Category: Engineering

The position of women can be carefully traced through history to be able to divulge social ills through which societies have misplaced the position of women. This takes us to look at how the community views gender and sex. Sex is viewed as the biological distinction between men and women’s genital setups but gender is a socially built set of ideas that define the roles and values which distinguish between masculine and feminine (Little, 2016). Men have been viewed as the head of the family who controls everything while women have been taken as a powerless child-bearing machine, bought through lobola, for men’s sexual fulfilment. The Morden Christian societies also tend to embrace this inequality as God’s design and citing the Bible where it uses the term ‘man’ to represent people. This essay will try to give an analysis of the underrepresentation of women in the engineering profession, the causes of the imbalance, problems being faced by female engineers and present possible solution strategies.

Through the ancient communities, women have been regarded as inferior to men and their roles being to keep the home, children and to obey their husbands. Culture has been the central tool in maintaining this system of inequality, regarding it as normal and justifying ill practices like bride abduction. In my view, men are not born oppressors of women but it’s constructed through the cultural setting. This is supported by Mandela in his popular autobiography ‘Long Walk to Freedom’, when he says “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite” (Mandela, 1994). If the cultural setting had been structured in a way of equality, there would not be any act of gender bias and suppression of women.

The pathway to the engineering profession follows the several stages of education that are primary, secondary and tertiary. In primary education, the performance, as well as chances of taking engineering degrees at university, are the same for both boys and girls, with girls even performing better (Van Houtte, 2004). At high school, the distinction begins to surface, with girls performing better in arts and humanities than in sciences. Some scholars’ surveys and researches show and argue that girls are generally not good in math and science at high school citing reasons such as their negative attitude, lack of confidence and an easily giving up on challenging science and mathematical problems (Badger, 1981; Hargreaves, et al., 2008; OECD, 2015). On the contrary, I don’t agree with these conclusions but rather argue that it’s not their attitude but the conditions which are not favorable. Girls are facing challenges in school and these are not regarded seriously. It’s notable that bullying of boys by boys is physical and it can be easily brought to book by the school disciplinary authorities but bullying of girls by boys is usually verbal, emotional, physical contact of sexual nature and even through social media which causes psychological suppression and social exclusion. These challenges are holding girls back and sadly there are no or poorly structured girl child support networks in schools.

There is no level playing field in the education sector as science subjects are regarded as men’s subjects, which poses a gender stereotypical harm on girls. It’s historically believed that women are not good in math and science, so usually families and parents tend to discourage girls from choosing engineering as a career, with a view that the industries are gender biased. Statistics show that only about 29% A level students are females and consequentially fewer girls will be enrolled for engineering at University (Peers, 2018). It is therefore critical to note that the gender imbalance is already created along the way to the university.

Some scholars argue that the reason behind the small percentage of female students studying engineering at university is that some of them leave engineering due to gender discrimination like in the allocation of roles especially in group projects where the practical and technical duties are taken by men and females are given theoretical roles such as recording results (Rensburg, 2018). At university, female students suffer gross sexual harassment and most of them are left pregnant. Universities respond by expelling those pregnant female students but leaving behind their male partners. This is a clear act of gender inequality, as supported by Minister Bathabile Dhlamini’s comments captured by news24 on 24 November 2018 (Peterson, 2018). Even in universities where they allow pregnant women and women with babies, the conditions are still unfavorable. The university residences do not take into consideration, the special needs of these women and therefore their life at university becomes tough (Masanja, et al., 2001). From another, most girls are now taking marriage as an achievement and therefore they put more effort on attaining good looks than better marks, basing on the belief that failure is countered by getting a good husband. Usually, most girls become more sexually active by the time they enter university, so most of them engage in acts of prostitution which counteract performance. But mostly, females who engage in prostitution are just victims of economic circumstances at university. A good example is that of Zimbabwean female students in Russia who were reported to be engaging in prostitution for survival as their government was not supporting them (Ndlovu, 2019). On a controversial point of view, the exams in school are not a good way of testing students’ intelligence but rather testing their memory capabilities, so female students may fail the exams because of challenges at school but that is not a good indicator that they are not intelligent (The New York Times, 2011).

Women have been segregated from different engineering fields by legislation. This includes the popular laws such as the one passed by the ILO in 1935, banning women from being employed in underground mines, of which many countries including South Africa were signatories to, up to until 1996 when the same law was revoked in South Africa (Klerk, et al., 2015). This was literally put in place to protect women from the dangerous underground mines but practically to discriminate them because no protective law can harm the same people it has to protect. The long period of denial and segregation has created generational psychological inferiority of women in the mining sector. This long polarization of the mining engineering sector makes it very difficult even for high school girls to make their career choices based on the history of the ban. New legislation has been put in place to enhance gender balance in the engineering professions, but the imbalance still exists.

The fact that there is still use of terms such as ‘man power’ in engineering fields and ‘mankind’ in government politics, means that men continue to be regarded as the definition of people and the center of power. The belief that women were not strong enough to work in the mines and other engineering fields such as military engineering is a clear insult to women. At the height of the Second World War, almost all men were recruited into the army creating a vacuum in the mines and industries. Women almost completely took over the industries and were now working underground in the mines to mine minerals used to make military artillery while others were fully into the military and explosive engineering to constantly supply the troops at war. Along the passage of history, a lot of women have done incredible achievements and contributions to engineering but their stories and history are covered and not considered. Few scholars know about Emily Warren Roebling, who became very instrumental in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge which is a National Historical Monument in the USA (Arbeiter, 2018). The list is endless and includes some of the following: Beulah Louise Henry, Hedy Lamarr, Stephanie Louise Kwolek, and Mary Anderson (Zolinger, 2013). A lot of women now are breaking the odds by performing very well in the engineering professions across the world. One ideal example is Elizabeth Diller, professor of architecture at Princeton University, who was listed in the top 100 most influential people for her key roles in the construction of some of the world’s most beautiful buildings in Europe (Varley, 2018).

Though statistics show that there is a positive improvement on the gender balance in the engineering profession, it is regrettable that women still face a lot of challenges in the industries and at workplaces. The first discrimination comes with the allocation of roles in the workplace. Most women are allocated menial tasks such as secretarial work while their male counterparts are given more interesting, challenging and real-world engineering tasks. This on its own causes women to feel that they are segregated and inferior to men. It also ensures that the salaries of female engineers are less than that of male engineers, also referred to as the ‘pay gap’ (Lorcan, 2017). To me, it seems like the legislation put in place for gender equality is just there to formalise the discrimination of women from the engineering profession because there is no difference between a female secretary of the ancient days and a female engineer of today as their tasks are the same. In other words, it’s employing secretaries who studied engineering. Most female engineers just make the decision of leaving the engineering profession and join the secretarial profession in full time where they can get better pay or go into the education sector as lecturers and tutors. It has been established that most female graduate engineers either enter never enter the engineering profession or leave between the ages of 20-29 (Lorcan, 2017). Some scholars argue that most female engineers are not committed and confident of their work, especially in making such final decisions to a project before it can be made public for evaluation, such that they become less competent as compared to men. It can also be argued that some female engineers don’t make informed decisions when choosing the engineering career, with some of them being influenced by their pass rate, family, school teachers and not passion, the decision of which they will regret after graduating from university and decide to leave engineering profession. However other studies have established that the main reason is the ill-treatment, e.g., 70% of South African female engineers leave because they are feeling uncomfortable to work as lonely rangers in the jungle discriminative men (Berg, 2019). Other female engineers who leave the engineering profession just cite personal issues as their reason for leaving the profession. I have tried to look into such personal issues which can be associated with female engineers. Female engineers are victims of sexual harassment, in the form of hugging, indecent touching, denigrating jokes, abuse of social media with the intention of causing sexual harm and coerced sexual engagement, by their male counterparts at workplaces and in some cases by their bosses, which has been referred to as ‘sex for job’ (Northfield, 2018). Another reason is the ‘work-life’ balance to a married female engineer (Romila, et al., 2018). Since engineering is associated with working for long hours, a conflict will arise between the family duties for the wife and the time of work, especially if the husband is not working in the engineering field. This leads to many women to leave the engineering profession to preserve their marriages.

