“5 Disastrous Water Resources Engineering Failures due to Ethics”
Please follow the structure below.
Report structure:
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Content:
- A) What went wrong?
- B) Who was at fault?
- C) What was affected (decide what is relevant)?
– public health
– safety and welfare
– societal factors
– importance of informed judgement
– lessons learned/future policies and standards
- Results and Discussion
- References
Use as many sources as you need.
5 Disastrous Water Resources Eng. Failures due to Ethics
Abstract
Various water resources engineering failures due to ethical have occurred in history with detrimental effects on lives and society. Examples of such events are the titanic sinking, New Orleans’ Levee System, Love Canal, The collapse of the Quebec Bridge, and The disaster of St. Francis Dam. Various researchers have investigated the disasters to establish their causes and reveal poor decision-making factors, such as engineering faults, poor quality parts, and insufficient risk mitigation efforts. The management and engineers are responsible for the five accidents due to poor design, such as cost-cutting efforts. The incidents have major effects, such as loss of life and property, long-term suffering, and policy and regulatory changes to prevent such their repeat. The events show how leadership skills can improve engineering decisions and judgment to prevent disasters.
Introduction
Engineering failures are common and cause major losses for affected organizations and other stakeholders, including loss of lives and property. While some failures are unavoidable, others have ethical implications and could be avoided by properly implementing design, construction and safety protocol. People are responsible for water resources engineering disasters due to ignorance, miscommunications and, in some circumstances, negligence (Vallero and Letcher 199). Thus, leaders should learn from past engineering failures due to ethics to avoid them in the future. Professionals and leaders should learn from negative decision-making to avoid failures that can lead to disasters. History records some of the worst engineering disasters that leadership could have prevented through ethical decision-making and operations. While many such disasters have occurred, the first of the worst incidents are the titanic sinking, New Orleans’ Levee System, Love Canal, The collapse of the Quebec Bridge, and St. Francis Dam’s disaster.
The Events
The engineering failure-related disasters occurred in different incidents but have related underlying causes and effects. The titanic presents a case of disastrous water resources engineering failures due to ethics. The incident occurred when the Titanic struck an iceberg in 1912 and sunk. The New Orleans’ Levee System destruction during Hurricane Katrina is another example of engineering failure caused by failure to follow guidelines to establish soil quality. The established system could not withstand the force of strong winds. Love canals incident is another example of mismanaged engineering projects that led to negative effects on human lives, such as cancers and congenital disabilities due to building residents and a school at a chemical dumping site where the canal was supposed to be constructed (5 Disastrous Engineering Failures Due to Ethics). St. Francis Dam failed catastrophically on March 12, 1928, killing 431 people, indicating another engineering failure case in water resources. The last example is the collapse of The Tacoma Narrows, which could not withstand wind force (Vyas). Over the years, many experts have investigated the causes of the five disasters and whether stakeholders could have done something to save lives and resources.
Responsible Parties
In all the events, the responsible parties were engineers, who designed the failed project, and leaders for supporting the detrimental decisions, such as the acquisition of poor quality materials. For example, the Titanic was one of the largest liners during the time, with 16 watertight compartments. The engineers designed it such that even if four of the compartments flooded, the ship could remain afloat. However, six compartments flooded since the bulkheads could not hold the water due to their height. The Francis Dam and The Tacoma Narrows are other examples of poor decision-making and judgment in construction, including the acquisition of poor quality materials that could not withstand natural forces, such as wind (5 Disastrous Engineering Failures Due to Ethics). New Orleans’ Levee System reveals that engineers and leaders failed to follow organizational guidelines and national policies guiding such projects. Generally, design issues could have caused the accidents, such as the failure to consider the ship’s size and mobility in the titanic, strength of dams, and ignorance, such as warning about the presence of icebergs failure to follow guidelines. Many accounts reveal that management could have avoided the disasters if involved parties, including leaders and engineers, engaged in risk assessment and mitigation efforts.
