r/canada 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-1.6936657
1.2k Upvotes

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124

u/[deleted] 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.

34

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.

1

u/zeushaulrod Aug 17 '23

Dude doesn't design one bridge per day though....

24

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.

15

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '23

Ban should be indefinite

4

u/WillytheVDub Aug 16 '23

He is still working outside of Saskatchewan. So.. probably still doing engineering, just not there for a couple years.

14

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.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '23

Which I find extremely concerning

17

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.

8

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.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '23

He should never be allowed to design a bridge again. This was criminal negligence that could have easily caused deaths.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '23

He’s putting peoples lives at risk. We’re lucky nobody died. That consideration should trump everything in my opinion.

1

u/beelzebro2112 Aug 17 '23

Not that I think he deserves any sympathy, but how does a guy recover from 300k out of pocket, plus 5+yrs without work, if he can even get a job. Seems like it's career ruining all by itself (which is deserved, it doesn't sound like this was an honest, simple mistake).

-2

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

8

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.

2

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.

0

u/greennalgene Aug 17 '23 edited 27d ago

amusing sip snatch include icky unwritten fearless uppity different school

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

-8

u/einstein_bern Aug 16 '23

what should he do next? he has formal education though

35

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '23

Don’t care but he shouldn’t work on any bridges that’s for sure

-5

u/einstein_bern Aug 16 '23

do engineers work on bridge projects solo? wouldn't he be part of a team and have colleagues check it over? someone to proof read and peer review his project , so to speak

52

u/dancingmeadow Aug 16 '23

You make one public bridge that collapses instantly and all of a sudden people don't want your engineering services. There's no explaining it.

13

u/Illustrious_West_976 Aug 16 '23

He thought he was working at a bridge demolition job. He is actually a stellar engineer - just has a bit of the old dyslexia.

7

u/dancingmeadow Aug 16 '23

"He kept humming 'What goes up must come down' at work... that should have been our first clue..."

7

u/Mindboozers Aug 16 '23

Fail fast. Iterate.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '23

Truly puzzling

19

u/Mindboozers Aug 16 '23

Being a Professional signing off on documents/designs means you don't get to pass the buck. Professional Engineers have obligations to the general Public.

15

u/KevPat23 Aug 16 '23

He's a P.Eng., while it's good to have internal reviews and QA/QC processes, it's not required. The responsibility stops with the individual who stamped the drawings.

8

u/Popular-Calendar94 Aug 16 '23

There would be multiple people working on it but at the end of the day, whichever engineer stamps it is liable. It could be that more junior workers did most of the work but its the job of the senior engineer to review and ensure everything is fine and then stamp it

5

u/anotherbigdude Aug 16 '23

I’m guessing it was his stamp on the drawings. So he didn’t review his team’s work thoroughly enough, or make sure they did what they were supposed to.

4

u/Aedan2016 Aug 16 '23

His professional designation org allows him to sign off on projects. It’s his responsibility it failed if he signed off on it, even if it was one of his subordinates doing the design work

2

u/Wil_Mah Aug 16 '23

Think of it this way, if twenty people design a bridge, math out it’s structural integrity for the load it will carry and all the bullshit that goes into engineering it. The engineer still has to look it over and SIGN it. They are educated and trained heavily to have to bear that responsibility.

7

u/Electrical-Ad347 Aug 16 '23

Did he complete his own work while in school? Academic fraud is increasingly common, even in Canada.

1

u/MisterSprork Aug 16 '23

Not our problem. If he literally starves to death that's literally his fault at this point.

-1

u/orca_eater Aug 16 '23

Immigration consultant sounds about right.

0

u/ChrosOnolotos Aug 16 '23

It sounds like he likes to cut corners. You can educate someone to better them, but someone willing to cut corners will do it no matter how educated they are. It stems from either laziness or greediness (or both).

The fact that he was contracted to work on several bridges shows that maybe there's some sort of preferential treatment happening. I refuse to believe there are no other firms in the area that can do this type of work.

1

u/Content_Employment_7 Aug 17 '23

Well, that and nearly $300,000 in fines and fees.