After raising all the above problems being faced by women in the engineering profession and gender imbalance, I have come up with a brief outline of the corrective measures which can be put in place to address the imbalance. Women should be accorded an opportunity to enter university with lower grades considering the challenges they face in their early education which reduces grades. Female students have to be supported financially by the government so that they will not be sexually exploited for the sake of money. There is a need for support groups, female pressure groups, and supportive platforms and channels through which the issues affecting female engineers can be easily communicated and solved. There needs to be legislation that provides for the establishment of at least one office of a female engineer in every engineering firm who will look after the fair treatment of female engineers. It is also of ultimate importance to bring more professional female engineers into class and as teaching staff at university to give motivation to female students in engineering.

To sum up the whole matter, it can be concluded that there is progress in addressing the underrepresentation of women in the engineering profession though it’s not just an issue of the workplace itself but a complex system of interdependent factors which hinder the development of a female engineer from the community, to high school, university and the entry into the engineering professions. Therefore, in the crafting of a solution framework, it is critical to introduce solutions along the whole path of a small girl starting primary school to a professional engineer.

What is seen as engineering ethics in South Africa and how does this ethics apply within the industry according to the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA)? In general ethics would be the moral values a person has and how that person can apply these values to distinguish between right and wrong in concepts of systematizing, recommending and defending. In an engineering field this concepts would be applied in an engineering work environment where for example designing of projects and meetings with superiors is done in a systematic manner, the defending of work and positions will be dealt with in a respectful way and recommendation would be given to help solve problems and guide less experienced engineers on a more successful path.

Michael Josephson ones said that among the universal ethical values are integrity, honesty, promise-keeping, fairness, fidelity, respect for others, pursuit of excellence, responsible citizenship and accountability. Although these ethical values would be applied in all life situations and the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) does not require or mention all of these values in the code of conduct for registered persons, all of these ethical values would also apply in the engineering industry in one or more ways. If an engineer can live and work up to these values, he/she would be an asset to the industry.

In an engineering field the best interest of people as well as their lives would rest in the hands of the engineer. For this reason, an engineer should have good engineering ethics and learn from previous mistakes because if this is not the case, bad consequences can follow or even death in certain situations. To understand the importance of engineering ethics and how it can influence the life of people, a case study done by ECSA in 2012 can be used in which an engineer did not live up to the required engineering ethics.

Case study no. 2012/1: The consequences of the collapse of portion of a three-storey office block structure. For this case study the problem statement for the project at hand was design and build a three-storey office block which consists of reinforced concrete structure, comprising spread footings, floor slabs and basement retaining walls. The cross-sectional area of the building’s footprint was approximately 75m x 40m. The structure of the building comprised of a parking basement with two office floors above the basement and had a tiles roof supported by timber trusses resting on external walls. During construction of the building, while placing the roof tiles and building the internal brick wall, the reinforced concrete structure collapsed over half the cross-section of the building. This incident caused thirteen workers to be reported injured, one worker killed and another missing in the incident. The department of labour and ECSA immediately got involved and started to investigate the incident.

During the investigation of the incident, a few problems were found within the designs and the actual building. Firstly, the engineer signed a “A19” form of local authority which states that the person in concern confirms that he takes responsibility for the design, but there were no design drawings for the design and the design calculations could not be retrieved. Also, there were openings in the floor slabs that were not considered when the designing was done, and no geotechnical investigation was done for the foundation design, there were only assumptions made. Another problem found was that the engineer relied on verbal instructions on site and the engineer did his own checking’s on calculations and details.

This incident occurred because of oversight and lack of communication, as the designing was not properly checked, and the necessary documents wasn’t disclosed with the workers or site manager. This situation would have been avoided if the engineer in concern followed the engineering code of ethics which is provided by ECSA.

The code of conduct for engineers has a brief section on ethics that gives a better understanding of engineering ethics within South Africa and how ECSA views these ethics. In the Rules of Conduct for registered persons: Engineering Profession Act, 2000 (Act No 46 of 2000), Section 36 from ECSA, there is some main ethical values that is mentioned which each registered person should adhere to in order to become a viable engineer in South Africa. These values are competency, integrity, public interest, environment and dignity of profession and within these main ethical values there are some other ethics mentioned such as fidelity, honesty, diligence and more.

Competency- This is normally the ability to be sufficient and successful in any task or assignment that’s being done. Being competent in the workplace means that in some degree a person can perform a task or skill with the required level of proficiency. In terms of ECSA’s code of conduct, the ethic value of competency refers to that an engineering professional should discharge his/her duties towards their clients, employers, associates and the public with care, skill and diligence. This also states that a registered person should only pursuit work their education, skill and experience renders them to be competent in.

Integrity- In terms of ethics, integrity means to be honest and have strong moral values. In other words it can be said that it is doing the right thing in a reliable way. According to ECSA’s code of conduct, integrity would refer to discharging engineering duties and opinions to clients, co-workers and public with honesty, dignity and based on facts. Also it refers to not engaging in work or activities that will generate conditions and terms which will compromise the ability to carry out the responsibilities in accordance with the norms of the profession. According to ECSA, a registered person should also avoid situations of dishonesty, bribery and corruption and situations where a conflict of interest or a potential conflict of interest can rise.

Public interest- This will normally indicate public welfare. Thus public interest in terms of ethics in engineering would be to do a study on how the public would react on a certain project and how the project will affect everyone within the project. ECSA’s vie on public interest according to the code of conduct would be that a registered person would have due regards to the health, safety and interest of the public. Also whenever an engineer offers professional advice to a client or employer and these information is not accepted or taken on with the necessary seriousness, it is the responsibility of the engineer to emphasize the consequences and risks in terms of health, safety and public interest.

Environment- In terms of ethics, environment would refer to the good welfare of the human environment as well as the non-human environment. In terms of engineering, this would mean that any project that is been undertake should have in one or more ways considered the environment in which the project will take commence and either be an improvement on the environment or not change the environment at all. Therefore, as stated by ECSA in the code of conduct, the work of an engineer should be of such that it avoids or minimizes any negative impact on the environment. Also, an engineer is required to think towards future generations, so that the needs in the present does not compromise the future needs.

