Hyatt Regency Collapse: A Case Study in Engineering Failure

This report provides a comprehensive case study of the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse in Kansas City in 1981. It meticulously examines the causes of the structural failure, including design modifications and communication breakdowns between engineers and contractors. The report details the events leading up to the collapse, the rescue efforts, and the tragic loss of life. It identifies key ethical issues, such as the responsibility of engineers, the importance of clear communication, and the impact of design changes on public safety. Furthermore, the report includes a SWOT analysis to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with the collapse. Finally, it offers recommendations for preventing similar failures in the future, emphasizing the need for thorough investigation, rigorous design review, and adherence to ethical standards in the civil engineering profession. The study concludes with a review of the references used.

Running Head: Standard Ethics and Compliance
Standard Ethics and Compliance
Hyatt Regency Collapse Case Study

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Standard Ethics and Compliance
Abstract
The report focuses on the collapse of the Hyatt Regency and an examination of collapse of two
balanced walkways in the entrance hall area of Hyatt Regency which is situated in Kansas. The
investigation involves the identification of the issues that were the cause of the collapse followed
by the recommendations for the issues that created the collapse.

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Contents
Abstract.......................................................................................................................................................1
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Background..................................................................................................................................................3
Context and Communication Process taken place.......................................................................................3
Communication process that Occurred...................................................................................................4
Cause of Failure...........................................................................................................................................4
Investigation and Identification of the Issues..............................................................................................5
SWOT Analysis of the Collapse....................................................................................................................5
Summary of Findings...................................................................................................................................6
Recommendation........................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
In the year 1981, on July 17th, there were more than 100 people killed and approximately 200
people were injured when walkways collapsed in the hotel named Hyatt Regency in Kansas. Tea
dance was happening in the hotel as that point of time in the lobby of the hotel. This was
considered as a huge and most dangerous collapse in the history of United States until the World
Trade Center case happened (ASCE, 2007). A complete case study of the collapse is discussed
with the identification of the issues due to which the collapse occurred. The sections of the report
involve the background of the case followed by the context and the communication process. A
complete investigation of the collapse is discussed with the recommendation for the future.
Aim of the Report: The Aim of the report is to analyze the case of Hyatt Regency Collapse and
to identify the issues that caused this collapse. Based on the case study analysis, there are some
of the recommendations given in the report.
Background
Hyatt Regency’s 40 story construction incepted in the year 1978. There were so many delays and
setbacks that occurred at the time of building it. One of the setbacks included an atrium rood
collapse in 1979 because of the failure of connections in northern end. It was taken care of and
the hotel was completed in the year 1980. On July 1st, 1980, the hotel was opened for the public.
The most amazing feature of this hotel was the entrance hall that had a multistoried atrium
spanned by walkways which were balanced from the ceiling. The steel, glass crossings linked the
2nd, the 3rd and the 4th floors in between the north south wings. The walkways were 120ft long
and their weight was about 64k lb (Vasilieva, 2013).
Context and Communication Process taken place
In the year 1981, on July 17th, Hyatt regency was having tea dance party in the atrium. Walkway
of 2nd level held around 42 people and more on the third and the 4th level who were watching

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the tea dance from above the ceiling (Guyer, 2010). The bridge on fourth floor was balanced
over the 2nd floor bridge with 3rd floor walkway set a few meters. The issues in the construction
resulted in subtle but faulty design change which literally doubled the load on link between the
fourth floor walkway sustained beams and tie rods which were moving off the weight of all the
walkways. New design like this was not adequate for supporting the load of the complete
construct itself. Both the walkways after then crashed in the lobby floor below that resulted in
death of 111 people in one go and about 200 people were injured (Lawson, 2011).
Communication process that Occurred
The operation for rescuing people lasted for 14 hours approximately and the operation was
operated by the emergency personnel that involved 34 fire trucks and EMS units. There were
also some of the doctors involved in the operation who came from 5 different hospitals. The
survivors who were trapped less than 60 tons of steel, glass and concrete which could not be
moved from the Hyatt people as well as from the powerful jacks. The natural disaster response
team which was known as “Operation Bulldozer” was also called for the scenario with all the
equipments but it also could not lift up the smashed building parts. The bulldozers were sent
away so that the cranes could come in and lift up the junk to rescue the survivors. Dr. Joseph
who was the former chief of Kansas City’s medical system made ways for the set free operation
and helped in managing the complete medical care process (Yunusa, 2017).
There was one issue in the save action which was in the hotel’s sprinkler system. The sprinkler
system was severed by the falling wreckage and was occupying the lobby and that put the
survivors at the danger of floating. The pipes were linked with the water tanks and not to any of
the public source that flow was not stopping. Williams was the last person who was rescued from
that collapse. While Williams was being rescued, the chief of the Kansas City understood that
the front doors were tapping the water in the lobby. Then he ordered the bulldozer guys to smash
the entrance. This permitted the water to move out of lobby and people who were tapped came
out of the danger of drowning (Asante, 2018).
Cause of Failure

