A flaw in construction led to the Gatlinburg (Tenn.) Wastewater Treatment Plant basin wall collapse that killed two workers last spring, according to report cited by the Knoxville News Sentinel.
The report from Mohammad Ayub from the OSHA Office of Engineering said that while the basin’s design was adequate, “a deficiency in concrete wall construction" led to the collapse. “Walls were cast in a manner that produced a cold joint between the east wall, which fell, and the three intersecting walls," Ayub wrote in his summary. Those walls were critical to the east wall’s integrity.
"What the engineer called a ‘cold smooth
