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EthicsMorals as subjective, personal principles of right and wrong that guide personal behaviour.Ethics can be described as objective, external rules that guide behaviour is a specificcontext.Who defines what the ethics are depends on the context. We are particularly interested in the ethics that gu...

Description

Ethics

Morals as subjective, personal principles of right and wrong that guide personal behaviour. Ethics can be described as objective, external rules that guide behaviour is a specific context. Who defines what the ethics are depends on the context. We are particularly interested in the ethics that guide engineers in their professional practice, and these are laid down by professional engineering societies. In Australia, the organisation Engineers Australia has developed a Code of Ethics which is the "agreed standard" which all its members and certified professional engineers are expected to follow. The Code of Ethics was last updated in 2019 as 828145 Code of Ethics 2020 D (Links to an external site.) and identifies four key behaviours: Engineers in the course of their practice will: demonstrate integrity practice competently exercise leadership promote sustainability.

The Code of Ethics guides the decisions that engineers make. When designing your product, consider not only how you apply professional ethics in the process of the design (for example are you acting with integrity in your group, with your peers and to your tutors?), but also consider the ethics of the product itself (for example, does you product show that you have promoted sustainability in accordance with the Code of Ethics?).

Professional Responsibility

As well as the Code of Ethics (from Engineers Australia but other associations across the world will have similar ethical guidelines) professional engineers are given the authority to to provide an "engineering certification" for projects. In "signing off" a project as a professional engineer, personal responsibility is taken for the technical integrity of the project: “Authorised to ‘sign off’ means that a person has direct responsibility for the planning, design, execution or review of some specialised technical aspects of engineering projects or programs and/or has ultimate responsibility for the technical integrity of engineering projects or programs” (Engineers Australia) Generally, by certifying, the engineer states that: The design is fit for purpose, safe and environmentally sound. Is in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, standards and industry practice.

Work was performed by competent and authorised personnel (working as part of an accredited engineering organisation). All foreseeable risks have been identified and mitigated through the design to As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP). Failing to meet these obligations can result in professional engineers being held legally liable. Liability falls into two categores: Liability in Contract: Any duty agreed in the terms of the contract. An implied contract term is that the Engineer exercise reasonable care and skill in providing the services. Liability in Tort (Negligence) –all of the following need to be met: Where the Engineer owed the party a duty to take reasonable care The Engineer breached that duty by failing to take reasonable care The Engineer’s breach of duty caused the injury or damage suffered by the party, and The injury or damage suffered was not too remote a consequence of the breach of duty In addition, there is a "duty of care: for all engineers - this is the legal obligation (under common law) to avoid causing harm to another person, especially through negligence. Duty of care involves a number of factors. Engineers are required to: Take reasonably practicable precautions to avoid reasonably foreseen and significant risks of danger. Apply best practice: Be aware of new advances, discoveries and developments in engineering Be alert to the hazards and risks inherent in any professional task to the extent that other ordinarily competent members of the profession would be alert Where the Engineer knows there is a risk involved in a particular type of work or structure, it is his or her duty to inform the client of that risk An Engineer may owe a duty of care to a third person when that person suffers damage as a result of the Engineer’s failure to warn of the inherent risk in work for which the Engineer is responsible

Safety, Risk, and Hazards These words sound similar and are closely related, however their meaning is different. We will consider what we mean in the context of engineering practice. What do safety, risk and hazards mean to engineers when they work? Safety: "the condition of being safe from undergoing or causing hurt, injury or loss" Engineers are primarily responsible for ensuring the safety of equipment, users and the

public in any work they do. While this statement is easy to make and to understand, there is often a trade-off between safety and costs (time and money) and there are competing priorities for stakeholders on different projects. Risk: " the possibility of loss or injury " or the "effect of uncertainty on objectives". Risk in our context refers to the chance of something happening that will have an impact on an organisation's (or person or project's) objectives. Risk is measured in terms of the consequences and likelihood of the impact occurring. Risk is different to uncertainty - risk can be assigned probabilities and the randomness can be faced, while uncertainty applies where we cannot meaningful express the randomness in mathematical terms. We also need to consider that there are many aspects of real world engineering problems that have inherent variability - natural phenomena for example are variable like turbulence loads on an aeroplane, or wave loads on a ship. Risk is everywhere and it is unavoidable. There are risks that are more serious than others and this determines how we deal with them. Risk cannot be eliminated (zero risk is not a realistic option), but it can be managed - there is an entire field of practice of risk management. In order to manage this we need to identify, analyse, evaluate, treat, and then monitor and communicate risks in order to manage them. There are a number of tools that have been developed to assist in risk management - these are covered in the next section. Hazard: "a source of danger". It is the source or potential for harm in terms of human injury or ill health, damage to property, environment or a combination of these. In designing, engineers must consider all hazards for anyone coming into contact with the product or its components during its lifetime Wherever possible engineers must eliminate or reduce the risk of injury or property damage. Identifying hazards is crucial to eliminating them or managing the risk associated with them. Different methods used to identify hazards including: observation consultation with workers, clients or other users trial of models or prototypes review of technical standards monitoring and measurement.

