Engineering Practice Ethical and Professional Burdens

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Executive Summary

The paper endeavours to identify and analyze the ethical issues and professional responsibilities of the case study provided. The case study is about the designing of a road underpass though the Risdon State Environmental Park. A lot of ethical issues emerge regarding the designing and construction of the underpass boring has to take place about 1.5 meters below the ground surface.

However, new findings indicates that colonies of the yellow throated giant earthworm, one of the endangered species and inhabitant of the park can be found deeper than the 1.5 meters that was previously anticipated.

Since the boring of the underground tunnel is to be done at 4 meters below the ground surface, the environmental engineer raises this issue with the structural engineer, who declines to have the project stopped to facilitate further investigations.

There are also other ethical issues that emerge, such as the impact of the boring machines on the health of the koalas. As such, the paper shall attempt to explore these ethical and professional issues, along with the action plan that needs to be taken.

Introduction

The case study involves designing of a road underpass that is meant to carry the Goldray Freeway. The Goldray Freeway is supposed to go below the Risdon State Environmental Park. The entire Goldray Freeway covers a distance of 23 km, and is an 8 lane road. However, the underpass below the Risdon State Environmental Park is only meant to cover a distance of 850 meters.

The design team for constructing the underpass is made up of Laura Jenkins, an environmental engineer with Kentridge Consulting Engineers, Bob Markem, who is a design draftsman, as well as Frank Cluey, who is a structural engineer with a lot of experience in his field of work. The project has received the full support of the state government who are also the financiers.

However, some environmental issues have cropped up regarding the project, with environmental activist groups arguing that constructing the project shall endanger some of the species in the park, like the koalas and the yellow thwarted giant earthworms. The paper shall endeavor to identify and discuss some of the ethical issues and professional responsibilities that have emerged in the case.

Identification and discussion of the ethical issues and professional responsibilities of the case

The State Government is the financier of this project, and the aim of carrying out the project is to ensure that the main urban centers of Adelorne and Briswin are linked. Ted Power is the Minister for Highways and he is a strong supporter of the current project. However, he also happens to be the elected representative of the jurisdiction under which the Risdon State Environmental Park falls.

Therefore, an ethical issue emerges here because Ted Power is strongly supporting a project that could potential pose a threat to the Risdon State Environmental Park. The park in question happens to be a very sensitive are because a very large colony of koalas are to be found here.

The current project may therefore pose a danger to these inhabitants. In addition, the Risdon State Environmental Park is the only know location where one can find the yellow throated giant earthworm. By undertaking the current project, this rare species could be faced with imminent extinction.

The construction of the Goldray Freeway underpass through the Risdon State Environmental Park shall endanger the yellow throated giant earthworm and the koalas as well.

In order to ensure the survival of such threatened animals and plant species, the 1999 Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act has been established to act as the guiding principle of environmental protection (Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities 2011). The role of the EPBC Act is to ensure that the ecological and native species in Australia are protected.

There are between 600,000 and 700,000 species in Australia, and many of them cannot be found in the other parts of the worlds. For example, nearly 83 percent of mammals, 84 percent of plants, and 45 percent of birds are to be found in Australia only (Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities 2011).

For this reason, it is important to ensure their protection. The EPBC Act ensures the protection of endangered species by identifying and documenting them. In addition, the Act also facilitates the development of recovery plans and conservation advice regarding the listed ecological communities and species.

The Act also recognizes the various fundamental threatening processes, and also some of the plans when implemented can help to mitigate the dangers posed by the project on the species in question (Harris & Pritchard 2009).

Ted Power heads the jurisdiction under which Risdon State Environmental Park falls. He should not be seen to support the project even when there are allegations that it could endanger some of the species in the park.

The main duties of Luara in the current project were to undertake an environmental assessment of the project, in addition to liaising with the community. Upon conducting a battery of test borings, the design team proposed to have the tunnel positioned 4 meters below the ground surface. This decision was also in line with the results of the environmental impact assessment carried out by Laura.

After assessing the habitat occupied by the yellow throated giant earthworm, Laura was able to determine that their colonies were to be found to a depth of only 1.5 meters below the ground surface. As such, they would not be affected by the boring of the tunnel as it would be 4 meters below the surface.

However, there has been a new development to the initial environmental assessment report by Laura. In one of the presentations of a conference on invertebrate animals that Laura attended, it was explained that the habitat of worms belonging to the genus wigula normally went deeper into the soil profile than Laura had initially estimated.

In this case, it is important to note that the yellow thwarted giant earthworms belong to the genus wigula. This new information proved to be very crucial to Laura since by placing the tunnel some 4 meters beneath the ground surface this could endanger the yellow throated giant earthworms.

