You might be interested in the list below of the stages in the “life” of a structure in the built environment. Structures include earthworks and waterworks – a reshaping of the natural environment, as well as buildings and bridges.
I came across the basic list – the first nine stages, while reading the latest, 2012 edition of Guidelines for Forensic Engineering Practice. (Ref. 1) I added the 10th stage – demolishing, because that’s what often happens to structures after they have been decommissioned. The list is a useful breakdown of the aging of a structure.
The Guidelines were published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Civil engineering includes structural engineering and geotechnical engineering.
I see the list providing context and facilitating communication between counsel, insurance claims managers and consultants, and an engineering expert. Failures and personal injury accidents can occur pretty well any time during the life of a structure.
Principles governing communication between counsel and expert have been developed recently by The Ontario Advocates’ Society. (Ref. 2) The following list of stages in the life of a structure will further help counsel and an engineering expert talk to one another when a failure or personal injury accident occurs:
- Conceptualizing
- Planning
- Designing
- Constructing
- Operating
- Maintaining
- Renovating
- Reconfiguring
- Decommissioning
- Demolishing
ASCE say that, “Failure can be defined as an unacceptable difference between an actual condition or performance and the intended or reasonably anticipated condition or performance.” This can occur during any stage in the life of a structure.
Furthermore, “Failure need not involve a complete or even partial collapse. It may involve a less catastrophic deficiency or performance problem, such as unacceptable deformation, cracking, water- or weather-resistance, or other such phenomena.”
It’s not difficult to imagine that failure can occur at any stage. Nor that personal injury accidents can occur at any stage.
Communication is easier for both counsel and client and counsel and engineering expert if we all have an idea of a structure’s “life” and the stages it goes through as it ages The list above can help us.
References
- Kardon, Joshua B., ed., Guidelines for Forensic Engineering Practice, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2012
- The Ontario Advocates’ Society, Principles Governing Communications With Testifying Experts June 2014 Toronto