Officials said the inspector had “misdiagnosed” as a “decorative” element a column that was holding up the seven-story building.
An engineer who oversaw inspections of a Bronx apartment building that partially collapsed on Monday “misdiagnosed” a column that was holding up the building, calling it a “decorative” element in plans he filed in June, city officials said Friday.
Mayor Eric Adams and the city’s buildings commissioner, James Oddo, said the city had suspended the engineer’s authority to inspect building facades and would seek to permanently revoke that authority.
Nobody was killed or seriously injured in the collapse. But it left more than 170 residents of the building, at 1915 Billingsley Terrace, with no place to live. In addition to the Buildings Department, officials said, the Bronx district attorney’s office and the city’s Department of Investigation are investigating what caused the collapse.
That’s what happens here. This person was a Professional Engineer, a kind of certified engineer. Their job is to determine if stuff is safe for use.
Things like roads, bridges, pressure vessels, and apartment buildings all have a Professional Engineer (PE) look over their designs at some point. Their job is to use their expertise to determine if the thing can do it’s job safely.
Existing structures are also periodically inspected by PEs. Like the above person, they determine if the thing can continue to do its job safely.
Unlike other engineers (in the USA), PEs have to attain a certification. You need to take an exam and maintain a license. It takes a lot of time and effort to obtain these things.
As someone else mentioned, the building is old enough that the initial plans likely no longer exist.
It’s the job of the PE to make judgment calls like “is this column structural or decorative”. This person fucked that up. Losing their license and ability to practice would be a fitting punishment.
When PEs fuck up, lots of people can die.
Just a note: it isn’t enough to just pass a test, you have to use the olds boy network to even sit for it. Then everyone pretends it is some great mystery why there is a lack of diversity.