Editorial: The roof of Northtown's municipal equipment-storage buildin

Passage analysis

Editorial: The roof of Northtown’s municipal equipment-storage building collapsed under the weight of last week’s heavy snowfall.

According to an editorial:
The roof of Northtown’s municipal equipment-storage building fell in as last week there was heavy snowfall.

The building was constructed recently and met local building-safety codes in every particular,

It was a newly constructed building and had been made according to the local building safety-codes.

except that the nails used for attaching roof supports to the building’s columns were of a smaller size than the codes specify for this purpose.

It had followed all the required building safety-codes except one.
The nails that were used for attaching the roof supports to the pillars of the building were of a smaller size than required by the safety-codes.

Clearly, this collapse exemplifies how even a single, apparently insignificant departure from safety standards can have severe consequences.

The collapse is a clear example of how even one, seemingly unimportant deviation from the safety standards can lead to disastrous results.


Conclusion

The collapse of the municipal equipment-storage building’s roof is an example of how even a single, seemingly unimportant deviation from safety norms can have disastrous outcomes.


Pre-thinking
Weaken Framework
Now per our understanding of the passage, let’s first write down the weaken framework:

What new information will make us believe less in the conclusion
It was a small insignificant deviation from safety standards that caused the collapse of the storage building’s roof.

Given that
Last week there was heavy snowfall
It was a newly constructed building
It met all the safety code standards with one exception.
The nails used for attaching roof supports to the building’s columns were of a smaller size than the codes specify for this purpose.


Thought process

Since all the other standards set by the safety code were followed, the author clearly believes that the caving in of the roof is completely attributable to the wrong nail size which was the only standard not fulfilled.

And accordingly blames the small deviation for the disaster.

But it is possible that there were other reason/s that were at play and could have been responsible for the roof’s collapse in spite of all the safety norms in place.


Weakener

The roof collapsed at the time of heavy snowfall. It is quite possible that this snowfall was significantly heavier than usual and caused the collapse.

So, a statement indicating the heavy snowfall to be the cause of the collapse would weaken the case of the nail being the culprit.


Answer Choices

Option A

This comparison is with buildings that were constructed according to completely different standards. This in a way supports the conclusion that the standard codes are to be held responsible for the collapse.
Thus, this is not the correct choice.

Option B

This is in line with our pre-thinking. It shows that despite the safety codes in place, something unexpected happened that led to the collapse.
Thus, this is the correct choice.

Option C

The passage says all the safety codes that were required for the equipment storage building were followed except one. Hence, this option has no bearing on the conclusion.
Thus, this is not the correct choice.

Option D

Whose responsibility it is to ensure the enforcement of the codes does not provide an alternate reason as to why the building collapsed if all codes were not able to be enforced (by whoever they were supposed to be enforced by).
Thus, this is not the correct choice.

Option E

This is irrelevant as the conclusion is not about any casualty caused by the collapse.
Hence, this is not the correct choice.