Canterbury Television Building Collapse Assignment

Canterbury Television Building Collapse - Assignment Example vely under-productive for the first 5 months until February 22, 2011, when an aftershock occurred 7 km northwest of the city of Christchurch and caused 185 deaths and over 7,000 injuries. A major part of the 185 confirmed deaths are due to the collapse of the mid-rise reinforced concrete (RC) office building in the CBD known as Canterbury Television Building (CTV). 75% of the occupants in this 6 storey building died. 2. Analysis of Case Study This is a report on the key role players and stake holders in the Canterbury Television Building (CTV) collapse incident. The report concludes with conclusions and recommendations. 2.1 Key Role Players The following is a list of persons/institutions that played a pivotal role in the creation of the CTV building. 2.1.1 Consulting Engineer Mr. Reay, the Consulting Engineer, should have paid more attention to the work that was undertaken viz. the construction of the CTV building. Though he had high academic qualifications he did not spend reasonabl e time in the project i.e. he had a hands-off approach to it. 2.1.2 Structural Engineers Mr. Henry and Mr. Harding were employed by Mr. Reay in the capacity of structural engineers. Mr. Reay wanted them to design medium height multi-storeyed buildings. Mr. Henry was with Mr. Reay for a year, whereas Mr. Harding had two stints with Mr. Reay. 2.1.3 Structural Draughts men Many draughtsmen worked on preparing structural drawings for the CTV building project. After the engineer made the architectural drawings, the draughtsmen worked out the dimensions. 2.1.4 Deputy Building Engineer - 1 Mr. Graeme Tapper, was the deputy building engineer for Christchurch City Council (CCC). He raised the structural issue of the connection of the floors (diaphragms) to the north wall complex with Mr. Reay’s... This is a report on the key role players and stake holders in the Canterbury Television Building (CTV) collapse incident. The report concludes with conclusions and recommendations. The following is a list of persons/institutions that played a pivotal role in the creation of the CTV building. Mr. Reay, the Consulting Engineer, should have paid more attention to the work that was undertaken viz. the construction of the CTV building. Though he had high academic qualifications he did not spend reasonable time in the project i.e. he had a hands-off approach to it.Mr. Henry and Mr. Harding were employed by Mr. Reay in the capacity of structural engineers. Mr. Reay wanted them to design medium height multi-storeyed buildings. Mr. Henry was with Mr. Reay for a year, whereas Mr. Harding had two stints with Mr. Reay. Many draughtsmen worked on preparing structural drawings for the CTV building project. After the engineer made the architectural drawings, the draughtsmen worked out the dimension s. Mr. Graeme Tapper, was the deputy building engineer for Christchurch City Council (CCC). He raised the structural issue of the connection of the floors (diaphragms) to the north wall complex with Mr. Reay’s firm. Mr. Bryan Bluck was the building engineer for CCC at the time of the CTV Building. Reay convinced him that Tapper’s objections (see 2.1.4) were unfounded. Tapper was asked to sign on the design at Bluck’s behest. As found in the Summary and Recommendations in Volumes 5-7 & Section 6: Technical discussions on structure, Mr. Leo O’ Loughlin was the building inspector for CCC in the central city area at that time. He received the building permit application for the construction of the CTV building. He would check the documents provided with the application for missing information. He would also review parts of plans for legal compliance.

Risk factors for post traumatic stress disorder Essay

Risk factors for post traumatic stress disorder - Essay Example Furthermore, hyper arousal symptoms refer to being skittish, hyper vigilance, irritability, anger outbursts and difficulty in sleeping and relaxing. This life affecting condition is distressing, weakening and a big hindrance for a person to achieve his outmost capacity. Generally, treatment for this disorder is medication, cognitive behavioral therapy or the combination of both. Traumas are unforeseen disturbing incidents that bring forth different reactions from people. While different people have various mechanisms in coping with traumatic experiences, some people do tend to develop the post-traumatic stress disorder due to the intense emotional impact of traumas. There is however various possible risk factors that contribute to the development of post traumatic stress disorder. Numerous studies are emerging to learn more of these existing risk factors. This paper then is a discussion of some recent studies done on gender, socio-economic status and preexisting psychological conditions as risk factors for developing post traumatic stress disorder. It is clear that the men and women of a general population do differ not only in physiological and biological aspects but in a social level as well. Emotional and psychological vulnerability differ because men and women react to experiences in clearly much different ways. In a study done by Davidson, Kigamwa, Nicholls, Njenga and Nyamai (2004), a group of people were studied within three months after a terrorist attack. These people were first hand witnesses to "the bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, on a busy Friday morning in August 1998". The bombing resulted to 220 dead people and injuries to thousands of people. The 2, 627 respondents to the study were mostly made up of educated and professional individuals. Of the people included in the study, 47% consisted of women and more than half of the women were married and pregnant at the time of the bombing. The study established that there were 35% of the population sample that coincided with post traumatic stress disorder symptoms after the test results was summarized. Factors related with the analysis were associated primarily with the subjects having the female gender along with unmarried status and less education. For post traumatic stress disorder, gender should be regarded with more attention and understanding because according to Gavranidou and Rosner's (2003) findings in their review of recent studies, "men experience traumatic events more often, women and men differ in the type of traumatic experiences , and women more often develop post traumatic stress disorder after the experience of a traumatic event". Men and women differ in the type of traumatic experiences because, "women more often experience sexual abuse and rape, whereas men are more frequently traumatized by physical attacks and serious accidents" (Gavranidou and Rosner, 2003). In addition, there were also no definite differences with respect to gender in the accounted traumatic incidents such as death of a loved one or natural disasters in the studies reviewed by the two researchers. Each