During ARW Studios assessment of the collapse of sections of a marble fountain at Western Kentucky University, it came out that the structure had been donated by an influential patron of the school. For a climate zone in which ice was a regular part of the winter weather, the type of marble used was wrong, because it was porous. Water would enter the stone, freeze, and cause flaking of the surface. Deeper voids would fill with water, and cracks large enough to break the stone would form. Many factors were at play, and the school had to juggle who to blame, or not, to avoid negative consequences. After minimal discussion, the administration decided to simply repair the fountain and pay for it. Fortunately, no one got hurt, or the outcome would have been completely different.
In another case, a stone bench collapsed on a student at an elementary school. Here the circumstances left no choice to the owner of the property but to defend against a lawsuit. The cause of the failure was the same - ice, combined with the use of indoor glue in an outdoor setting, improperly fitting joints, and the lack of supporting pins. The responsible parties were two, the school, and whoever they hired to set up the bench. Ultimately, the school's resources were much larger than the tradesman's.
Any institution that has stone structures on its property should spend a relatively small amount of money on risk analysis by professional stone experts, to avoid the astronomical costs associated with litigation. Fountains, columns, commemorative benches, cornices, stairs and other stone elements that are part of many older settings, must be evaluated and maintained so the liklihood of catastrophic events can be eliminated, or at least reduced. It's easy to walk by these beautiful decorative creations, without realizing that many of them are, over the years, becoming a risk to public safety.
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