Dignity of profession- According to ECSA, an engineer should uphold the dignity, standing and reputation of a professional engineer. Also, an engineer may not knowingly in their practice or profession, injure the professional reputation nor the reputation of a company or firm they are associated with. A registered engineer also may not advertise their work skill or abilities in a misleading or exaggerating manner which can hurt the reputation of the profession.

In extend, any profession has a learning curve and the curve is created by failures and by improving on these failures. As an engineer it is crucial to have the minimum amount of failures and to learn from the ones that were made. An engineer would constantly work with people and most of the time have these people’s lives in their hands, therefore it is important to have some sense of morality and guide to do good in the world and this is achieved by engineering ethics. It can be said that engineering ethics is the values, issues and decisions that is made within an engineering field. Thus, engineering ethics is an important tool to become a successful and professional engineer.

Engineering is a universal language spoken by those with the passion for designing and building the machines and structures used by humanity on a habitual basis. Some would even declare engineering as a job without borders. However, the idea of ‘without borders’ does not always necessarily apply to cultural and ideological compatibility. In the United States, engineers are to recognize and accept many codes and regulations that are fundamental to safe and legal practice. Professional organizations (deemed engineering societies/organizations), depending on the field of study, are put in place to spread the knowledge and promote the growth for future generations of problem solvers to come. Engineering ethics as the new field came into being in the mid-1970s when scholars from engineering and philosophy joined to identify and address ethical problems confronting engineers. It was created as standard part of curriculums of engineering education and regarded as a part of professional ethics. As stated above, several engineering societies were established for the purpose of the empowerment of engineers and created code of ethics as a way of achieving its purpose. Engineers oriented toward professionalizing themselves, but early code of ethics created by AIEE, ASME, ASCE, and so on attached great importance not to the ‘safety, health and welfare of the public’, which now regarded as the most important principle in engineering ethics, but loyalty to the clients and employers. Engineers in the country have unfortunately experienced and will continue to experience challenges in the workplace and on the field, and like the job description entails, the ultimate objective is to provide any and all solutions when an opportunity arises. However, one question remains to be answered: Can all countries follow suit and make necessary changes when needed? Can other areas of the world do what needs to be done to prevent catastrophic technological failures like the Fukushima disaster that took place in Japan eight years ago?

Japan is in fact one of the major countries in the world with a growing set of engineering ethics focused courses alongside its other disciplines both in undergraduate and post-graduate studies. This has only started taking place within the past fifteen to twenty years, and it kind of raises questions. Engineering has been around since the dawn of time, and if Japan is finally deciding to touch on these concepts and educate future engineers on the necessary codes and regulations deemed significant for safe practice then that leaves a few questions: How does Japan do it? How have they been doing it? How will they continue to do it? The following discussion will tackle a multitude of structural failures and technological disasters along with in-depth suggestions that could have been avoided with the serious implementation of codes and standards. Furthermore, an analysis of whistle-blowing in Japan amongst other signs of corruption will be provided in correlation with a societal comparative study between our country and the Land of the Rising Sun. Those studying and practicing any discipline of engineering are capable of applying the tools necessary to fixing common problems and running day to day operations, but do they understand the importance behind the decisions they make while in the system of moral obligations? This very concept is the driving force behind engineering ethics. Engineers strive to earn their licenses to practice their profession, and one can only hope they would intend on doing everything in their power to maintain their status as such.

Japanese culture, as a whole, is significantly different from American lifestyle as we know it. It is common and deemed as tradition for gifts to been given and received in the world of Japanese business. Some would see this as a potential issue solely based off the fact that, worst case scenario, a deal is reached between multiple companies that might have a shared interest in corruption, then that would be considered to be an ethical issue, right? Engineers working for these companies might not think so. Despite the urgent need to develop professional ethics regarding information behavior, several obstacles exist in Japan. The greatest is the lack of individuals’ ethics of responsibility. To overcome this difficulty, we must examine and reflect on the historical circumstances that led to the formation of Japanese core ethics and on the sociocultural context that compensates for the lack of individuals’ ethics of responsibility. Japanese core ethics were established in the Tokugawa era as an amalgam of Confucianism, Buddhism and Shintoism, providing the Japanese people with the idea that they were existential beings in society, and therefore, should carry out their social responsibility. However, the Japanese lost sight of these core ethics in the early Showa era, and to restore and maintain them are key to developing professional ethics that are effective in modern Japanese society. The rapid development and widespread availability of information and communication technology (ICT) have realized various types of information handling. Massive amounts of data are collected and stored in databases and flexible database management systems, and sophisticated software furnishes us with the ability to manipulate these data. Nationwide as well as worldwide broadband networks can transfer any type of data file, with lightning speed. Bulletin board systems, social networking services and blog services provide us with opportunities to easily publish our opinions. However, the advent of the ICT-driven information society and the great convenience it offers requires us to carry out our social responsibilities for information behavior. In particular, people working for organizations such as firms, governments, hospitals, schools, research institutes, and NPO/NGOs should develop and establish professional ethics concerning the collection, processing, transfer, and disclosure of information because the core activity of their work involves information behavior, which affects the quality of life in a broad range of people. However, it may be a real challenge in Japan to develop professional ethics regarding information behavior in response to the development and spread of ICT. The main reason is that individuals’ ethics of responsibility, which are a necessary component of professional ethics, have been lost in Japan. This is a tragedy for the modern information society because Japan is one of the leading nations in ICT development and usage. To overcome the difficulty and develop professional ethics, it is absolutely necessary to examine and reflect upon the historical circumstances regarding the formation of Japanese core ethical values and upon the sociocultural context that compensate for the lack of individuals’ ethics of responsibility. This paper deals with this issue and attempts to propose an effective way to develop professional ethics that are appropriate for the information age in Japan. After all, Shintoism (Japan’s main religion) has a foundation set on offerings and the will of those who the offerings are being made to. In contrast, other major religions base their faith on a moral compass. Good decisions are made with the idea that good things will come in return, at least according to predominantly Western beliefs. It would be deemed controversial, if a major executive for an engineering firm in the United States to receive gifts in the forms of payments, would it not? This is where the grey space of what it means to accept bribes and what it means to engage in honest and wholesome business will be explored.

Going forty plus years in the past, a business deal was completed in the year of 1972. All Nippon Airline (ANA) decided to purchase 21 Lockheed Tristar L-1011 airliners for roughly $105 million. The decision had caught most industry observers by surprise as they had anticipated the ANA would choose to purchase the DC-10 to replace their aging Boeing 747 fleet, because of close business ties between ANA and McDonnell Douglas. However, this proved to not be the case as four years later, a major arrest would be made. It turned out that some major briberies had been accepted by former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and his alleged involvement in the multi-million dollar between All Nippon Airline and Lockheed caused an enormous amount of public outrage and disapproval. Reports released in regards to the controversy revealed details such as Lockheed paying 2.4 billion yen to win the ANA contract. Also, amongst the 2.4 billion year 500 million yen went to Prime Minister Tanaka, 160 million yen to ANA officials, and the balance to various other political leaders. Former Prime Minister Tanaka was found guilty of accepting a bribe, but he delayed by appealing the verdict and stayed out of prison until his death in 1993.

