Mechanical Structural Failure
Certain load-bearing structures with discrete structural components can be subject to the "zipper effect", where the failure of a single structural member increases the load on adjacent members. In the case of the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse, a suspended walkway (which was already overstressed due to an error in design) failed when a single vertical suspension rod failed, overloading the neighboring rods which failed sequentially (i.e. like a zipper). Properly designed structures either use an adequate factor of safety or alternate load paths (or both) to prevent this type of mechanical cascade failure.
Read more about this topic: Cascading Failure
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