On June 5, 1976 the Teton dam in Idaho failed, releasing millions of gallons of water and causing 14 deaths and between $400 million and $1 billion worth of damage. The Teton dam was designed and built by the Bureau of Reclamation, which had extensive experience building dams, including such famous ones as the Hoover and Grand Coulee dams. The location of the dam provided several unique engineering challenges, but none of which should have led to the failure of the dam. An investigation into the accident found that failure was caused by a lack of planning, foresight, and design on the part of the engineers.
Fledderman, C.B. Engineering Ethics. New Jersey, Prentice Hall, 1999.
Boffey, P.M. "Teton Dam verdict: A Foul-up by the Engineers" Science, vol. 195 (January 21, 1977), pg. 270-272.
Schinzinger, R., M.W. Martin. Introduction to Engineering Ethics. McGraw-Hill, 2000.