Buried Truths And The Hyatt Skywalks

Author : Richard A. Serrano
Publisher : Purdue University Press
ISBN 13 : 1612497179
Total Pages : 420 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Buried Truths and the Hyatt Skywalks written by Richard A. Serrano and published by Purdue University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1981 the sudden collapse of two skywalks in Kansas City’s Hyatt hotel killed 114 people and injured another 200. There never was a public trial, nor a full airing of everything that went wrong. Richard A. Serrano shared a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the disaster at the time; now he returns to the tragedy to learn all that went wrong, how it could have been avoided, and what lasting effects persist today—for engineering and the legal system, but most importantly those who suffered. Drawing on legal depositions, evidentiary material, and recollections from 240 survivors, first responders, and construction officials, Buried Truths and the Hyatt Skywalks is the story of this monumental catastrophe and what it teaches us today. The Friday evening Tea Dance was all the rage that summer of 1981. Each week the lobby filled with throngs of revelers, some celebrating atop the skywalks themselves. On July 17, without warning, the steel support systems buckled and the concrete and glass skywalks crashed onto the crowded lobby. The devastation reverberated far beyond the ruins. Firefighters, police officers, and paramedics suffered from deep depression, cycled through divorce, hit the bottle, and in some instances committed suicide. The hotel had been built using a new fast-track method with key construction decisions often made on the fly, including changing the skywalk design from six heavy hanger rods to twelve thinner poles. Within a year the skywalks were splintering inside. Even then the collapse could have been averted, but special inspection panels to check the hanging walkways were never opened. Though wholly avoidable, the Hyatt disaster did bring significant changes—some good and some problematic. Tougher industry guidelines were enforced for US construction projects. Police officers, firefighters, and health care workers are now treated for PTSD and other psychological trauma after working a tragic event. But the rush to settle all the Hyatt lawsuits helped usher in a controversial new era of nondisclosure agreements. Buried Truths and the Hyatt Skywalks explores America’s worst structural engineering disaster. Though the world has moved on, survivors and witnesses still vividly recall that night. This is their story.

Author : Richard A. Serrano
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781612497181
Total Pages : 380 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Buried Truths and the Hyatt Skywalks written by Richard A. Serrano and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In 1981 the sudden collapse of two skywalks in Kansas City's Hyatt hotel killed 114 people and injured another 200. There never was a public trial, nor a full airing of everything that went wrong. Richard A. Serrano shared a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the disaster at the time; now he returns to the tragedy to learn all that went wrong, how it could have been avoided, and what lasting effects persist today-for engineering and the legal system, but most importantly those who suffered. Drawing on legal depositions, evidentiary material, and recollections from 240 survivors, first responders, and construction officials, Buried Truths and the Hyatt Skywalks is the story of this monumental catastrophe and what it teaches us today. The Friday evening Tea Dance was all the rage that summer of 1981. Each week the lobby filled with throngs of revelers, some celebrating atop the skywalks themselves. On July 17, without warning, the steel support systems buckled and the concrete and glass skywalks crashed onto the crowded lobby. The devastation reverberated far beyond the ruins. Firefighters, police officers, and paramedics suffered from deep depression, cycled through divorce, hit the bottle, and in some instances committed suicide. The hotel had been built using a new fast-track method with key construction decisions often made on the fly, including changing the skywalk design from six heavy hanger rods to twelve thinner poles. Within a year the skywalks were splintering inside. Even then the collapse could have been averted, but special inspection panels to check the hanging walkways were never opened. Though wholly avoidable, the Hyatt disaster did bring significant changes-some good and some problematic. Tougher industry guidelines were enforced for US construction projects. Police officers, firefighters, and health care workers are now treated for PTSD and other psychological trauma after working a tragic event. But the rush to settle all the Hyatt lawsuits helped usher in a controversial new era of nondisclosure agreements. Buried Truths and the Hyatt Skywalks explores America's worst structural engineering disaster. Though the world has moved on, survivors and witnesses still vividly recall that night. This is their story"--

