Selection of control levels for maximum utility of structures

The role of human error in the effective implementation and use of structural engineering projects is reviewed and shown to be underestimated in conventional treatments of probabilistic structural design. Both suitable organization and control are required for project success. The concept of maximizing total expected socioeconomic utility is employed to derive criteria for selecting the levels of control required on the various tasks constituting the construction and use sequence of a structural engineering project. These criteria are applied to a hypothetical example using both the limited experimental evidence available and hypothesized data. Areas in which data are lacking and more research is required are given (a).