Building & Design Blog

The civil engineer who designed the bridge would have designed it so that the finished bridge was strong enough for its intended load, but who is responsible, in general, on civil projects such as this to ensure that the structure is safe in various stages of construction? I often see accidents like this in the news, with partially completed structures collapsing and killing or injuring construction workers. Should a civil engineer assist in planning the various stages of construction, or is there another person who does this? Is there such a thing as a 'construction engineer.'

Had the construction company been practicing good safety habits all along something like this probably wouldn't have happened.

Safety is an attitude that has to be trained into the employees and fully supported by the company in order for the employees to take it seriously.

My assumption would be that this construction company won with the low bid and has been in the habit of cutting corners for a long time and it has finally come around and bit them on the ass and has nothing to do with the economy.

Yes, but the construction company is responsible for training its employees in safety practices and procedures.

The first thing OSHA is going to look at in their investigation is the company's training records, disciplinary records and employee dismissals. They are going to want to know if that construction company has been diligent with the enforcement of safety. If their records are inadequate or nonexistent then OSHA is going to lean towards negligent on the construction company's part.

Because there is a death involved there is a good chance for a supervisor to be going to jail and the company will be sued.

I agree 100%. I was just responding to the question "is there such a thing as a construction engineer?"

X2 DucatiSti

In general, the contractor is responsible for the integrety of any temporary works. This includes but is not limited to: temporary bridges, S.O.E., man cages, roadway decking, and concrete forms. These designs and analyses may contracted out to a consultant or be performed in-house by the contractor. My experience is in the latter (as a B.E. Civil Eng).

All contractor's have at least one safety officer. These people ensure compliance of every person that steps foot on the worksite with all safety protocol. Many of them exceed OSHA standards.

In response to the OP:
Especially in these economic times when many are struggling for work, it seems logical to employ more people rather than overwork a few in an unsafe manner.

No matter how many times we see post an 'event' that 'lessons have to be learned' it still baffles me no-one seems to realise the best way for persons to be aware of safety (and Health) is not to preach aimless lessons which are usually dull, therefore never paid attention to, but to expose the candidate to 'RISK'. Yeah, the real thing. Let someone witness danger and hurt and pain and I guarantee you that person will be a committed safety professional for the rest of their life without the need for the 'awareness' numbing lectures that are the fashion these days. The point here is; it is not always the employers fault, as an employer, when things go wrong - it is the 'blind' individual, and there may be many, who incrementally contribute to the 'event'.

There should be a site engineer and a safety officer (certificated).

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