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This was a really good reminder of engineering wisdom.

Over the year I find myself and my team (civil-structural engineers) doing even more and more riskier designs. Things we wouldn't have considered OK during our early years. We do get review and approvals from seniors, but maybe their acceptance is also "normalisation of deviance" as described in the article. Sharing it with my team.

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Would it be a case of the norm was to over-engineer (thinking victorian times mostly as examples of structures standing and still in use) compared with today in which we have a finer insight into the maths, which allows us to engineer just-enough.

Or is it a case of market/management pressure pushing the limits that is the driver? With those pushing the limits getting a competitive edge - that draws others into competing in the same way.

Can you give (, perhaps anonymised) examples? This makes me wonder which of the new breeds of skyscraper are actually a lot less safe than perhaps older ones. I have read the same with cruise ships as we have seen with a disaster or two on those

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