The in-depth analysis of a major case in which unethical decisions were made by major individuals both in the business and political aspects of Japanese society would leave any industry analyst or casual reader with a few questions and a new sense of paranoia as to what exactly is going on behind closed doors. If these individuals with a great amount of power, can make such unethical decisions, could this clouded judgment make its way into our everyday lives? There is only one way that it would, and that would be through the very laws that these corrupt individuals are proposing and putting into place. For example, Japan once had a loophole in their court system that would allow major companies to take care of customers and themselves without the public ever knowing about it and allow them to uphold an honest image. This would eventually be trumped by Japan’s Product Liability Law, which was passed in 1995. The law itself is simple: a company presents a product with apparent defects, and they should assume responsibility. This seems fair, right? Lawmakers and corporate giants did not think so. Normal protocol prior to the passing of the law allowed for settlements in the form of compensation for damaged or defective products to be handled outside of courts. In other words, if a company released a product that caused physical damage to a consumer, the company would do everything in their power to ensure that your case never saw the light of day. Your damages would be kept a secret between you and the company. You and the company would have direct contact with one another, and negotiations would begin to prevent from the details of your case to ever be released to the general public. The negotiations would be very discrete, and you will receive an undisclosed amount for your compensation. The only issue from your case that would never be solved is the fact that the public never knew about it. The public would never know the facts in regards to the defects that this particular product has. As a result, the company would still be producing and releasing their products without any external interference. All of those involved will continue to optimize their revenue, and money will be continued to be made while the defective products are still being used by the general public. To add further insult to injury, those who had experienced damages had to start the process of taking their case to court by finding a way to prove fault by the manufacturer. For various reasons, it was very difficult for consumers to prevail in court. Individuals had to research the products themselves, ways that the mechanisms should have been built versus how the product exists in its defective state among other conditions. As a result, less than 160 product liability lawsuits were filed in the 50 years prior to the passing of the 1995 law.

With the conducting of further research, a vast majority of cases that partake in unethical decision making have taken place later in the 20th and earlier in the 21st century. Studies raise the question of whether or not engineers are to blame for their ignorance of policies and codes to follow when on the field. Surely some would take this alleged ignorance and use it as a cushion for these blatantly wrong choices when in reality, ethical and unethical choices alike are decisions made from what we as individuals know to be fundamentally right and wrong. If the statement of “I did not know that” were to ever come up, then surely there should be a way to combat it with a statement of “it is what you were taught as a student”. Upon analyzing the higher education system in Japan, students studying engineering were not always required to take courses focusing on engineering ethics. In fact, these courses only started becoming available to undergraduate and post-graduate students at the turn of the 21st century. In contrast with the United States higher education system, engineering ethics courses are required solely based off the fact that they serve as the blueprints and set the foundation for what engineers need to decide when they are put in their careers. This implementation of engineering ethics in the classrooms strips the students of any unnecessary gray space that would allow them to make the wrong choice and give them the leeway to escape legal action simply by being able to provide the excuse that ethical and unethical decision making was not introduced to them while they were students. Cultural observers can even present the argument that Japanese culture is partially to blame as studies show that parents and students alike have not always been interested in the engineering major. However, there is a serious problem for the engineers. The problem is that engineers feel alienated from the public. In other words, public doesn’t know about what engineers are doing. JSCE questionnaire entitled ‘Do You Want to Make Your Child Civil Engineers?’ in the August 2007. Its subtitle is ‘The Social Status of Civil Engineers Working in Japan’. One engineer who edited this featured article said that they are totally not recognized well by other people and grieved over incomprehension of the respondents. The other professional engineer, Ito, described that engineers are not recognized by public or society as a member of the community. That is, they think Japanese engineers are socially invisible in the first place. Both of them commonly claimed that they have to raise their social status, as American engineers and engineering societies did in the early 20th century, to fulfill their responsibility. This is one of the real issues that lies in Japan’s socio-cultural structure. A recent study from 2005 shows the predominant program of study in Japan has been the humanities with business, law and accounting leading with a percentage of 38% versus engineering’s 17%. However, trends are reversing with the adoption of the engineering majors have been increasing due to the rapid advancement of technology and the incentives of high pay for professional engineers.

The March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami sparked a humanitarian disaster in northeastern Japan and initiated a severe nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Three of the six reactors at the plant sustained severe core damage and released hydrogen and radioactive materials. Explosion of the released hydrogen damaged three reactor buildings and impeded onsite emergency response efforts. At the time of the Fukushima Daiichi accident, the Blue-Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future was completing an assessment of options for managing spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States (BRC, 2012). The Commission recommended that the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) conduct an assessment of lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi accident. This recommendation was taken up by the U.S. Congress, which subsequently directed the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to contract with NAS for this study. The methods used by TEPCO and NISA to assess the risk from tsunamis lagged behind international standards in at least three important respects. First, insufficient attention was paid to evidence of large tsunamis inundating the region surrounding the plant about once every thousand years. Second, computer modeling of the tsunami threat was inadequate. And most importantly, preliminary simulations conducted in 2008 that suggested the tsunami risk to the plant had been seriously underestimated were not followed up and were only reported to NISA on March 7, 2011. NISA failed to review simulations conducted by TEPCO and to foster the development of appropriate computer modeling tools. Steps that could have prevented a major accident in the event that the plant was inundated by a massive tsunami, such as the one that struck the plant in March 2011, include protecting emergency power supplies, including diesel generators and batteries, by moving them to higher ground or by placing them in watertight bunkers. Establishing watertight connections between emergency power supplies and key safety systems. Enhancing the protection of seawater pumps (which were used to transfer heat from the plant to the ocean and to cool diesel generators) and/or constructing a backup means to dissipate heat. In the final analysis, the Fukushima accident does not reveal a previously unknown fatal flaw associated with nuclear power. Rather, it underscores the importance of periodically reevaluating plant safety in light of dynamic external threats and of evolving best practices, as well as the need for an effective regulator to oversee this process.

In response, the Japanese government enacted various reforms, including requiring disclosure of politicians’ assets, bringing more transparency to political contributions and imposing stricter ethical rules on public officials. In addition, especially during the past 15 years, Japanese firms have instituted codes of conduct that prohibit giving or receiving inappropriate payments, gifts or entertainment. This applies not only to government officials, but all general business transactions. Today, the majority of the Japanese firms reaffirm the public that their commitment to compliance and corporate social responsibility is in accordance with law. While some challenges remain, Japan as a nation has plenty of opportunity to grow and expand in the realm of making ethical decisions.

Ethics are the basic principles that guides our behaviors in a moral sense. It is especially important that they are respected and are followed when working in the engineering industry as it is the ground rules that prevents the well-being of those who enjoy the services provided by the industry from being deprived.

