Boston Molasses Disaster

Course: Engineer and Society

Course Code: EEE403

Boston Molasses Disaster

Group no.: 04

Semester: Fall2020

Group Members:
Md. Nazmul Miah ( 2016-3-80-010 )
Md. Shibly ( 2016-3-80-012 )
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Table of Content
Contents Slide no.
Case background 03

Causes of the flood 04

Boston Molasses Disaster

Ethical Issues 05

Engineer’s responsibilities to public safety 06

Social and environmental impact 07

Violation of professional responsibility & Rights 08

Recommendation of Right Action 09

Conclusion 10

References 11
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Case Background
1. The molasses tank was placed on Boston, Massachusetts,
USA. [1] “Investigated by Municipal court of the

city of Boston”
2. Holding 2.3 million gallons of molasses [1]
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/sticky-t
ragedy-boston-molasses-disaster
3. When more molasses were stored for producing more
Boston Molasses Disaster

alcohol. [1]

4. Disaster happened on 15th January, 1919 at around

12:30pm. [2]

5. Flood speed 35 Miles per hour. [2]

6. 50 feet tall and 90 feet in diameter. [3]

7. Killed 21 and injured 150 more and extensive property

damage. [4]
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Causes of The Flood

1. Supervisor(Arthur jell) who lacked the training to read
construction plans properly. [1]

2. In every instance, they furnished steel less than the

specifications. [1]
Boston Molasses Disaster

3. Construction had been rushed and not been properly tested

[1]

4. Insufficient number of rivets were used to secure the tank.

[2]

5. Took shortcut to complete and fill war orders. [3]

6. There were apparently no tank design standards in that era

[7]
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Ethical Issues
1. United States Industrial Alcohol Co.(USIA), owner of the tank
ignored all the signs of structure instability. [1]

2. Supervisor knew about going problem but he ignored totally. [3]

Boston Molasses Disaster

3. Supervisor did not use sufficient material that specified in design

[7]

4. Standard material was not used to construct the tank. [7]

5. Total absence of supervision and control while constructing. [7]

6. Even, USIA tried to fabricate the information. [7]

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Engineer’s Responsibilities
to Public Safety
Boston Molasses Disaster

1. They should have gained enough training before 4. They should be aware of danger in any
taking a project [1] consequences [3]

2. They should use standard material in 5. Most importantly they should ensure the value of
construction [2] life on that area. [3]

3. They should confirm the enough supervision [2]

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Social and Environmental Impact

Social impact Environmental impact

1. 21 dead and 150 injured. [1] 1. Clean up took 87000 man hours. [1]

2. It made the damage of elevated train tracks. [1] 2. The city became sticky and smelled of molasses. [1]
Boston Molasses Disaster

3. It made a knock to the buildings & toppled electrical 3. The air become full of sweet smell in summer [1]
poles. [1]
4. Various kinds of animal were dead and homeless.
4. Tank rivets were popping as a machinegun bullets that [3]
destroyed neighborhood. [1]
5. The ecosystem of the area was changed [5]
5. Boston city authorities started requiring plans for all
construction projects to be signed. [3]
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Violation of Professional Responsibility & Rights

Violation of professional responsibility Violation of professional rights

In Professionalism In Professional Judgement

1. Not properly supervised. [1] 1. was not observed the work properly to see if they are
doing right things. [2]
Boston Molasses Disaster

2. Not able to read plans properly. [1]

3. Bad practice of shortcut and rush. [3]

Deceptive Acts In Protecting Public

1. Ignored to repair and set people life in danger [1] 1. Leakage was known but they did not warn for public

2. Use of insufficient amount of material [2] safety [1]

In Ensuring Public Safety

1. Didn’t even think about public safety [1]

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Recommendation of Right Action

1. USIA (United states industrial Alcohol) company should
inspection their project and judge properly. [1]

2. After knowing about leaks of the tanks USIA should aware of

public safety. [1]
Boston Molasses Disaster

3. Arthur jell (Supervisor) should supervision of the project

properly. [2]

4. He should use the standard materials as recommended in plan.

[2]

5. Critical safety related process variables should be identified

and controlled. [7]
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Conclusion
In this Molasses tank incident, many unprofessional works had
been done. It took over three years of hearing in court and was
involved with 921 witnesses.[1] 119 separate lawsuits had been
filed against USIA.[1] In Massachusetts’s history, this case was the
Boston Molasses Disaster

longest and most expensive civil suit. USIA was charged around
$300,000 in damages, $6,000 to victims family, $25,000 to the
City of Boston and $42,000 to the Boston Elevated Railway
Company. [1] This disaster made the important changes in
constructions and inspection of building in American History.
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References
[1] Chuck Lyons, "A Sticky Tragedy: The Boston Molasses [4] Erin McCann, "Tsunami of Molasses," New York Times, Section
Disaster," History Today, vol. 59, no. 1, 2009. A, Page 11, 28 November 2016.
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/sticky-tragedy-boston-mo https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/26/science/boston-molasses-flo
lasses-disaster od-science.html

[5] Stephen Puleo, Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919,
Boston: Beacon Press, 2003.
Boston Molasses Disaster

[2] PDH Engineer, Engineering Ethics: The Great Boston Molasses https://rb.gy/ntrryd
Flood accessed March 5, 17350 State Highway 249, Houston,
TX 77064, 2013.
https://ethics.wikia.org/wiki/The_Great_Boston_Molasses_Floo [6] S. Betancourt, "The Great Boston Molasses Flood: why the strange disaster
d matters today," The Guardian, Boston, 2019.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/13/the-great-boston-molasse
s-flood-why-it-matters-modern-regulation

[3] F. Durso, "The Great Boston Molasses Flood," 1 May 2011.

https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Publications-and-media [7] Rineholt, J.A. and Harris Jr., W.J., 1951, Effect of Alloying Elements on
/NFPA-Journal/2011/May-June-2011/Features/The-Great-Boston- Notch Toughness of Pearlitic Steels, Trans. ASM, 43, pages 1175-1214.
Molasses-Flood https://csengineermag.com/the-great-boston-molasses-tank-failure-of-19
19/