> My point being "what happens if the model says force X is the largest 
> that's ever likely to occur, but it turns out the model is wrong and 
> actually force 12X is fairly common"...

For most things there are "standard models" that are used, and have been 
tried and tested for decades.  You *must* use these, by law.  Of course for 
weird things that aren't covered in law, you are free to make your own 
design decisions.  If you design something to withstand X, and 12X is 
"fairly common" you're going to be in *big* trouble when people are injured.

> Presumably that's a pretty bad thing?

Yes.  You could end up responsible for lots of people dying and face the 
consequences.

It's why we have such things as "Chartered Engineers", who have demonstrated 
competence in industry and not just graduated from any old university with a 
degree in structural Engineering.  Most structural Engineering firms will 
not employ any non-chartered Engineers to do anything important.

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