However, there have been quite a lot of cases where engineers in the industry have failed the code of ethics in their practice, causing harm to individuals who make use of their products or services. For example, the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) faulty ASR (articular surface replacement) hip implant where patients received a total hip replacement with a metal ball-and-socket system, which during motion the flawed structure design increases frictional wear, leading to metallic debris being released into the blood system and ultimately affecting the general health of the patient. The code of ethics was violated in terms of multiple aspects; the company had complete knowledge that the product is of unethical design and would cause adverse health effect upon usage but have failed to disclose such information, putting patient’s health at risk. The death of four patients who underwent the transplant were reported as well as patients with symptoms of heavy metal poisoning. The end result was foreseeable and could have been entirely avoided, but the company had deliberately overlooked the issue during the design and manufacturing procedure instead of acknowledging and making amendments to the matter, which is possibly due to monetary pursuits. There were also precedent cases where surgeons have put forward the fact that the device was defective to their colleagues but was then deprecated by the company, the surgeon’s reputation suffered as a result. Undoubtedly, company ethics greatly affects the corporate’s decision in the process of producing goods and services. There may be culture within the company that contradicted with the surgeon’s clinical ethics that causes them to derail from the moral course of action, leading to the manufacture and utilization of such failed devices.

Above all, when working in the medical field of work, it is of vital importance that the incorporation prioritizes their patient’s wellbeing as the core concept of the product design as well as the product’s quality and reliability. The sole purpose of the product should be to improve the quality of life of its users instead of causing more harm to them and if the marketed products consist of fault, the company should make sure that it is addressed to its clients without ambiguity. In the end, the damage caused by the faulty metal ball-and-socket device was irrevocable; in India alone, within the 4,700 patients who received the hip transplant, a majority of 3,600 patients were untraceable for revision surgeries, the reliability and integrity of the company was also influenced. This shows the significance of respecting the workplace ethics and it is our responsibility to ensure these principles are not compromised and are properly upheld.

There is no such course in my university career except engineering ethics. I have learned a lot of things especially regarding to dilemmas how to handle if I have to face such kind of dilemmas in my future carriers. Following are some points which I want to highlight:

• Obligation to something is greater than on self;
• Self-respect but humility self-discipline and acceptance of self-responsibility;
• Respect and carrying for others;
• Caring for other living things and environment.

Engineering is definitely not a logical profession as everyone thinks. I mean, obviously it is logical, yet not in the manner in which individuals accept. It comprises on taking all the logical information and utilizing it to take care of individuals’ issues and needs. At that point, it is likewise a humanistic vocation, because it is important to profoundly get individuals, social orders, societies, and so forth, before really having the option to comprehend their issues, and considerably increasingly essential before attempting to settle them.

That being stated, designing directly affects humanity and realizing the moral angles gets basic. The investigation of morals makes designs progressively empathic and human, and furthermore increasingly mindful of their obligation as engineers, making them progressively likely to really help humankind by their work.

Engineering items and applications are fundamental to ordinary activities in our life. These incorporate housing, transportations, communications, and other mechanical procedures. So, as to protect life, wellbeing and property, and to advance open welfare, the act of designing is treated as an educated calling, and its practitioners will be considered responsible by high expert models with regards to the morals and practices of other scholarly professions.

Professional morals have been recognized as a significant foundation in the act of designing for quite a few years in many industrialized nations. Codes of morals have been invoked as a reason for proficient engineering licensure. Violations of such moral codes have prompted some notable grievous building disappointments that endangered human life and imperiled open welfare. As a reaction to this worry, another order, building morals, is developing. This control will certainly have its spot nearby such settled fields as restorative morals, business morals, and legitimate morals.

Ethics are morals. On the off chance that we as designers need to lead moral lives, we must practice moral conduct dependent on the Golden Guideline or one of the comparative core values. In any case, since designing is a complex calling that envelops! Not just specialized! Business, and social viewpoints, we should likewise contemplate and find out about how to apply these moral standards to the training of building. This investigation and exercise encourage us build up our ethical ability particularly when identified with the act of designing, which can have such an extraordinary effect on the lives of others.

We must be cautious, however, not to compartmentalize our morals, but endeavor to utilize one standard in all parts of our lives. The Brilliant Guideline is compatible with building ethics, and can be demonstrated to be appropriate to all parts of designing morals as set up by the various codes of morals advanced by proficient societies. In light of the fact that it is all monetary passing, the use of the Brilliant Standard is a decent starting point and can fill the holes left by the different codes of morals and give the consistency and connection between building morals and different parts of our lives.

Each specialist chooses the moral benchmarks by which the individual lives and by which the person practices their calling. Morals are self-imposed measures. There are just two significant focuses with regards to morals: the first is to have a standard to follow; the second is the will to follow.

All occupations have social responsibility. The engineering profession is no exception. However, there is a wide range of views within the engineering profession about what these social obligations involve, with perspectives varying between sub-disciplines of engineering as well as across countries and cultures.

Engineers have a wide range of ethical duties to society and the environment. This area of research has recently been dubbed macroethics, yet these professional social duties may conflict with engineering’s financial side. The vast majority of engineers work for companies whose primary objective is profit and corporate stockholders, rather than societal benefits. Fortunately, this is beginning to change as a result of a shift toward corporate social responsibility and the recognition that businesses may prosper while also considering social and environmental implications. Companies subscribe to concepts of accountability to community stakeholders, consumers, suppliers, employees, and investors through corporate social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility frequently incorporates sustainability concepts like as human rights and environmental concerns, as well as a chain of obligation and duty of care. Engineering’s public trust mandates that it considers its effects on human safety.

Engineering has a major responsibility to preserve public safety, health, and welfare, according to the code of ethics of engineering professional associations around the world. Physical ability to function without pain is a common definition of health. Biomedical engineering has a direct purpose of improving health. Environmental and civil engineers are in charge of supplying safe drinking water and preventing dangerous pollutants from spreading through the air, water, and soil. Chemical engineering is used in the production of medications, insecticides, and other potentially harmful compounds. When assessing hazards, safety is related with being shielded from physical injury or death. Thus, civil engineering infrastructure that will be safe in the event of an earthquake, construction engineering to safeguard on-site workers, and mechanical engineering of automobiles to protect people in the event of a crash.

Engineering is a highly creative endeavor. Electric light was invented by Thomas Edison. Telephony was invented by Alexander Graham Bell. The Sydney Opera House was designed by Ove Arup. The World Wide Web was established by Tim Berners-Lee. Engineers are responsible for bringing ideas to life. Engineers are innovative both as creators of new ideas and as implementers of such ideas. Engineers create new technologies, such as the telephone or the silicon chip, and they assist in the implementation of other people’s ideas, such as structural and geotechnical engineers developing technical solutions to make a building’s design stand up. Engineers’ inventive work is frequently hidden in the minutiae of daily living, unseen precisely because it works. Engineers are constantly innovating and improving things like car brake systems, water treatment, gas turbines, and mobile data networking to keep us safe, drive the economy, and support our modern lifestyles. Engineers have achieved great achievement in developing the intricate technical systems that enable modern existence.

Unfortunately, we have had less success anticipating and dealing with the undesirable effects of our innovations. Creativity is accompanied by a sense of accountability. Engineers have found ever more efficient means of collecting fossil fuels from the Earth and burning them for human benefit, and they must take the lead in tackling climate change’s pressing challenges through energy efficiency and renewable energy. Engineers have invented and built automobiles, roads, and highways, and as a result, they must deal with the social and environmental issues of traffic congestion, urban sprawl, emissions, and rising fuel costs. Despite the fact that fresh water is a scarce resource in many countries, we have created water systems that provide an unending supply to households, and now engineers must assist people find ways to reduce water waste.

