Engineering Failure Episodes

Ep 83 SPECIAL Seismic Design

This week's engineering episode is about earthquakes (4:50). Seismic engineering has progressed over time to make sure we’re prepared (13:40) for earthquakes and the tsunamis (21:25) they cause.

Ep 82 PFOA and Sudbury Effect

This week's engineering failures are from our mini failure library. We’re talking about PFOA and Sudbury Effect.

PFOA - PFOA has been poisoning living creatures in the Ohio river basin for decades. One brave lawyer took on a huge corporation in this real life David and Goliath story. 

Sudbury Effect - Undoing a century of damage, little by little and what went from green and lush, to black and barren, back to green again. Sudbury is now said to have the cleanest air of any city in Ontario. 

Ep 81 Bhopal Disaster and Asbestos

This week's engineering failures are from our mini failure library. We’re talking about the Bhopal Disaster and Asbestos

Bhopal - Due to malfunctioning safety systems and a lack of safety culture, many people were poisoned and their lives impacted forever. 

Asbestos - Deadly little fibers that are in seemingly everything and can lay dormant for decades before wreaking havoc. 

Ep 80 Love Canal and Minamata

This week's engineering failures are from our mini failure library. We’re talking about the Love Canal and the Minamata.

Love Canal - After a decade of dumping toxic waste, the location was a bad spot to put a school. Even the chemical company knew it, but it would take years for the school board to understand the consequences of their decision. 

Minamata - Factory wastewater was dumped into Minamata Bay for decades, and poisoned the town of Minamata Japan.

Ep 79 Lac Megantic Rail Disaster

10 years ago, a train traveling from Montreal derailed in downtown Lac Megantic and changed the town forever. 

Ep 78 Surfside Condo Collage

We get into the construction of the tower and all the factors that led to the collapse.

Ep 77 Motorsport Safety Pt 2

There was so much great engineering failure content that we’ve split this episode up into two parts. In this second part, we discuss pitlane safety and the HANS device.

Ep 76 Motorsport Safety Pt 1

 In the first episode of this two part series, we discuss early motorsport safety and some significant safety upgrades that have been implemented over the years. 

Ep 75 US Interstate Highways

 After receiving a funding and design boost through the US Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, the interstate system was born with a more deliberate layout than may seem. Despite it’s success, the interstate system is not without issue. 

Ep 74 SwissAir Flight 111

 A crash off the coast of Peggy’s Cove is believed to be caused by a fire in the ceiling at the front of the plane. As an outcome of the crash investigation, a number of additional safety risks were identified and corrected. 

Ep 73 2021 Texas Power Outage

 Deregulation, amongst many other issues led to blackouts throughout Texas during winter storm Uri; having a huge impact on residents. Despite experiencing similar storms in 1989 & 2011, Texas did not learn its lesson. 

Ep 72 Mount Polley Tailings Pond Breach

After years of ad hoc embankment expansion, the tailing pond breached on August 4, 2014. Following an independent investigation panel review geoscientists and engineers were found liable for the failure. 

Ep 71 Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse

Designed by some of the same engineers as the Golden Gate Bridge we talked about last episode, this bridge only stood for 3 months before collapsing. A full inquiry discovered flaws in the lightweight design and a new, stronger bridge was built that’s still standing today. 

Ep 70 SPECIAL Golden Gate Bridge

After decades of design considerations the Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937. 86 years later, San Francisco is working hard to maintain the iconic bridge.

Ep 69 Fernie Arean Ammonia Accident

After ignoring warning signs for years that the plant was failing in October 2017, a tragic accident occurred sparking an investigation into what went wrong in Fernie. 

Ep 68 Sayano-Sushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Plant

The power plant dam had significant water pressure and other issues, which ultimately led to the failure of turbine 2 in 2009. 

Ep 67 Algo Centre Mall Collapse

In 2012 the mall’s rooftop parking deck collapsed, revealing decades of neglectful maintenance. 

Ep 66 Johnstown Flood

After heavy rainfall, the poorly maintained South Fork Dam failed, greatly impacting the unsuspecting residents downstream.  

Ep 65 OIQ Loss of Self Regulation

After covering a brief history of engineering in Canada, and Alberta, we talk about how and why the OIQ lost their ability to self regulate the engineering profession in 2016. 

Ep 64 Station Nightclub Fire

There were many contributing factors that led to the tragic fire. In the aftermath, the band manager and building owners pled guilty to their part in the fire and regulators made significant and necessary changes to rules around upgrading life safety systems in existing buildings. 

Ep 63 Boeing 737 Max

A poorly executed flight stabilization software called MCAS caused two catastrophic crashes putting Boeing in hot water.

Ep 62 Wind Turbine Failures Pt 2

There was so much great engineering failure content that we’ve split this episode up into two parts. In this second part, we talk about other common causes of wind turbine failures; generator failure, gearbox failure, and foundation/structure failure. 

