Hurricane in America - Essay Example

? Hurricane Katrina al Affiliation There have been various calamities that have stricken many nations across the world over the past decades; one of the most recent is the Hurricane Katrina that hit America in Gulf of Mexico region, resulting in major losses including numerous casualties. The major blame fell on engineers since it was all about construction. Earlier on, there were levees that had been constructed, but according to the research, it was revealed that there were numerous inadequacies associated with the project. The issue of human safety is very sensitive and in all activities conducted by any professional, safety is the key thing to be considered. The construction of levees was a good idea, but the poor design was a total mess as it provided an avenue for human destruction. Engineers have professional codes that have been set and for good deliveries in duties, these codes should be adhered to. The public should also be educated on any technological activity, so as to enhance their safety. Keywords: Hurricane, Ethics, Safety, Engineers, Levees, Construction, Project In the year 2005, one of the major calamities to have ever hit the world dawned in some regions of America in the form of Hurricane Katrina. The most affected region was the south coast of Mexico in the cities of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The effects were much alarming as thousands of people lost their lives, properties destroyed, and infrastructure brought down leaving people in a more devastating position. This caught the attention of the government; the accidents had become routine but in this case, the authority could no longer sit back and watch. The government instead appointed a group of Engineers from the army to carry out intensive investigation and recommendations. The research team comprised of two groups: the United States Army Corps of Engineers who were responsible for the actual field investigation and the American Society of Civil Engineers who were to carry out intensive review of the report by USCE (Harris et al, 2013). Engineers are held responsible for the failure of protection levees because of the many engineering failures that had not been considered during the design phase of the project. During the construction of the levee, engineers failed to consider the strength of the soil with which the construction was to take place, and this triggered the occurrence of the shear pressure, since the soil was too soft to hold the infrastructure. This is attributed to the poor judgment of the site engineers who were laying the foundational analysis. Another factor that exposed the weakness of the engineers was the wrong calculation of the street canal; it was constructed at a closer range to the margin allowing the system to become weak with time. This tragedy of Hurricane Katrina gives a clear picture of the importance of Engineers knowledge on the lives of people, and the consequences of a failure by engineers in the course of executing ideas. Engineers do have professional codes of Ethics that greatly guide during operations. In regard to this incident, there were various codes that had been violated and hence the breaking down of the levee. Engineers are supposed to follow their ethics to the letter; they should “hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public” (“Engineering Ethics: Engineering Guide and Review,” 2013). In regard to this incident, it shows that there was slight negligence in following the requirement of this ethic; that is, consideration of peoples safety. The role of an engineer in the society is to provide a solution to a problem. Realization of impending danger due to inadequate designs is enough to be considered a problem, as it endangers the lives of people. According to engineering ethics, human safety is the first priority; therefore, in such a situation, an engineer is supposed to advice for an immediate construction of another well designed levee that would offer more safety to the people. According to Baura (2006), engineers’ decisions are guided by project management whose variables are: cost, quality, and schedule. If one of this is altered, then the others are also changed. Concerning the issue of insufficient finance, an engineer is supposed to think of human safety and in this case, compromising quality is just like endangering the life of people. Since lack of finance will affect project quality, the best remedy is to allocate more time for construction. This will give room for more time to look for money to fund the project. While waiting for more funds, the engineer is supposed to budget well for the available amount so that the project could continue. Engineering work ends with documentation so that incase there are improvements needed, then the process shall be easier. Constructing a new structure on top of an old structure is dangerous, especially in a case whereby there is no documentation of the older structure. It poses the danger of collapse and the best remedy is to conduct a complete overhaul of the structure to pave way for the new one. Engineering ethics require consideration of safety before undertaking any work. The result of unethical conduct is severe as in the case of the Hurricane Katrina, where the levee system at New Orleans was constructed without safety considerations. According to Engineering Ethics: Engineering Guide and Review, engineers should not allow conflicting interests to influence them; rather, they should be guided by their professional duties (2013). This sentiment is echoed by Harris et al (2013), who argue that an engineer should practice morals before matters get into an unfortunate twist. The interpretation of these is that an engineer should not be influenced by external forces while performing duties, so as to do the work perfectly without favors and in this case, the engineers ought to have not favored the rich. In line with duty, engineers are supposed to engage the society in understanding the underlying technology and the dangers associated with it, as well as danger prevention. In order to fulfill this, engineers should produce documentations of the work and make them available to the public, and at the same time, should have a team of civic educators to educate the people. This will serve better in ensuring safety for the people, as well as protecting the structure. After consulting a professional engineer, his opinions concerning the hurricane and engineering work are the same as my opinions in that, at all moments, an engineer is supposed to be guided by the engineering ethics. The reason is that ethics provide a means of proper conduct and help maintain the good image of an engineer in the society. Another conclusion that I concur with the opinion of the professional engineer, is that all work pertaining to environmental conservation and preservation has been vested upon engineers. Vesilind (1998) too has an opinion that engineers have a responsibility towards the environment. References Baura, G. (2006). Engineering Ethics: An Industrial Perspective. California: Academic Press. Engineering Ethics: Engineering Guide and Review. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.engineersedge.com/engineering_ethics.htm. Haris, Charles E.et al. (Eds.). (2013). Engineering Ethics: Concepts and Cases. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Vesilind, P. A. (1998). Engineering Ethics and the Environment. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Read More