Once the conference was over, Laura discussed the new developments with Keith Inglewood, who is her boss and mentor. Keith advises her to further investigate how truthful this information is for if it was true, then the tunnel would have to be redesigned.

Laura also talked with Frank Cluey, the structural engineer of the project about the new developments but instead of cooperating, he exploded angrily and claimed that it was too late to consider a redesign of the tunnel as the project was too advanced.

He also did not care if the entire colony of the yellow throated giant worms was wiped out in the process of boring the tunnel. Both Laura and Keith did not take immediate action to determine if indeed the findings from the conference that Luara had attended that the worms in question could indeed go deeper than was initially anticipated.

One of the basic tenets of the Australia Institution of Engineers’ code of ethics is that members should always endeavor to act in the best interests of the community. By respecting the interest of the community, an individual member is also deemed to have upheld the ethical values of his/her profession (Engineers Australia 2003). Frank Cluey may be said to have demeaned his profession.

He was not willing to compromise his position to have the boring of the tunnel take place below the anticipated 4 meters, on the chance that the colony of the yellow throated giant earthworms could actually be found below the 1.5 meters earlier anticipated.

Members of the Australia Institute of Engineers are obligated to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the community by ensuring that they undertake engineering judgment in executing projects, based on the relevant analysis and years of experience (Engineers Australia 2010).

At the very least, Frank Cluey should have been cooperative with Laura, and postponed the project until Laura had undertaken another environmental assessment study to reveal the actual location of the yellow throated giant worms.

All engineering practitioners are called upon to utilize their skills and knowledge in order to not only benefits the community, but also to establish engineering solutions that shall guarantee a sustainable future (Cheryl 2005). While undertaking these activities, an engineering practitioner should always endeavor to ensure that the interest of the community precedes sectional or personal interest (Whitbeck 2011).

Frank Cluey is more concerned with having the project delayed any longer. He does not prioritize on the interest of the local community and environmental protection lobby groups who are concerned about the dangers the project poses to the inhabitants of the park. As such, Frank Cluey has placed his sectional interest ahead of those of the community.

On her part, Luara has been accused by members of GreenWorld, an environmental action group committed to the preservation of the environment. The group is accusing Laura of having provided them with false information.

The group’s president, Lou Bandock, has been carrying out his own research and he has discovered that the vibrations made by the tunnel boring machines as they bore through the heavy clay soil, could affect the health of the Koalas negatively.

In this case, the noise is likely to stress the Koalas, and some of them may as well die. Luara is part of the environmental team at Kentridge Consulting and this team is charged with the responsibility of examining the impact that the company’s projects on the environment.

In addition, the team is also charged with the responsibility of liaising with the different stakeholders involved in the project to ensure the adequate examination and control of environmental issues. This should happen at not only the design stage, but also at the construction phase as well.

Course of action

Laura should immediately call her boss, Keith, and inform him of the impending protest by the GreenWorld action group at his home the next day over what the group considers to have been a deception that the vibrations caused by the boring machines would not harm the koalas.

The two members of the ‘environmental team’ at Kentridge Consulting Engineers should then discuss the allegations made by members of the GreenWorld, and make preliminary plans to undertake an environmental assessment test to determine the effects of the vibrations on the health of the koalas.

The two members should also try to get in touch with Ted Powers, the Highways Minister so that he is made aware of the impending demonstration at his home early the next morning, and the issues surrounding the demonstration.

Keith should also personally intervene and try to convince Frank Cluey on the need to suspend the project until Luara has completed her investigations to reveal if indeed colonies of the yellow throated giant worms are to be found deeper in the soil than 1.5 meters.

If he is still adamant that the project should continue regardless of the new developments, then Keith and Laura should notify the Australia Institution of Engineers that one of its members is in breach of the code of conduct, so that appropriate action can be taken.

Reference List

Cheryl, J, Paten, N, Hargroves, K & Smith, M 2005,’Engineering sustainable solutions program: Critical literacies for engineers portfolio”, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 6, no. 3, pp.265 – 277.

Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities 2011.

Threatened species & ecological communities, Web.

Engineers Australia 2003, National Engineering Register Discussion Paper. Web.

Engineers Australia 2010, Our Codes of Ethics. Web.

Harris, C & Pritchard, M 2009, Engineering ethics: concepts and cases, Cengage Learning, Stamford, Mass.

Online Ethics Center. (2005). Engineering Practice. Web.

Whitbeck, C 2011, Ethics in engineering practice and research, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

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