Engineers have revolutionized society and the environment by developing technological systems. While we should be proud of our accomplishments, we must also be honest about our failures. The impact of engineering and technology on society is not a one-way street. Engineering provides a wide range of technological options, and society must choose between them. Consumer preferences, such as the recent format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD, may influence the decision, as well as economic reasons. Henry Ford experimented with cars that ran on ethanol, which is now known to be a far better fuel in terms of pollution and emissions, but the low price of oil at the time led him to focus his attention on cars that ran on gasoline. Political debate can make a technology unpopular, either through direct social action, such as the boycotts that slowed the adoption of GM foods, or through laws and regulations that limit or prohibit the use of a technology, as some countries have done with the use of certain websites or social media tools.

One component of engineers’ responsibilities is to reduce the harm that their goods and systems cause to communities and society as a whole. Major infrastructure projects, such as new roads or rail systems, can provide enormous benefits to a community by increasing connectivity and changing the urban landscape. However, they have the potential to harm the local landscape, as well as people’s houses and livelihoods. Engineers must work to minimize negative consequences as much as possible, as well as engage with the impacted community to keep them informed and hear their concerns.

The changes in the industrial requirements of the professionals is a never-ending task, and you will never be able to know what the industry would expect from you tomorrow. Regardless of your profession, you are stuck in a continuously rolling wheel, and you should remember that you are supposed to be moving so as to allow yourself to move forward with the wheel rather than get crushed from it. Engineering management is one such opportunity that has been created to allow you move forward without getting destroyed with all the requirements that they make.

The Present Context of Engineering Management

Engineering management career is a specialized field which involves both the managerial aspects as well as the engineering requirements of the organizations. This is completely based on the organizations that are focused on employing engineers who are focused on managerial activities rather than other typical engineering activities. This field of study is very well equipped with a lot of educational programs that include graduate and undergraduate programs, and is considered as an important requirement when qualifying for a managerial position in any company at the present. It is regarded as the future of engineers and there is nothing wrong with that thought as well, because, this is the type of professionals that are required to the organizations that are rising in the future.

Quality Planning and Decision-Making and Project Management

Project management and functional management are considered to be the most important activities that an engineering manager would have to take part in when working under the role of leading the engineering and technical personnel and projects through the best practices. They are responsible to the results that a project may or may not bring to a company. Imagine yourself being in a position that require more management of the people rather than the management of equipment. This is one such role that has definite resemblance of great leaders and decision makers. Each and every decision that an engineering manager take, each and every plan that they put forward, as well as each and every order that they give and the words they speak are directly and indirectly resembled upon the projects that they work with. The good decisions will bring good results while bad decisions and bad planning will end up in definite chaos. Therefore, it is important to note that the role of engineering manager is definitely reserved for someone who is willing to make a commitment. A commitment towards the society as well as towards themselves.

Risk and Value Management

No matter how good an engineer you are, there is no way that you will be able to overcome every problem that comes to you when you are in the field, if you are not a good manager. There are many other skills that are required to show your talent as a capable individual rather than simply being an important segment in the analytical problem – solving team. Not that these people are not important, but the ones who are actually more practical go way above than the ones that do not know how to do that. The people who are able to manage the risks that a situation brings, and thereby add value to the project while cutting all additional costs are important to make a project financially successful. These are not the ordinary skills that anyone could have and they are definitely the compulsory items that an engineering manager should demonstrate in order to achieve the targets with regard to the management of engineering activities, the persons who are involved in the activities as well as the project or the activity itself.

Leadership and Best Engineering Practices

They are deeply concerned of the success of the tasks that they have at hand, and are greatly involved in the decision – making action that is directly linked with the results that are brought out by each action that is taken. Therefore, it is important to note that these jobs are not simply related to managing a company. They have a much more important role at hand, that is the completion of projects and other activities in a successful manner. Since, this include the providing of guidance that each and every individual working under their team, they could be considered as extremely talented leaders as well. Only such a person will be able to pertain their role as an engineer in the technical aspect, while making sure that everyone in the team is motivated and thrilled to work for success.

Engineering Management Education and Job Opportunities

Engineering management degrees are offered from many countries, and are considered as an important segment with regard to engineering management education. The proper receiving of the education that is related to this area will help you define yourself as a true leader of the future, and there is no other way to get the title than getting the proper skills. Some of the universities that offer programs are: the Istanbul Technical university in Turkey; University of Waterloo in Canada; University of the pacific in Peru; University of Colorado, USA; University of Kansas, USA.

They were some of the most reputed universities to offer engineering management degrees in both graduate and undergraduate level. Most of the time, these come as graduate programs or master’s programs that are allowed to be followed after you complete your undergraduate education in the fields of engineering. But many of the developing countries are also concerned with the application of these fields, that universities from countries like Sri Lanka are also granting the same degree programs at the undergraduate level.

Engineering Management Future: Where It Is Heading?

Future trends of engineering management are mostly lying upon the engineer’s ability to solve managerial problems rather than the technological issues. There are many areas that engineer’s expertise in, but the most important thing is that the people are more interested in what they do with regard to managing the problems that arise when managing the issues that concern people.

Managing people and the problems associated with them is an important task, and this is done best with the help of engineers rather than with only the help of Human resource managers.

Therefore, it could be quite expected that engineering managers would be leading the main roles of any and all of the companies, because they are very well equipped with the analytical skills as well as the interpersonal and other organizational management skills. It is expected that these would be the most possible future entrepreneurs and CEOs rather than just the engineering department heads and other roles. Since the management of an organization is more delicate, the engineering managers would be skillful professionals who are not only capable to apply their hands – on skills to existing problems, but they also become people capable to address any and all of the soft skills required as well.

Television is an important invention, especially in the recent century. It is a tool that can educate viewers across the world. Nowadays, Television is considered the main source of information for people. It enables us to receive the latest news from all over the world. Television is comprised of a lot of fascinating and interesting programs, it can be regarded as a convenient source of entertainment. Moreover, educational channels of TV can be informative for everyone, especially children. As an example, children can increase their skills by watching scientific programs. It is also a reason the majority of parents allow the TV to be in their children’s bedroom. TV can help young people develop values and form ideas about the world around them. It can also influence viewers’ attitudes and beliefs about people for other social, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, including themselves.

It plays an important role in the political process, especially in shaping national election campaigns. It influences the way that people think about social issues such as race, gender, and class. TV programs and commercials can be major factors in contributing to increased American materialism.

The electronic TV was first effectively exhibited in San Francisco on Sept. 7, 1927. The framework was planned by Philo Taylor Farnsworth, a 21-year-old innovator who had lived in a house without power until he was 14. While still in high school, Farnsworth had started to imagine a framework that could catch moving pictures in a structure that could be coded onto radio waves and afterward changed into an image on a screen. The first image he transmitted on it was a simple line. A few years before, a mechanical television system, which scanned images using a rotating disk with holes arranged in a spiral pattern, had been demonstrated by John Logie Baird in England and Charles Francis Jenkins in the United States earlier in the 1920s. Farnsworth’s invention, that scanned images with a beam of electrons, is the direct ancestor of modern television.

