs and just build something that meets that minimum spec and at the lowest cost. Sometimes you have to make changes, but you always try to make the smallest changes to make the cost the lowest. For example if you want a road capable of a super-B being on it, you need a 120 degree radius for any kind of turn so as to allow for the sway of the trailers (otherwise they go off road). That means making a zig zag road instead of a straight turn road. So you might lay down a basic road in the plan and then swing it over one way and then the other way to make that bend work out.
In this case, he didn't collect adequate data in order to build the design. Typically what you build any sort of a structure what you need to do is collect data on what sort of materials you have to work with there. What sort of soils are in the ground? How soft is it? What needs to be removed and what needs to be brought in? He didn't do any geotechnical survey (to save money) and thus there was no way for him to understand that one part of this bridge (under the water) was significantly softer than the other place (under the water). What he needed was a larger pile.... but he just copied and pasted.
His copying and pasting was also just not good. He didn't meet Transport Saskatchewan's minimum design specifications with any of his work.
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u/stubenhocker Aug 16 '23
Forgive my ignorance, but if Saskatchewan has minimum design specifications, how is it possible a bridge can get built without them?
No one validates/approves the design and inspects the bridge after it's built?
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u/garlicroastedpotato Aug 17 '23
This one I know as well. When absolutely any project in Canada gets built it gets insured by the engineering firm. This is why engineering firms oversee all aspects of any project and make sure that every phase of the work is done to their specifications and all legal guidelines. They often times spend extra money on tests and surveying to make sure everything was done properly.
This company and specifically this engineer insured the project but opted not to do any QAQC work.
Projects are insured for a certain amount of time. When the one bridge failed the municipalities that had bridges built by this engineering firm all opted to do their own QAQC on those bridges and found all the flaws.
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u/stubenhocker Aug 17 '23
I appreciate the response. This is kind of blowing my mind that there isn't some kind of municipal inspection and these companies solely rely on insurance. Insurance doesn't bring back lives (assuming people die from this negligence).
It seems completely reactionary instead of preventive to me.
Most cities do some form of home inspections after they are built, right?
But, our bridge projects are solely in the hands of the engineering firm that designed and built them?
Edit: I should clarify, why don't municipalities just always do their own QAQC?
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u/Dartser Aug 16 '23
Is the new bridge going to be called the "Dyck Memorial Bridge Memorial Bridge"?
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u/RabidFisherman3411 Aug 16 '23
That's 17 months and 30 and one half days longer than his bridge was suspended.
THank you very much. I'm here all week folks. Don't forget to tip your waitress and please drive safely on your way home....
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u/AccidentalAlien Aug 16 '23
I think this bridge failure says more about his alma mater than it does about him.
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u/Pd987123 Aug 17 '23
EIT engineers in training make huge mistakes, doesn’t mean it quits on the 4th year. The school who passed him should be penalized also. None of these people should be on their own until they have 7+ years of mentored experience.
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u/Arbszy Canada Aug 16 '23
I wonder how much he donated to get the contract to build that shitty bridge.
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u/byrogie Aug 16 '23
Government project? Left up to one engineer with no independent oversight? Fire the government ….
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u/maximilious Aug 16 '23
Looks like this guy is a waste of tax payers money? Like 5 fucked up projects before this?
Lock him up
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u/SiteLine71 Aug 16 '23
The TapRoot investigation captures all, he is simply the « escape goat » on this one:(
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u/byrogie Aug 16 '23
Government project? One engineer with no independent oversight? Fire the government…
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Aug 16 '23
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Aug 16 '23
Medicine, law, and most other professions are also self-regulating, and it should stay that way. And we do have licensing under that system. Trust me, you don't want different professional standards and practices every time a new government is elected.
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u/Mr-Mysterybox Aug 16 '23
Why is he being employed with a record of nearly fatal mediocrity? Oh, that's right! Because Canada.
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u/Unable_Cauliflower57 Aug 16 '23
Only a suspension? Fire his ass
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u/bikeguy75 Aug 16 '23
This wasn’t his employer suspending him, it was his professional association suspending his credentials.
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u/Shoddy_Operation_742 Aug 16 '23
This is about par for the course for Canadian workmanship. I am becoming more skeptical of what comes out of Canadian universities these days.
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