The Impact
One of the main impacts of the five disasters was the loss of lives. The titanic tragedy led to the loss of more than 1,500 people. The New Orleans’ Levee System disaster led to more than 1,800 died across the Gulf Coast and over $100 billion in damage. The flood resulting from the Francis Dam killed at least 431 people (Vyas). Many of the people who died were around the areas or using the constructed facility, such as the passengers and crew members in the titanic. Besides, the disasters had public health implications, including the accident’s survivors’ negative health outcomes. The lives and welfare of the people in the Northern hemisphere, such as in Southampton, were affected due to the loss of lives and the lifelong suffering of the affected individuals. In the Love Canal site, public health issues, such as miscarriages, congenital disabilities, and cancer, have been reported (Vyas). The events revealed the importance of informed judgment in engineering projects, such as effective communication and taking caution seriously to avoid disasters. They led to introducing safety regulations to govern projects, such as ships and prevent future disasters.
Results and Conclusions
Various theories have emerged over the years, explaining the cause of the disasters, such as the titanic sinking. Regardless of the differences between the theories, the cause of the disasters was the interplay of wrong or unethical decisions since its designing and development. They reveal considerable systematic failures leading to poor communication and decision-making. The management and engineers might have some responsibility in the disaster due to the effort to cut costs, leading to poor quality materials, such as cement. In the case of titanic, although the ship hit an iceberg, causing it to sink, investigations from the wreckage revealed the use of faulty parts, such as a high concentration of slag in the rivets, which might have used to cut cost (Foecke and Foecke 24). Another possible engineering failure was insufficient lifeboats on board. While the boat had 2,200 passengers and crew on board, it only had 20 lifeboats that could rescue about 1,200 people. The management has removed additional lifeboats from its design, claiming that the titanic appeared unsafe and packed. Although the decision could not have prevented the disaster, it would have saved lives following the disaster. Other possible causes of the disasters included failure to follow protocols and procedures governing the environment within which each project was implemented. The potential causes indicate that leadership could have prevented the five disasters through proper decision-making and communication.
Research on engineering failure disasters reveals that they result from unethical engineering decision-making. The accidents and incidents led to the loss of thousands of people and property that the companies could have saved through ethical decision-making and informed judgment. The events show that the projects lacked adequate risk management mechanisms to prevent the disasters and poor design that placed people at risk. Besides, various internal stakeholders, such as the management, engineers, and the captain, failed to engage in procedures that would prevent the accidents. The events show that the design and construction integrity emanates from the top-down (Bassett). Thus, leadership lapses and ethical decision-making can cause a cycle of events with potentially disastrous effects. Engineering failures due to ethics reveal the need for ethical and technical decision-making. Leadership skills are necessary to guide the rest of the team to make an informed and ethical judgment. Furthermore, engineers should follow regulations and policies to ensure foolproof work and prevent the impact of disasters, such as the titanic.
Works Cited
23 of the Worst Engineering Disasters to Date
5 Disastrous Engineering Failures Due to Ethics. Accessed March 12, 2021 at: https://online-engineering.case.edu/blog/disastrous-engineering-failures-due-to-ethics
Allinson, Robert Elliott. “The Titanic Disaster.” Saving Human Lives: Lessons in Management Ethics (2005): 84-106.
Bassett, Vicki. “Causes and Effects of the Rapid Sinking of the Titanic.” Manuscript, College of Engineering University of Wisconsin (2000).
Foecke, Tim, and Tim Foecke. Metallurgy of the RMS Titanic. US Department of Commerce, Technology Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory, 1998.
Vallero, Daniel A., and Trevor M. Letcher. “Engineering risks and failures: Lessons learned from environmental disasters.” Leadership and Management in Engineering 12.4 (2012): 199-209.
Vyas, Kashyap. Disastrous events like this remind us that every small detail matters, 2021. Accessed March 12, 2021 at: https://interestingengineering.com/23-engineering-disasters-of-all-time
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