The Great American Elevator Tragedy | The Mistakes Series

The Great American Elevator Tragedy | The Mistakes Series

From Revisionist History by Pushkin Industries

May 28, 2026 · 26 min · Season 15 · Episode 9

About this episode

The episode explores the impact of a building code proposal filled out by a fire inspector in Glendale, Arizona on housing construction across the United States.

A single line of a building code proposal filled out by a fire inspector in Glendale, Arizona has had a devastating impact on the way housing is built across the entire United States. Malcolm enlists Stephen Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Building in North America, to investigate. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: Malcolm

Guest: Stephen Smith

Topics covered

  • building codes
  • housing
  • safety regulations
  • investigation
  • fire inspection
  • architecture

Keywords

  • building code
  • fire inspector
  • housing impact
  • Glendale
  • Stephen Smith
  • Malcolm
  • safety
  • construction

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Center for Building in North America

Places: Glendale, Arizona, United States

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