The 21 st Century has seen a number of high-profile bridge collapses which have claimed
many innocent lives. This talk will analyse the statistics behind those collapses but also
address the reasons for failure. More importantly, is the engineering profession doing
enough to share knowledge and ensure that collectively we are learning the lessons.
The importance of learning is illustrated by considering how we have been able to learn and
improve our understanding of structural behaviour by examining failures over the last 200
years. Lastly, the talk will ask if the risk is fully understood and whether enough is being
done to prevent collapses.
