Ethical issues in engineering design - 3TU.Centre for Ethics and ...

Design of a bridge
physical loads or to protect pregnant or young employees. There are for example
rules about lifting loads and the mass that bricks are allowed to have. The design
team did not know these rules and therefore did not use them in the design.
They considered that compliance with these substantial rules was part of the
responsibilities of the contractor, because the contractor is the employer at the
building site. This is also regarded as the responsibility of the employer in the
working conditions decree.
Until recently engineering design companies included a very general list of
risks as a health and safety plan with the tendering specifications. Things like
the possibility of workers falling from heights or the obligation to use personal
protection like safety shoes or a safety helmet were mentioned. Design decisions
cannot be changed once this tendering phase is reached. Some risks might be
preventable if another choice is made in an earlier design process phase. The
idea behind the obligation to make a health and safety plan during the design is
that health and safety considerations should play a part during the whole of the
design process and not just during construction when most of the decisions have
already been made. Nowadays more attention is given to the formulation of the
health and safety plan within the IBA; it is no longer a standard list. Whereas the
health and safety plan used to be made at the end of the design process it is now
started in the preliminary design phase and it is updated throughout the design
process. This bridge project was the first time that engineers from the IBA
worked on a health and safety plan in the preliminary design phase. Risks were
listed and possible measures to prevent or mitigate such risks were mentioned
together with whether the measures had already been taken or had to be taken
later in the design phase. All risks and measures were listed in the health and
safety plan of the bridge with an indication that something should be done about
it in a later phase. It can be concluded that making a health and safety plan
during the preliminary design phase has not led to changes in the preliminary
design.
A health and safety plan is also necessary for maintenance and refurbishment.
This means that a new plan needs to be made when maintenance work is done.
The IBA engineers do not make this health and safety plan, the contractor for
maintenance is responsible for this, however, the IBA engineers were aware that
their construction should not only be build but also inspected and maintained.
This meant that perhaps stairs, rails, provisions to secure a safety line when
working on heights, manholes and elevators needed to be included. In this case
the IBA engineers asked the DIVV for advice as to what inspection and
maintenance provisions were needed.
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