47: Hyatt Regency Kansas City

Causality

The tallest building in Missouri with a large atrium perfect for big bands and dancing, hosted a regular Tea Dance in the summer of 1981. When two walkways collapsed killing over a hundred people, the investigators found multiple fundamental design errors. We look at how assumptions, redrafting conventions and negligence led to an incident that has become the case study in how not to do civil structural design.
With John Chidgey.
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Links of Interest:

• Tea dance
• Fast-track construction
• Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center
• Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse
• Strength Requirements by Grades
• All Thread Rod
• Wide Flange Beam Dimensions Chart
• Obituary for Jack D. Gillum
• Hotel Horror from Kansas City History
• The Engineer of Record and Design Responsibility

Engineering Analysis:

• Investigation of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Walkways Collapse (Link to PDF)
• Understanding the Tragic Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse
• Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse 1981
• Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse
• The Hyatt Regency Disaster Revisited
• Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse
• Ethics in Engineering Practice and Research by Caroline Whitbeck
• Chronology And Context Of The Hyatt Regency Collapse by Gregory P. Luth (PDF)

News Articles:

• The Kansas City Hyatt Disaster 30 Years Later
• Collapse Did Not Involve Safety Violations
• Walkway Swayed To The Rhythm Of Dancers
• 18th July 1981 Hyatt collapse
• Hyatt Regency Skywalk Collapse Memorial Dedicated In 2015
• 1981 Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse
• Hyatt Regency Collapse Remains Among The Deadliest In USA History
• Engineers Are Held At Fault In 1981 Hotel Disaster

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Episode Gold Producers: 'r' and Steven Bridle.
Episode Silver Producers: Mitch Biegler, Kevin Koch, Shane O'Neill, Lesley, Hafthor, Jared, Bill, Joel Maher, Katharina Will and Dave Jones.