It is essential that, when problems arise with structures, the facts are established by rigorous investigation, are fully published and clearly summarized and disseminated within organizations. For more important cases relating to safety, wider dissemination through publication and revised standards is appropriate. Initial press reports speculate, often wildly, and the myths created persist, even when a full report is published. Full balanced published reports based on rigorous impartial investigations are rare. The complexities of reality revealed rapidly become oversimplified and distorted, often influenced by spin from interested parties. Then the lessons, which too seldom spread internationally, fade from the collective engineering memory, until the next time.This paper is based on the author's 45 years experience of the investigation of failures and his detailed reviews of published failure reports. In many instances the lessons from these investigations have led to changes in national and international design and construction practice. They have also been incorporated in the teaching of engineering design.
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