Alex Moye

November 18, 2010

Intro to Civil Engineering

Interest Paper

Disasters in the World of Engineering

A lot goes into the thought process for an engineer when dealing with the final product of

a project other than just construction. They have to make sure any given project is designed in a

way that complies with all safety measures and ethics. Otherwise, total chaos could ensue

ranging from collapsing bridges, property damage, or even loss of life.

To avoid these unwanted outcomes from an engineering development, the individual

engineer has to abide by a code of ethics. Along the long list of code of ethics, some of the more

important notes have been highlighted here. Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional

duties, shall:

1. Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public in the performance of their

professional duties.

2. Perform services only in areas of their competence.

3. Issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner.

4. Act in professional matters for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees.

5. Avoid improper solicitation of professional employment.

If any of the previously stated ethics have all been compromised in the process of

development, the individual engineer responsible for the infraction may be penalized. Though

there is no penalty at law for a violation of ethics, action may be taken by any affiliated
engineering societies. An infraction may result in removal of membership in that specific

engineering society, and may very well lead to the loss of one's job.

The primary causes of engineering disasters usually consist of the following reasons:

human error (both in ethical failure, and even in accidental mistakes), design flaws (many of

which stem from lack of ethics), extreme conditions or environments, and material failure. One

of the more common reasons for having a fault in a design is lack of engineering ethics. If an

engineer is trying to expedite the process of an unfinished project, perhaps to make a deadline, he

could possibly overlook a mistake or two in the design or construction that would ultimately

result in some sort of failure. Another possible reason is an engineer with the intent of

conserving money, maybe too much money. If an engineer decides to make support beams for a

bridge, for example, he may try thinning out the beams in order to cut down on the money spent

on the full project. He may even go a different route by using a cheaper and not-as-reliable type

of material to make those beams.

However, not all mistakes stem from something that was intentional. Sometimes it will

come from something that was completely overlooked. A simple and innocent miscalculation

could result in certain unwanted mishaps. Unfortunately, there is no room in the world of

engineering for any sort of mistakes, because even those “innocent” mistakes could potentially

put hundreds, or even thousands, of people’s lives in jeopardy.

This is why safety guidelines and ethics play an extremely important role in planning and

designing structures. A type of work that requires a lot of looking out for safety guidelines is

engineers in the construction of maritime structures. These engineers are constantly dealing with

severe issues of corrosion. A common tool used in this field to avoid corrosion, or at least to
prolong it, is the use of concrete, which unfortunately will also corrode over time. The steel

reinforcement is protected from corrosion by the concrete cover that provides a passivating

alkaline environment. The reason this does not last forever is because of carbonation that takes

place on the surface of the concrete. Eventually the carbonation will have acted on the cement

long enough to where it starts acting on the once-protected steel reinforcement, which is when

corrosion begins. This is one of the several reasons as to why thicker coatings of concrete are

favored over thinner ones; the thicker the concrete, the longer time will pass before corrosion

acts on the steel reinforcements. However, an engineer must take in to account how thick the

beams really need to be before the benefits of thicker beams are outweighed by the cost.

Another issue is in the process of making the concrete itself. The two main components

to making concrete are paste and aggregates. If there is an excess amount of paste in comparison

to the amount of aggregates, the resulting concrete, though easy to place, will ultimately crack,

rendering it completely useless as a form of coating. On the other hand if a mix lacks the needed

amount of paste, the resulting concrete may develop a rough surface due to the excess

aggregates. In this scenario, the concrete would be too difficult to place, and would once again

go to waste. A perfect balance of the two must be achieved in order to obtain the ultimate use of

the concrete. An unbalanced mix can, and typically will, result in excess spending on a project.

These are all just a few examples of the many problems that may occur when engineering

ethics are compromised. A truly successful engineer is able to look beyond just the construction

of a project and look into the safety of the builders and the everyday pedestrians impacted by the

project. The code of ethics listed above, when applied to any given project, can ensure that any

final project will live up to the standards and expectations of any engineering society.
 Works Cited

Halada, Gary P., Jim Quinn, and Vasudevan Srinivasan. "Learning from Failure: Engineering

Disasters." SUNY Stony Brook :: Materials Science and Engineering. State University of

New York at Stony Brook, 12 Aug. 2008. Web. 03 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.matscieng.sunysb.edu/disaster/>.

Meanley, Peter. "Corrosion - The Civil Engineer's Enemy." Society of Oxford University

Engineers. Dec. 1992. Web. 03 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.soue.org.uk/souenews/issue6/corrosion.html>.

United States Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration. "Ground

Granulated Blast-Furnace Slag." Federal Highway Administration. 14 June 1999. Web.

03 Nov. 2010. <http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/materialsgrp/ggbfs.htm>.

Vaughn, Richard C. Legal Aspects of Engineering. 4th ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Pub.,

1983. Print.