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One of the theories advised that in the early stage when people were dancing on the fourth floor
walkway, this involved a lot of vibrations which reached the complex amplitude and that resulted
in the failure. This theory later was discarded when the proof of the other cause became obvious.
The cause of the collapse was the change which was made by steel detailer to the suspension
rods design displayed on the structural engineer Gillum drawings (Lopez, 2011).
Investigation and Identification of the Issues
For the profession like engineering, this collapse tragedy became a perfect model in the study of
ethics and errors. The American Society of Civil Engineers recognized model that the liability if
the architecture lies in engineer’s seal. The city engineer should be able to do a formal check
about the load of the bearing estimation. This way, the possible failures are caught at the time of
design stage only. This is the first ethical issue which was experienced in this collapse (Martinez,
2015).
When the implicit contract is taken between the engineers and the community, the problem of
public risk and informed consent and also the code of ethics of professional communities are
taken into explanation. This was clear that the engineer must take the liability when any change
occurs in the blueprint including the public safety. This liability should be taken followed by the
licensed engineer’s seal (Williams, 1981).
The most major problem in the Hyatt collapse was the breakdown of the communication. The
failure of communication of the structural engineer in clearly communicating his intent to the
steel fabricator about his responsibility in the design of the rod to beam link helped a lot in
collapsing of Hyatt (Philosophy, 2006).
SWOT Analysis of the Collapse
Strengths: Hyatt is a very well known name when it comes to taking the names of the established
hotels all across the world. That is why, Hyatt is also known for its huge architectural buildings.
It always put in a lot of money in making all the architecture worth remembering. If the collapse

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is concerned, there were some of the people who were injured and were saved on time. This can
be the only strength of this event.
Weaknesses: There are so many ethical issues when it comes to the professionalism and
communication. There was no proper communication done by the structural engineer to the steel
fabricator about his duty of managing the rod design. This was the huge weakness due to which
this collapse occurred. The methods which were used in the rods supporting from the ceiling
were the biggest weakness of the walkways. This was overlooked by the structural engineers
(NASA, 2008).
Opportunities: Hyatt had the chance to rebuild the building again. They did make the building
again but with some new changes mentioned above. Till now the building is still standing
without any errors. There can be several more opportunities for the hotel to build new
architectures without creating any errors in the building which could be harmful for the public.
Threats: There were threats to Hyatt after the collapse as there were new building created every
now and then by other brands and Hyatt’s building was collapsed at that sudden point. Hence,
there could have been threats from the other brands to Hyatt (Dragon, 2003).
Summary of Findings
 The collapse took the lives of 114 people and that lead to great professional outcry. This
had a dramatic effect in the lives of many professionals.
 The A&E community in US started searching on the issues of such a big collapse.
 The collapse was due to the dropping of the walkways leading to take lives and injure
people from all the floors.
 Fundamental errors were found in the interaction with the A&E group and the
construction industry.
 The failure was from the structural engineer as he failed to let the steel fabricator know
about the design of the rods that were supporting the walkways.
 The rescue team came to rescue people and approximately 200 people were rescued who
were injured in the collapse (Commerce, 1982).

