Someone should have checked the track record of Summit Structures LLC from Allentown, PA a bit more closely. From the National Football League website:
Builder of collapsed Cowboys facility had past issues, court records showThat is going to be a nasty lawsuit... The engineering is pretty simple for structures like this -- being supported by air pressure makes structural calculations a lot easier. I guess it is a lot cheaper to use thinner materials but not so much in the long run.
Court records show the company that built the collapsed Dallas Cowboys training facility also manufactured at least three other buildings that have fallen in heavy weather since 2002.
The other tentlike facilities manufactured by Allentown, Pa.-based Summit Structures LLC or its related company, Cover-All Building Systems, were warehouse-type buildings in Philadelphia and upstate New York and an indoor arena for horse competition in Oregon. All the buildings fell in weather conditions that included heavy snow, according to records and interviews.
A Summit spokeswoman didn't immediately return a call or e-mail seeking comment Wednesday.
The collapse of the Cowboys' facility in heavy winds Saturday left 12 people injured, including a 33-year-old scouting assistant who is paralyzed from the waist down. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation into the incident.
Scouting assistant Rich Behm, whose spine was severed in the accident, remains at Parkland Hospital, along with special teams coach Joe DeCamillis, who had surgery to repair vertebrae in his neck. Assistant athletic trainer Greg Gaither, who suffered a broken leg, was released Wednesday from Baylor University Medical Center, the team said.
Beth Hungiville, executive director of the Lightweight Structures Association, said four of the membrane-style buildings collapsing in seven years is far from normal.
"That is certainly very unusual," she said. "You would not usually find that many failures in that short a time."
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