[ATTW-L] more on the Davenport building collapse

[Dragga, Sam]

As you might know, the bodies of the three missing residents have been retrieved and Investigations of the partial building collapse on May 28 are ongoing.

As technical communicators, we might especially examine the engineer’s report of May 24 (available at https://cdnsm5-hosted.civiclive.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_6481372/File/Departments/City%20Admin/324%20Main/Wold%20Davenport%20Brick%20Wall%20Repair_05-24-2023.pdf).

Following is text from the report (with my underlining). Notice that the opening paragraph mentions only the danger to cars and passersby (in that order) and indicates nothing about the risks for building residents:
A follow-up site visit was performed at the property above on May 23rd. On the west face of the building, there are several large patches of clay brick façade which are separating from the substrate. These large patches appear ready to fall imminently, which may create a safety hazard to cars or passersby. The owner has already blocked off the area with cones and has begun removing drywall from the inside of the wall to get a view of what might be happening.
Notice also that the later mention of a wall “loosing [sic] some stability” and “causing deformation” is information buried in paragraph 4 of the 6-paragraph report, again without mention of the risks to residents:
To the north of the two window openings in question, there is another issue. The wall appears to be loosing some stability and is causing deformation. This is evidenced by the bowing of the interior light gauge steel furring and drywall; they bulge as if a large downward force is acting upon them. This downward force may be due to the reaction of an east-west beam which bears on the west exterior wall. Adding a steel column to support the east-west beam would alleviate much of the load from the exterior wall while the façade is rebuilt. This column may be a W6x15 positioned as near the inside face of the structural wall as possible. The cold form and drywall may be re-shaped around it to incorporate it into the re-finished wall. The brick façade outside this area may be secured and rebuilt as described for the other area.
The obvious ethical question for technical communicators: Why does this report omit mention of the risks to the building’s residents?

I think we might know the distressing answers to this question.

Sam

Sam Dragga
Professor Emeritus
Texas Tech University
sam.dragga at ttu.edu<mailto:sam.dragga at ttu.edu>
1-806-543-6099

— — —

From: ATTW-L <attw-l-bounces at attw.org> on behalf of Sam Dragga <Sam.Dragga at ttu.edu>
Date: Thursday, June 1, 2023 at 1:18 PM
To: "attw-l at attw.org" <attw-l at attw.org>
Subject: [ATTW-L] documents on the Davenport building collapse

The City of Davenport has released scores of documents related to the partial collapse on May 28 of the six-story, 84-unit, residential building at 324 Main Street. Three individuals (Branden Colvin, Ryan Hitchcock, and Daniel Prien) are still missing this morning.

The released documents include engineering reports, inspection notices and reports, related photographs, permits, disclosures, and e-mail messages. Together the documents could easily constitute the materials for a semester-long collaborative class project or a doctoral dissertation.

The documents are available at https://www.davenportiowa.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=6481456&pageId=19580321

Sam

Sam Dragga
Professor Emeritus
Texas Tech University
sam.dragga at ttu.edu
1-806-543-6099

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