Hard lessons

The paper examines the causes of ten of history´s worst engineering disasters and the lessons that could be learnt from them. The ten engineering disasters stretching from the sinking of the Swedish ship Vasa in the 17th century to the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor at the end of the 20th century illustrate what lessons are learnt when things go wrong. There will always be failures or disasters as engineers and designers push the boundaries by building taller buildings, longer bridges, or by reaching further into space. Each time there is a failure or disaster, changes are made and regulations introduced only to be outstripped by further developments.