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Recommendation
The investigation of the building is to be done in a better way so that it is confirmed that the
building will stand still. In the case of Hyatt, there were people standing in the dangerous
walkways of the lobby and that lobby was a new design in the architecture of the hotel. Such
new type of designs should be investigated well before when the hotel is being constructed.
People and engineers with good knowledge should work on the construction of such buildings as
these buildings if collapses, takes a lot of people’s lives (Olanitori, 2011).
Conclusion
This report talks about the collapse of the most known hotels across the world. The name of the
hotel is Hyatt Regency. The incident which is being discussed in this report is the incident of the
Hyatt regency walkways collapse which occurred in the year 1981, July. The case was based on
the professional and communication ethics issues due to which this collapse took place. At the
time of collapse, people were enjoying the tea dancing party and they were spread on all the
floors. The collapse happened in the lobby of the hotel taking lives of more than 100 people.
This report discussed about the background of the case study followed by the context and the
analysis of the case study. As per the case study, there are some of the issues identifies in the
case. Based on the problems which existed in the cause of the collapse, there are a few
recommendations mentioned in the report.

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References
Asante, L.A., 2018. The Challenge of Reducing the Incidence of Building Collapse in Ghana:
Analyzing the Perspectives of Building Inspectors in Kumasi. Sage Open, 1(2).
ASCE, 2007. THE HYATT REGENCY WALKWAY COLLAPSE. [Online] Available at:
https://www.asce.org/question-of-ethics-articles/jan-2007/ [Accessed 4 October 2018].
Commerce, U.S.D.o., 1982. Investigation of the Kansas City. [Online] Available at:
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GOVPUB-C13-14d3d8005fa5ca3b6bfbff927e5f644c/pdf/
GOVPUB-C13-14d3d8005fa5ca3b6bfbff927e5f644c.pdf [Accessed 4 October 2018].
Dragon, O., 2003. Hyatt Regency Walkways: The Ethical Issues. [Online] Available at:
http://www.cas.mcmaster.ca/~baber/Courses/3J03/StudentPresentations/HyattDragon.pdf
[Accessed 4 October 2018].
Guyer, P.J., 2010. Ethical Issues from the Kansas City Hyatt Hotel Collapse. [Online] Available
at: https://www.cedengineering.com/userfiles/Ethical%20Issues%20Kansas%20City
%20Hyatt.pdf [Accessed 4 October 2018].
Lawson, J.W., 2011. Using the Hyatt Regency Skywalk Collapse Case Study in Engineering
Education. Structures Congress, pp.1118-29. Available at:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d4fb/51c184c6b52468c1aa9341c0400d5f69f7d9.pdf.
Lopez, R., 2011. What Goes up, Shouldn’t Come down: Learning from Construction and
Engineering Failures. Procedia Engineering, 14, pp.844-50.
Martinez, M.F.L., 2015. Hyatt Regency Walkway Failure. [Online] Available at:
https://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/sites/www.engineering.uiowa.edu/files/wysiwyg_uploads/
hyatt_regency_walkway_failure_.pdf [Accessed 4 October 2018].
NASA, 2008. Two Rods Don’t Make It Right. National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
2(4).

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Olanitori, L.M., 2011. Causes of structural failures of a building: Case study of a building at
Oba-Ile, Akure. Journal of Building Appraisal, 6(3), pp.277–84.
Philosophy, D.o., 2006. Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse. [Online] Available at:
https://fac.ksu.edu.sa/sites/default/files/hyatt_regency_walkway_collapse_-
_communication_case_study_0.pdf [Accessed 4 October 2018].
Vasilieva, A., 2013. PROGRESSIVE COLLAPSE, METHODS OF. [Online] Available at:
https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/64320/Progressive%20collapse.pdf?sequence=1
[Accessed 4 October 2018].
Williams, M.M., 1981. The Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse. [Online] Available at:
http://disasters.ferrellhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Moncure-Williams-paper-Hyatt-
Regency-rewrite.pdf [Accessed 4 October 2018].
Yunusa, A.Y., 2017. Appraisal of Residential Building Collapse, Causes and Solution in Sokoto
State Nigeria. Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, 16(4), pp.44-63.