I’m not gonna say its a bad idea because it can be workable, but bricks have pieces break off or erode or whatever. When its rock and mortar thats nbd, but plastic? Eesh. Yeah you can use them on the inside of buildings but even then if a building gets demolished in some which way (or catches on fire), thats a whole thing too.
Plastic can burn, but plastic can also have fire retardants mixed in to keep it from burning. The fire retardants themselves are a different environmental concern, though.
The only perfect solution to plastic waste is to stop making so much damn plastic.
There was a big indoor pool area close to where i grew up. One day the concrete ceiling just fell down because they used a steel that was eaten up by the chlorine fumes over time. A bunch of people died being trapped under the massive concrete slab. These were also highly regarded engineers who designed and built that thing.
If it’s the one in Switzerland I was referring to, it wasn’t some cheap construction job. It was actually recently inspected, and one of the steel hangers was found broken. The inspector then just had it fixed and never bothered to inform anyone, they just assumed it had been broken from the start. They were convicted of negligent homicide as a result.
Typically, inspections like these are also done by engineers. If you work in a field like this, it is improtant to keep up to date with current developments. Like in this case, since it was built it was found that the alloy used wasn’t that great when contacted by chlorine. So an engineer seeing a broken hanger (along with some brown spots on other hangers) should have at least reported it and not just assumed it had always been like that. They should also have reported the brown spots. Typing this I do realize this was in 1984, and you couldn’t just go on the internet to check if brown spots meant anything. Then again, as one of my engineering mentors always said; “Assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups.”.
You forget, business majors are often the ones who pay to develop things and they don’t always think about things or listen when engineers talk to them.
I’m an engineer, and I’ve never hade the people paying me not listen to me. Why wouldn’t they, they paid for it? It is up to me to give valid information for making the choice.
Chemical engineer. If they don’t listen to me, people might get hurt, the environment might get damaged or something might explode. Which can be said for any engineering field (including software) in some degree, but chemical industries have learnt the hard way that they should listen to the engineers, while chemical engineers have learnt they should document everything to keep the business majors accountable.
I’m envious. I’m an industrial engineer and I’ve had employers brush off my recommendations from “here’s a mathematical model showing how your proposed idea doesn’t work, and the experiments we did of it were a disaster” to “hey, this is pretty heavy, we’re going to need tool assisted lifting”
When you work in product development, it happens ALLLLLLLLL the time. The FAFO is nice when it inevitably backfires on them but its still REALLY frustrating.
I’m not gonna say its a bad idea because it can be workable, but bricks have pieces break off or erode or whatever. When its rock and mortar thats nbd, but plastic? Eesh. Yeah you can use them on the inside of buildings but even then if a building gets demolished in some which way (or catches on fire), thats a whole thing too.
Look up “The Station” fire, there was melting Styrofoam falling from the ceiling onto people. I imagine these bricks will do the same.
Plastic can burn, but plastic can also have fire retardants mixed in to keep it from burning. The fire retardants themselves are a different environmental concern, though.
The only perfect solution to plastic waste is to stop making so much damn plastic.
You might be right, and you might be wrong, but if an engineer developes something you might expect that some tought went into it.
To that end, engineers spent a lot of time with asbestos too
Sure, and also with wooden structures, or rock, or steel. And they spent time on desposal of the asbestos in a safe way too.
Before materials sciences asbestos was a wonder material.
It still is, it’s just a deadly one
There was a big indoor pool area close to where i grew up. One day the concrete ceiling just fell down because they used a steel that was eaten up by the chlorine fumes over time. A bunch of people died being trapped under the massive concrete slab. These were also highly regarded engineers who designed and built that thing.
Hmmm. That sounds like it could be what happens to those cheap apartment blocks that fall down in Florida on the regular. Sea air, steel supports…
If it’s the one in Switzerland I was referring to, it wasn’t some cheap construction job. It was actually recently inspected, and one of the steel hangers was found broken. The inspector then just had it fixed and never bothered to inform anyone, they just assumed it had been broken from the start. They were convicted of negligent homicide as a result.
Ah, consequences. More countries need that.
So it wasn’t an engineering fault but a lapse in inspection. Maintenance is required for all engineering. Always has been.
Typically, inspections like these are also done by engineers. If you work in a field like this, it is improtant to keep up to date with current developments. Like in this case, since it was built it was found that the alloy used wasn’t that great when contacted by chlorine. So an engineer seeing a broken hanger (along with some brown spots on other hangers) should have at least reported it and not just assumed it had always been like that. They should also have reported the brown spots. Typing this I do realize this was in 1984, and you couldn’t just go on the internet to check if brown spots meant anything. Then again, as one of my engineering mentors always said; “Assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups.”.
that’s bloody awful! Was this the one in Switzerland?
You forget, business majors are often the ones who pay to develop things and they don’t always think about things or listen when engineers talk to them.
I’m an engineer, and I’ve never hade the people paying me not listen to me. Why wouldn’t they, they paid for it? It is up to me to give valid information for making the choice.
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Chemical engineer. If they don’t listen to me, people might get hurt, the environment might get damaged or something might explode. Which can be said for any engineering field (including software) in some degree, but chemical industries have learnt the hard way that they should listen to the engineers, while chemical engineers have learnt they should document everything to keep the business majors accountable.
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I’m envious. I’m an industrial engineer and I’ve had employers brush off my recommendations from “here’s a mathematical model showing how your proposed idea doesn’t work, and the experiments we did of it were a disaster” to “hey, this is pretty heavy, we’re going to need tool assisted lifting”
When you work in product development, it happens ALLLLLLLLL the time. The FAFO is nice when it inevitably backfires on them but its still REALLY frustrating.
Lmfao
I might hope for it, but never expect it. Roy J. Plunkett, and how Nobel made the money for the prize are fairly good evidence in that regard.