The TV can be used for many things, it can be used to spread news and information, be used as a source of entertainment, or even be used to relax and unwind. For spreading information, it can help companies advertise and sell their products or charities can raise awareness. News can be broadcast all over the world, allowing us to pass on important information or keep people update on what’s going on around them. People seek entertainment all the time and a TV is one of many ways to be entertained, it can also help you calm down and loosen up.

Today, TV helps shape the way people think, it helps companies make a profit, and helps spread the news. It started at the first, crude version, of the electric tv made by Boris Rosing in 1907-1911, then to the first mechanical tv by John Baird, in the 1920s and then the “first” working electric television by Philo Farnsworth, in 1927. It has come a long way since then and still is improving. Thanks to Philo, we can live easier and sometimes better lives.

Medival engineers created marvellous machines, some of which were capable of immense destructive power. But others were useful in other areas such as architecture, farming and industry.

The first area which we will be discussing and analysing is warfare and inventions. One that really came into action was gunpowder in medieval Europe. Gunpowder was introduced to Europe during the 13th century after information broke out that the Chinese developed a dark powder of some kind. Although we know that what they called in medieval china as black powder we know now as gunpowder. Early gunpowder weapons used in medieval Europe were heavy, inaccurate, very difficult to use and normally operated by multiple people. Bombards were often made of iron and were used to fire hefty boulders and stones. A bombard is merely one of many different machines operated by gunpowder.

A trebuchet is the second advancement during medieval times in the warfare. The Medieval Trebuchet was similar to a catapult in it’s design and look. The trebuchet was used for hurling heavy stones to smash castles or city walls. The trebuchet was an invaluable Medieval siege attack weapon, it’s hurling action was second to none. Thousands of man-hours were spent perfecting its accuracy and speed. The trebuchet was later on replaced by the catapult.

Architecture in medieval Europe fell into several categories gothic, pre-Romanesque and Romanesque. The roof of the house was generally made from straw, this is because of its easy access to peasants and folk people alike. Wattle and daub is a composite building material used for making walls inside the house. Its adjustable nature and relatively easy construction made it an exceptional construction material. These materials were also used for the manor house. This particular house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor.

Inventions tell us a lot about the society in which it was created in. Through the study of inventions and technologies, we have learnt that medieval times were brutal and unforgiving. Yet they produced many things in which our society has grown around. Through gunpowder, bombards, architecture, trebuchets and catapults we know now that middle ages were.

Mechanical clocks- Mechanical clocks were used in monasteries to keep

a calendar of when everything was happening. They used mechanical clocks to calculate lunar and solar eclipses. The monasteries also used it to keep track of prayer times. They could do all of that with utmost accuracy and precision. Mechanical clocks were the most reliable way of telling the time in medieval times, as they were more accurate than any other clocks, such as water clocks, candle clocks, sundials and other forms of clocks.

Universities – Medieval universities first started appearing in the high middle ages across Europe, in countries like; Italy, France and England. The first universities to appear in England was constructed in Oxford in the 11th century, and another one was constructed in Cambridge. Medieval universities arose out of the conditions of medieval Europe. Students and teachers that were around in the middle ages, applied to universities to protect themselves from the dangers that surrounded them.

Plough – New technology started being developed in the area of farming, a specific invention; the plough blew into popularity. It turned European agriculture and economy, on its head. The heavy plough allowed access to areas which in the past were impossible to dig or mine. An example is the ability to harness clay soil. The clay soil was more fertile than the other light soils and made it possible to harness it. The Medieval steel plough is one of the most important medieval histories inventions, it was made for many uses like turning soil, to bury crop residuals and to help control weeds.

This project is focused on

Methodology

For this project, I will be conducting secondary research rather than a combination of primary and secondary research. This was done considering the time that the Titanic sunk

Context

The Titanic was owned by the company White Star Line and constructed by Harland and Wolff. She was deemed ‘Unsinkable’ by many as there had never before been ships constructed in that size. Instead of constructing one ship, they decided on three. The Titanic, the Olympics, and the Britannic. Thus, making an already seemingly ambitious project even more so.

On the 10th of April 1912, the Titanic departed from Southampton, England, for New York City just before noon. Despite the delay in her construction due to the Olympic colliding with the HMS Hawke, workmen were diverted from the Titanic to the Olympics (Flekins, Leighly, and Jankovic, 1998).

On a moonless night, 14 April 1912, the iceberg that struck the Titanic was spotted at 11:40 p.m. Green Land Time and sank completely at around 2:20 a.m. 15 April, more than 1500 lives were lost (Flekins, Leighly and Jankovic, 1998). Instead of taking around 2 to 3 days to sink as was expected of that time, it sunk in over 2 hours. This is because damage was made to the hull, which consequently caused the compartments to fill up one after the other, even though they were watertight, they were only so in a horizontal direction (Bassett, 2000). Out of around 2 200 people on the Titanic, there were only 711-713 survivors (Symanzik, Friendly, and Onder, 2018). Most who survived the sinking died from exposure to the water, possibly within 40 minutes (Hall, 1986). There were only 2207 confirmed persons on board however, there was conjecture that there were stowaways (Frey, Savage, and Torgler, 2011).

Speed

The RMS Titanic’s speed increased gradually per day. This was done even though the captain had been informed of the ice field by other vessels. However, he may not have slowed his speed due to following the standard procedure of the time (Kelly, 2013). Captain Smith may have not reduced the speed as the night was clear with good visibility however, he was subtly pressured to increase the speed by the owner, Ismay, to set a new speed record (Battles, 2001).

Training

It was shown that there was a lack of staff training on the standard evacuation procedure as there had been no official drill along with only 705 lives saved, which is far below the capacity of the lifeboats (Kelly, 2013). The lookout Fred Fleet spotted the Iceberg a quarter mile away but should have seen it half a mile away but could not locate the binoculars that were found eighty years later (Battles, 2001).

Icebergs

Initially, a French liner, La Touraine, sent a warning on the 12th of April 1912 of the ice in the steamship lanes. However, it was not uncommon to find icebergs in the lanes at that time of year. As time passed, the warnings became more frequent and accurate. The icefield was estimated to be around 20 km wide and 120 km long in a northeast-southwest direction (Felkins, Leighly, and Jankovic, 1998). The Titanic continued at a speed of 21.5 knots and was twice diverted to attempt to avoid the icebergs.

In 1912, 1038 icebergs were observed which was not out of the ordinary but, the size of the iceberg that collided with the iceberg was. The iceberg was south of N°46, it was rare for an iceberg of that size to be that far south at that time of year in that location. Moreover, there was a greater number of icebergs reported that year than there normally would have been but, the weather conditions drove them South earlier than usual (Bigg and Billings, 2014).

Furthermore, the reason why the Titanic received most but not all of the messages of the iceberg warnings was that Wireless Officer Phillips was sending and receiving messages on the one radio channel available. He was told to place priority on sending out personal messages however, he did receive and pass on some iceberg warnings but, asked the senders to stop transmitting them (Battles, 2001).