Ep 61 Wind Turbine Failures Pt 1

There was so much great engineering failure content that we’ve split this episode up into two parts. In this first part, we talk about the most common cause of wind turbine failure, blade failure. 

Ep 60 SPECIAL Kicking Horse Spiral Tunnels

After looking at multiple locations for the railway across the Canadian Rockies, engineers landed on a path across the Big Hill. Due to the steep grade, accidents were unavoidable and the tunnels were built to make the route less steep 

Ep 59 FedEx Express Flight 80

A fatal crash in 2009 was not an isolated incident with the MD-11 aircraft. 

Ep 58 Chalk River Nuclear Accidents

The Chalk River Nuclear Facility north of Ottawa suffered two nuclear accidents in the 1950s. The first with the NRX reactor in 1952 and the second with the NRU reactor in 1958. 

Ep 57 I-35W Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis

Designed and constructed in the 60s, the bridge had been inspected regularly over the years. But unfortunately, after 40 years it collapsed and the City of Minneapolis rushed to replace the bridge. 

Ep 56 Boston Molasses & London Beer Floods

Boston Molasses Flood - Over 100 years ago, A wave of molasses flooded the streets of North End in Boston and took out everything in its path. 

London Beer Flood - A failed vat sent a huge wave of beer down London streets. 

Ep 55 Breast Implant Recalls

Our first medical engineering failure. In an effort to cut costs, PIP cut corners on the silicone in their breast implants that led to severe problems for recipients starting in 2003. 

Ep 54 Big Bayou Canot Rail Accident

Big Bayou Canot became the second worst US rail disaster after a towboat hit a bridge resulting in extensive damage. The ensuing investigation offered a number of important lessons learned and recommendations. 

Ep 53 Gimli Glider

This week we're taking a much needed break and featuring one of our mini failure episodes from last fall; the Gimli Glider. Unit are hard, but important. An incorrect conversion led to the plane taking off with only 45% of its required fuel. 

Ep 52 Luna Park Ghost Train Fire

43 years ago, the Luna Park Ghost Train suffered a catastrophic fire. Even though it was inspected two years earlier, in 1977, the recommended upgrades weren’t complete and the fire investigation found many other safety flaws. 

Ep 51 Teton Dam Failure

The dam catastrophically failed during its initial fill leading to assessments of other similar dams.

Ep 50 SPECIAL James Webb Space Telescope

The telescope took decades to build, but it was worth it because it has a lot of really interesting features.

Ep 49 Florida Pedestrian Bridge Collapse

The bridge collapsed during construction with traffic on the roadway underneath. The collapse led to investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board and the US Department of Labor. 

Ep 48 L'Ambiance Plaza

Ep 47 Piper Alpha

Ep 46 Second Narrows Bridge

Ep 45 Kowloon Walled City

Ep 44 Challenger Space Shuttle 

Ep 43 Harbor Cay Condo Construction Failure

Ep 42 United Flight 232

Ep 41 Three Mile Island

Ep 40 SPECIAL CN Tower

Ep 39 Lake Peigneur and Cantara Loop

Ep 38 Charles de Gaulle Airport Collapse

Ep 37 2003 NE Blackout

Ep 36 A Year In Review

Ep 35 Leaning Tower of Pisa

Ep 34 Apollo 1

Ep 33 Arecibo Telescope

Ep 32 The Big O

Ep 31 Transatlantic Telegraph Cable Failure

Ep 30 SPECIAL Panama Canal

Ep 29 Kursk Submarine Disaster

Ep 28 Floating Bridges of Washington State

Ep 27 de Havilland Comet

Ep 26 Folsom Dam Gate Failure

Ep 25 Deepwater Horizon

Ep 24 Eindhoven Airport Car Park Collapse

Ep 23 Burnaby Supermarket Roof Collapse

Ep 22 West Gate Bridge Collapse

Ep 21 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Ep 20 SPECIAL Channel Tunnel

Ep 19 Dieselgate

Ep 18 The Hancock Tower

Ep 17 Hindenburg Disaster

Ep 16 Sunshine Skyway Bridge Collapse

Ep 15 Podcast Origin Story

Ep 14 Sampoong Department Store Collapse

Ep 13 Chernobyl Explosion

Ep 12 Flint Water Crisis

Ep 11 Titanic

Ep 10 SPECIAL International Space Station

Ep 09 Air France 447 Crash

Ep 08 Malahide Viaduct Collapse

Ep 07 Hartford Arena Roof Collapse

Ep 06 Quebec Bridge Collapse

Ep 05 Ford Pinto

Ep 04 Grenfell Tower Fire

Ep 03 Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse

Ep 02 New Orleans Levee Failures During Hurricane Katrina

Ep 01 Citicorp Building