 Discipline dealing with the art or science of applying scientific knowledge to practical problems  Examples:  building skyscrapers  jet planes  developing new materials  transmitting signals though light pulses etc  Engineers provide a solution society's needs and problems on a number of other scales with a unique blend of technology and science

 A disaster is:  Natural or man-made  Large scale  May result in physical damage or destruction, loss of life or sometimes permanent change to the natural environment. These are usually financial burdens on the budget.

 Engineers design and build objects.  The objects, naturally, have a limited life.  Engineers are expected to avoid a catastrophic failure before the expected life ends.  Being unsuccessful at this, the object breaks down causing wide scale damage to related personnel, environment etc.  This is an engineering disaster.

 The primary causes of engineering disasters are usually considered to be:  human factors (including both 'ethical' failure and accidents)  design flaws (many of which are also the result of unethical practices)  materials failures  extreme conditions or environments, and, most commonly and importantly  combinations of these reasons

 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich conducted a study and classified the causes from an engineers end into the following:  insufficient knowledge (36%)  underestimation of influence (16%)  ignorance, carelessness and negligence (14%)  forgetfulness and error (13%)  relying upon others without sufficient control (9%)  objectively unknown situation (7%)  imprecise definition of responsibilities (1%)  choice of bad quality (1%)  other reasons were computed up to constitute 3%

I. Minnesota Bridge Collapse:  The bridge was built over the Mississippi River, Minneapolis in 1967 by the Hurcon Inc. and Industrial Construction Company.  The bridge collapsed during the evening of 1 st August 2007, consuming the lives of thirteen people while injuring approximately 145 people.  Detailed study revealed that the gusset plates used were too thin (0.5 inches) to bear the weight.  Moreover, Minnesota Department of Transport had added two inches of concrete to the bridge deck over its lifetime resulting in twenty percent more weight to be carried by the bridge.

II. Hyatt Regency Hotel Walkway Collapse  This was a major disaster that occurred on July 17, 1981 in Kansas City, Missouri  114 people were killed while more than 200 got injured  On that eve, the walkways on the second, third, and fourth floor of the hotel were packed with visitors as they watched over a dance competition.  This new design could barely handle the weight of the structure itself, much less the weight of the hundreds of spectators standing on it.

III. 1970’s DC-10 Disasters  Flight 191 lost its number one wing engine after taking off from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, USA, May 25,  The engine separated upwards and ripped through the leading edge of the wing; rupturing hydraulic lines.  The left wing stalled, the plane rolled left and crashed before the flight crew could recover.  All 271 people on board, plus two on the ground, were killed in this accident.

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster-1986 St. Francis Dam Flooding-1928 Skylab-1973

 Engineers must follow their code of ethics  Be honest to their jobs  Explore about each possibility and think twice before finalizing a decision  Carrying out regular maintenance checks  Government should also introduce check-ups and follow ups at each stage and introduce laws against anyone violating the set regulations.

 "English Dictionary - With Multi-Lingual Search." All Words. 18 Oct  Minnesota Department of Transport Inspection Guideline. "Inspection Guidline July 2007." Minnesota Department of Transport. 19 July Sept  Minnesota Department of Transport Fact Sheet. "Interstate 35W Mississippi River Bridge, Minneapolis Fact Sheet - Oct. 16, 2007." Minnesota Department of Transport. 16 Oct Sept  Srinivasan, Vasudevan, and Gary Halada. "Engineering Disasters and Learning from Failure." 8 Dec Sept  "Top 10 Worst Engineering Disasters." Listverse. 4 Dec Oct  "What is Engineering?" Whiting School of Engineering, John Hopkins University. 18 Oct