Lifeboats

The RMS Titanic had complied with the current marine laws of the time set out by the British Board of Trade. Which stated that a ship with over 10,000 metric tonnes had to have a minimum of 16 lifeboats. Even though the Titanic complied with this law, it was 40,000 metric tonnes (Kelly, 2013). There were only enough lifeboats for half of the people on board and even then, several were launched half and three-quarters full. When the Titanic first collided with the iceberg, many passengers did not get into the lifeboats as they believed that it was unsinkable, they only started boarding when they saw true trouble (Dietz, 1998).

The Titanic only carried 20 lifeboats, which was enough for around 52% of the passengers, 1178 people. Another reason for the passengers’ slow response to getting onto the lifeboats was that there was this disbelief that they were either in disbelief that they were in danger, reluctant to be separated from their husbands and the apparent presence of a ship nearby, meaning that some had decided to wait (Hall, 1986).

Design Flaws

Even though the Titanic, along with her sister ships, were revolutionary in terms of their size and how they were built, how the compartments were constructed caused the ship to inadvertently sink faster.

The water compartments were watertight but, only so in the horizontal direction. Meaning that, as one compartment filled up, it would spill over to the next (Kelly, 2013). Six of the sixteen major compartments had flooded on the starboard side of the ship’s bow. As the compartments were only watertight in a horizontal direction and the walls only a few feet above the water line, the water coming into the starboard side of the bow caused the ship to tilt. This, led to the propellers lifting out of the water at around 2:00 a.m. and later causing the stern to ascend out of the water, causing the bow to rip loose (Felkins, Leighly, and Jankovic, 1998).

Composition

When the iceberg hit the Titanic, damage occurred when the hull seams parted instead of an iceberg-induced gash. This was caused by the failure of some of the rivets and the type of steel used to construct the Titanic at the time experienced brittle fracture. When a fraction of the rivets failed due to the collision with the iceberg, they would then transfer the load to the others leading the stress levels to a failing point (Kelly, 2013).

On 15 August 1996, steel from the hull was brought to the University of Missouri-Rolla for analysis. They concluded that the steel was not made by the Bessemer process due to the very low nitrogen content but with an open-hearth process. Where two-thirds of the furnaces had acid linings that caused the high Sulphur and Phosphorus content in the steel. As a result of this combination of the high amounts of Sulphur, phosphorus, and Oxygen, low temperatures would embrittle the steel even though the combination is low by today’s standards (Felkins, Leighly, and Jankovic, 1998).

To test how brittle the steel of the hull was, they conducted Charpy impact tests. It is a method to determine the energy absorbed by a material when it fractures and does so with the use of a swinging pendulum at the material at a range of temperatures. In this case, the temperature range was -55°C to 179°C. When the Titanic was sinking, the water temperature was -2°C. Even though the Titanic was constructed with the best plain carbon ship plate available at the time, it would not be acceptable today. This is because, when comparing the hull steel and ASTM A36 steel, it was shown that modern steel has a higher Manganese and lower Sulphur content which would reduce the ductile-brittle transition temperature a lot. The brittle fracture was caused by those low temperatures (Felkins, Leighly, and Jankovic, 1998). Moreover, the brittle steel is more likely to be relevant to the breakup of the ship and not the collision with the iceberg (Foecke, 1998).

Furthermore, another analysis was conducted by the College of Engineering University of Wisconsin and found that the brittleness of the steel was increased by disrupting its grain structure with the high Sulphur content. When the Charpy test was conducted, the modern steel was struck with a large force. The result was that the sample bent without breaking into pieces as it was ductile. However, under the same impact loading, the steel of the Titanic was extremely brittle and broke into two pieces along with little deformation (Gannon, 1995). Furthermore, the method of testing the steel, Charpy impact testing, was only developed a few years before the construction of the Titanic. Meaning that it would not make sense for the designers to use this testing method as it was relatively new. After analyzing the rivets, it was found that they either elongated or snapped. Thus, providing another inlet for water to flood into the ship as the iceberg tore through the seams, resulting in them being subjected to incredible forces (Bassett, 2000).

Research shows that the company that was responsible for the construction of the Titanic, Harland and Wolff, struggled to find enough good rivets and riveters as the Titanic alone required three million rivets. Due to the ambitiousness of this project, the company had to search beyond their usual suppliers such as small forges that generally had less skill. As a consequence of this, the rivets had high concentrations of slag resulting in brittle fracture and being prone to fracture. Furthermore, after searching in the company’s archives, it was found that the shortages of skilled riveters were discussed at almost every meeting (Broad, 2008).

Steel rivets were only used on the central hull as they expected most of the stresses to be there, with iron rivets for the stern and bow. However, the iceberg struck the bow and the damage caused by it was close to where the rivets transitioned from iron to steel. This may also be a factor in the breakup of the ship. There is also evidence of complacency by the British Board of Trade found by Dr. McCarty. It showed that they stopped testing iron for shipbuilding in 1901 as they saw iron metallurgy as a mature field, unlike that of steel (Broad, 2008).

Psychology

The main reason why more women and children survived than men was due to the policy that was followed at that time and on the Titanic, women and children first. However, some of the crew members were armed to avoid incidents when people started to realize that they were in danger (Hall, 1986). Those who traveled alone had a better chance than those in groups as they could focus more on their self-interest however, in some cases those in groups had a higher chance of survival due to social support. Moreover, it was the duty of the 886 men and women in the crew to help save the passengers and only to abandon the ship when the task had been fulfilled. However, the crew had a 24% higher chance of surviving than the third class which proves that self-interests tend to dominate in life-and-death conditions. The key social norm of saving women and children first is still done today in evacuation procedures under the Geneva Convention (Frey, Savage, and Torgler, 2011).

Physical strength may have been a factor that increased survival however, adult males were less likely to survive than women and children. When comparing the ages of the adult males, those 55 years old and above were less likely to survive (Frey, Savage, and Torgler, 2011).

This difference was possibly due to the layout of the ship and not the lower classes being deliberately excluded (Hall, 1986). It is shown that first class had a better chance of survival as they had better access to the information about the danger and lifeboats were located closer to the first-class cabins. Third-class had the lowest chance of survival as they had little to no idea where the lifeboats were located and safety drills for passengers were only implemented after the Titanic. It was also more likely for British passengers to die as a result of their cultural norms at that time along with their belief that the Titanic was unsinkable (Frey, Savage, and Torgler, 2011).

Those who did not understand English could not understand what was required of them thus, the lower chance of survival (Hall, 1986). Time influences how people react in life-and-death situations. This is shown when you compare how people reacted to the Titanic and the Lusitania. The Titanic sunk in less than three hours and the people on board were calm at first and the lifeboats were loaded fuller than they were near the end due to the panic. However, when you consider the Lusitania, how people reacted was very different. She was torpedoed by a German U-boat on 7 May 1915 and sunk in twenty minutes. Instead of helping people calmly, the passengers panicked, thus causing more deaths (Frey, Savage, and Torgler, 2011).

Conclusion

She would have had a career of around 20 years, however, it was ultimately outdated legislation that led to the sinking of the Titanic as it had complied with all of the regulations of the British Board of Trade, were it not for this maritime disaster, many more lives would have been lost, the International Ice Patrol (IIP) was formed and the number of collisions was significantly reduced, along with laws such as having a lifeboat capacity for all of the passengers on board. The issue of legislation not keeping up with the increasing changes in technology is still a problem today.