It has now fined James Knight and suspended him from its register for three months, fined Andrew Thompson, and censured both of them. The third engineer is appealing.<\/p>\n
The investigation found mistakes and gaps in earthquake risk calculations and design reviews.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe alterations Mr Thompson made to the ramp beam connections crossing the separation plane created a weakness that, in an earthquake, may have led to local failure of the ramps,\u201d said the decision summary of the disciplinary committee.<\/p>\n
Knight did a design review and identified several deficiencies but then signed a Producer Statement that things were compliant, and the council consented it in 2018.<\/p>\n
Consultants went on to find 39 defects, many structural, and tried to come up with an overall fix.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe council abandoned [it] due to the significant costs that had by then been incurred and the substantial costs that would be associated with remediation,\u201d the summary said.<\/p>\n
Thompson, who had over 30 years\u2019 experience and an unblemished record, had admitted being negligent with designs that had \u201creadily identifiable errors\u201d. The committee found \u201ca serious lack of competence\u201d.<\/p>\n
He was fined $4500 and ordered to pay $20,000 costs. His application for permanent name suppression was turned down.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Thompson does not present an ongoing risk to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
Structural design sign-offs rely on peer reviews by other engineers.<\/p>\n
The summary said Knight\u2019s approach was to check some, but not all of a design, then if they identified any issues, to accept the designer\u2019s word they had been addressed.<\/p>\n
At Harington, under \u201ctime pressure\u201d, Knight found issues with ramp reinforcing, vertical loads and collector beam connections, but did not follow up properly, and missed other design problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt ought to have been very apparent to Mr Knight during his peer review that the Revised Design was seriously flawed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He admitted his sign-off was done in an incompetent manner.<\/p>\n
Knight also had an unblemished record. He had done professional development since Harington and the committee judged he \u201cno longer presents as a significant risk to the public\u201d.<\/p>\n
He was fined $2000 with costs of $40,000, and suspended from the Chartered Professional Engineer register for three months. He did not seek permanent name suppression.<\/p>\n