Author : R. Eli Paul
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
ISBN 13 : 1496234901
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.02/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Skywalks written by R. Eli Paul and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2023-03 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1981 the suspended walkways—or “skywalks”—in Kansas City’s Hyatt Regency hotel fell and killed 114 people. It was the deadliest building collapse in the United States until the fall of New York’s Twin Towers on 9/11. In Skywalks R. Eli Paul follows the actions of attorney Robert Gordon, an insider to the bitter litigation that followed. Representing the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against those who designed, built, inspected, owned, and managed the hotel, Gordon was tenacious in uncovering damaging facts. He wanted his findings presented before a jury, where his legal team would assign blame from underlings to corporate higher-ups, while securing a massive judgment in his clients’ favor. But when the case was settled out from under Gordon, he turned to another medium to get the truth out: a quixotic book project that consumed the rest of his life. For a decade the irascible attorney-turned-writer churned through a succession of high-powered literary agents, talented ghost writers, and New York trade publishers. Gordon’s resistance to collaboration and compromise resulted in a controversial but unpublishable manuscript, “House of Cards,” finished long after the public’s interest had waned. His conclusions, still explosive but never receiving their proper attention, laid the blame for the disaster largely at the feet of the hotel’s owner and Kansas City’s most visible and powerful corporation, Hallmark Cards Inc. Gordon gave up his lucrative law practice and lived the rest of his life as a virtual recluse in his mansion in Mission Hills, Kansas. David had fought Goliath, and to his despair, Goliath had won. Gordon died in 2008 without ever seeing his book published or the full truth told. Skywalks is a long-overdue corrective, built on a foundation of untapped historical materials Gordon compiled, as well as his own unpublished writings.

Author : Roxanna McDonald
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 113639219X
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.91/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Introduction to Natural and Man-made Disasters and Their Effects on Buildings written by Roxanna McDonald and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-06-01 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a comprehensive guide to all types of natural and man made disasters and their effect on buildings. It gives overall guidance and a basic technical understanding of prevention, mitigation and management of disaster, and outlines a checklist of preventive design elements for each situation. Every category is illustrated with a case study which pin points the essential information that is crucial to architects and engineers in designing buildings with disaster prevention in mind. The aim of the book is to give a clear understanding of the nature of events and problems, and to enable readers to respond with knowledge to the unique demands placed on their designs. A special emphasis is also placed on re-building as an opportunity to start again. For the specialists this is a process of constant learning and improving techniques in the light of events past.

Author : Kevin Murphy
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781611690125
Total Pages : 155 pages
Book Rating : 4.29/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Last Dance written by Kevin Murphy and published by . This book was released on 2011-07-15 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Diane Vaughan
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022634696X
Total Pages : 622 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Challenger Launch Decision written by Diane Vaughan and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016-01-04 with total page 622 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An in-depth account of the events and personal actions which led to a great tragedy in the history of America’s space program.” —James D. Smith, former Solid Rocket Booster Chief, NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center When the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, millions of Americans became bound together in a single, historic moment. Many still vividly remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the tragedy. Diane Vaughan recreates the steps leading up to that fateful decision, contradicting conventional interpretations to prove that what occurred at NASA was not skullduggery or misconduct but a disastrous mistake. Why did NASA managers, who not only had all the information prior to the launch but also were warned against it, decide to proceed? In retelling how the decision unfolded through the eyes of the managers and the engineers, Vaughan uncovers an incremental descent into poor judgment, supported by a culture of high-risk technology. She reveals how and why NASA insiders, when repeatedly faced with evidence that something was wrong, normalized the deviance so that it became acceptable to them. In a new preface, Vaughan reveals the ramifications for this book and for her when a similar decision-making process brought down NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003. “Vaughn finds the traditional explanation of the [Challenger] accident to be profoundly unsatisfactory . . . One by one, she unravels the conclusions of the Rogers Commission.” —The New York Times “A landmark study.” —Atlantic “Vaughn gives us a rare view into the working level realities of NASA . . . The cumulative force of her argument and evidence is compelling.” —Scientific American

Author : David True
Publisher : Acclaim Press
ISBN 13 : 9781948901871
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.70/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Gangsters, Outlaws and Mobsters: A Missouri History of Twentieth Century Crimes and Criminals written by David True and published by Acclaim Press. This book was released on 2021-09-27 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When people think of organized crime, the cities of Chicago, Las Vegas, and New York come to mind, but the state of Missouri has produced a long list of high profile criminals known across the nation. In fact, Pretty Boy Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde, Machine Gun Kelly, and Fred "Killer" Burke--all high on the FBI's most wanted list--had ties to the state. In Gangsters, Outlaws and Mobsters - A Missouri History of Twentieth Century Crimes and Criminals, retired ATF agent and author David True details the true stories of the state's most notorious criminals. Missouri native David True, who grew up in the shadow of the St. Louis underworld, has compiled an exhaustive list of Missouri's most notorious criminals based upon three decades of research and insider knowledge from investigating gangland crimes and criminals. Read Gangsters, Outlaws and Mobsters and see the dark side of Missouri too disturbing to be discussed in travel guides!

