Ways to Prevent Engineering Misconduct Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Ways to Prevent Engineering Misconduct - Essay Example This brings us to the questions: what code of conduct should be adopted by an engineer to avoid such a situation? What legal system is in place to keep a check on the work under progress? More importantly, what repercussions must be imposed on the guilty engineers for unethical practices? These questions will be answered in the later part of the essay in light of case studies of historical engineering disasters like the Minnesota Bridge over the Mississippi River. Before proceeding to legal issues and case study, one must have an insight into how a construction project is managed. It basically comprises of three parties. First being the client, this in our discussion, is the government. Second party is the consultants and the third is the contractor. The client hires the consultant to design the project, which may be a housing society, a building or a bridge. The consultants do the entire groundwork including planning and designing. The plans are submitted to the client who gets them vetted from another organization. They redo all the calculations and check the plans for any short comings. Once the plans are passed, they are handed over to the hired contractors who start the construction. The consultants pay regular visits to the site to ensure the work is being properly done, proper materials are being used, the construction practices being used are correct etc. Meanwhile, separate supervisors may also be hired by the client, someone trustwo rthy, to keep an additional check on everything. The question that plagues the mind here is: how can, under such elaborate management planning can shortcomings still exist? Reasons for the failure of a project are multifarious, ranging from human factors and design flaws to usage of wrong materials and natural extreme conditions like storms etc. In majority of the cases, it is a combination of the above stated causes. To ascertain the reasons of failure at the