Case Studies—Documentation to Support a Separate Structural Engineering Practice Act

Case studies show that a lack of a model law structural engineer and a separate state structural Engineering Practice Act can lead to major disasters. For example the Cocoa Beach Florida collapse was attributed to engineers who did not know that they needed to check a concrete slab for shear strength. As a result a building collapsed under construction and caused the loss of life of several construction workers. In states with no Structural Engineering Act, it is more likely that errors will lead either to collapse or to extreme and expensive repair to buildings. Case studies are presented to discuss specific examples where structural failures would most likely not have occurred if the design engineers were licensed structural engineers as defined by ASCE Policy 524, SEI policy statement 101 and the NCEES Model Law Structural Engineer including the provision for additional 30 units of acceptable graduate course work beyond the B.S. degree, a minimum of 32 hours of written examination (includes FE/EIT exam) and a minimum of 4 years of experience working for a licensed Structural Engineer. Five case studies are presented.