Author : Kim S. Elliott
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118587359
Total Pages : 1 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Multi-Storey Precast Concrete Framed Structures written by Kim S. Elliott and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-10-07 with total page 1 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Precast reinforced and prestressed concrete frames provide a high strength, stable, durable and robust solution for any multi-storey structure, and are widely regarded as a high quality, economic and architecturally versatile technology for the construction of multi-storey buildings. The resulting buildings satisfy a wide range of commercial and industrial needs. Precast concrete buildings behave in a different way to those where the concrete is cast in-situ, with the components subject to different forces and movements. These factors are explored in detail in the second edition of Multi-Storey Precast Concrete Framed Structures, providing a detailed understanding of the procedures involved in precast structural design. This new edition has been fully updated to reflect recent developments, and includes many structural calculations based on EUROCODE standards. These are shown in parallel with similar calculations based on British Standards to ensure the designer is fully aware of the differences required in designing to EUROCODE standards. Civil and structural engineers as well as final year undergraduate and postgraduate students of civil and structural engineering will all find this book to be thorough overview of this important construction technology.

Author : Marc S. Gerstein
Publisher : Union Square + ORM
ISBN 13 : 1402776799
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.93/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Flirting with Disaster written by Marc S. Gerstein and published by Union Square + ORM. This book was released on 2009-10-23 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This analysis of catastrophes provides a pathway for those who want to foster truthtelling in their organization and head off disasters in the making. We tend to think of disasters as uncontrollable acts of nature or inevitable accidents. But are such incidents unavoidable or ever truly accidental? The authors of this remarkable book say we actually do have the power to prevent tragedies such as the flooding from Hurricane Katrina, the death toll from dangerous medicines like Vioxx, and the explosion of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Marc Gerstein and Michael Ellsberg insist that disasters need not be inevitable if we learn from history, prepare carefully for the worst case, and speak out when we see danger looming. This revelation makes their compelling study extremely valuable for readers in business, government, medicine, academia—indeed all walks of life. Flirting with Disaster will do for catastrophe what Blink did for intuition, and The Black Swan did for probability: provide a popular audience with an engaging, in-depth view of a complex and important topic. Gerstein and Ellsberg examine the culture of institutions: why even people of good will and inside knowledge underestimate risk; feel psychologically incapable of averting tragedy and unable to pick up the pieces afterward; and don’t come forward forcefully enough to head off catastrophe. They also celebrate those who go beyond the call of duty to save others, including Dr. David Graham of the FDA who courageously stood up to reveal Vioxx’s deadly effects. One such whistleblower contributes both a foreword and an afterword: Daniel Ellsberg, renowned for releasing the Pentagon Papers.

Author : Andy Horowitz
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674246764
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.68/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Katrina written by Andy Horowitz and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-07 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Bancroft Prize Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Book of the Year A Publishers Weekly Book of the Year “The main thrust of Horowitz’s account is to make us understand Katrina—the civic calamity, not the storm itself—as a consequence of decades of bad decisions by humans, not an unanticipated caprice of nature.” —Nicholas Lemann, New Yorker Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans on August 29, 2005, but the decisions that caused the disaster can be traced back nearly a century. After the city weathered a major hurricane in 1915, its Sewerage and Water Board believed that developers could safely build housing near the Mississippi, on lowlands that relied on significant government subsidies to stay dry. When the flawed levee system failed, these were the neighborhoods that were devastated. The flood line tells one important story about Katrina, but it is not the only story that matters. Andy Horowitz investigates the response to the flood, when policymakers made it easier for white New Orleanians to return home than for African Americans. He explores how the profits and liabilities created by Louisiana’s oil industry have been distributed unevenly, prompting dreams of abundance and a catastrophic land loss crisis that continues today. “Masterful...Disasters have the power to reveal who we are, what we value, what we’re willing—and unwilling—to protect.” —New York Review of Books “If you want to read only one book to better understand why people in positions of power in government and industry do so little to address climate change, even with wildfires burning and ice caps melting and extinctions becoming a daily occurrence, this is the one.” —Los Angeles Review of Books