What is 'hierarchy of control'? Hierarchy of Control (HOC) is a system for controlling health and safety in the workplace. It involves identifying hazards and controlling for these and provides a guide for a preferred order (hierarchy) in which risk controls should be used. (Remember that a hazard is something that has the potential to cause harm). The Hierarchy of Control provides the language we can use to discuss risk control. Most work places you encounter, including the University will make reference to the terms used in the Hierarchy of Control. Watch this short video explaining the different levels

Hierarchy of risk pyramid 1. Elimination - Elimination is a permanent solution and should be attempted in the first instance. The hazard is eliminated altogether by design the hazard out thus removing the hazardous product or process. For example, the elimination of a hazardous process or substance. 2. Substitution -Substitution involves replacing the hazard by one that presents a lower risk. This could involve substituting the hazard for another product or process that poses less of a risk.·For example the substitution of a toxic substance with a less toxic substance. or substituting a harmful cleaning solvent for ultrasonic cleaning equipment 3. Engineering Controls - Engineering controls involve some structural change to the work environment or work process to place a barrier to, or interrupt the transmission path between, the worker and the hazard. This may include machine guards, isolation or enclosure of hazards, the use of extraction ventilation and manual handling devices. Isolation

or enclosure of hazards, sound-dampening materials to reduce noise levels, safety interlocks and radiation shielding.

4. Administrative (Procedural) Controls - Administrative (procedural) controls reduce or eliminate exposure to a hazard by adherence to procedures or instructions. Documentation should emphasize all the steps to be taken and the controls to be used in carrying out a task safely. Administrative controls are dependent on appropriate human behaviour for success. May involve training and supervision. Examples include safe working procedures and permits to work. Safety warnings, operator certification for machinery, requiring workers in hot environments to take breaks in cool rest areas and provide fluids for hydration. 5. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) - Personal protective equipment is worn by people as a barrier between themselves and the hazard. The success of this control is dependent on the protective equipment being chosen correctly, as well as fitted correctly and worn at all times when required. It is used to create a barrier between the user and the hazard. Success depends on choosing the correct protective equipment, fitted correctly, worn at all times. Example - use heat resistant hand protection when employees' hands are exposed to thermal hazards and harmful temperature extremes

Implementing Hierarchy of Control:  



According to best practices for Safety Engineering and Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S), all risk should be controlled at the highest level possible. Attempts should be made to select control measures from the top end of the hierarchy where possible. These controls may be most easily accommodated at the planning/design stages of a project. Better to design a product without a hazard, than to have to eliminate that hazard once it is in the market. Generally, the higher up controls in the hierarchy such as elimination and substitution may be more expensive in the short term but they are most cost effective in the long term as they are more reliable and require less maintenance to ensure effectiveness.

What if things go wrong?   

If a hazard results in harm, a Court of Law will look at the situation and any implemented controls to see if compliance to reducing risk was As Low As Reasonably Practicable If a control fits into more than one HOC category, it will be rated by the worst case – this is how a court will argue against the design. You should always seek to implement controls that are higher in the hierarchy that cannot be interpreted as lower hierarchy controls

Case Study

Event tree analysis Event Tree Analysis (ETA) is a process of risk analysis which allows us to measure the probability of a system recovering from a fault. ETA uses diagrams and associated probabilities to describe what happens to a system when an initiating event occurs, tracing the initial failure through all the possible options that have been designed in the system for it to recover, By using event trees to investigate the consequences of a fault, we can then improve the system to minimise the bad consequences - this analysis does not look at the original event and try eliminate it. Event Tree Analysis is often used to evaluate "failsafe" mechanisms in systems that are safety critical. There are some assumptions included in Event Tree Analysis, one of which is that the system we are looking at is designed so that a logical (defined) sequence of components be engaged in response to an event. (This will be come clearer as we work through examples). .

Event tree analysis process 1. Identify and analyse the initiating event that may cause the system to fail. 2. Identify the components and controls that are in the system to deal with the initiating event (for example automatic safety systems, alarms etc).

3. Construct the event tree beginning with the initiating event and considering all possible failures of the safety components and functions. These should be traced through the system until all components and events have been considered and the "ultimate conclusion" of the series of events has been reached - this will be identified as "success" or "failure". 4. Quantify each of the events that may occur. 5. Use the paths that lead to failure to identify the critical failures that need to be addressed.

Event Trees are typically drawn with the initiating event on the left, with a series of branches showing what happens at each component. They use Boolean (or binary) logic, i.e. an event has only two options such as success/failure, yes/no, on/off. Each component can either operate or not (there is no option to partially work which makes this unrealistic but a "worst case" scenario) somewhat unrealistic, as in some cases, things may partially operate).

Using an Event Tree

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis Failure Mode and Effects Analysis ( FMEA) risk assessment procedure is a structured quantitative technique for prioritising failure (fault) modes that require treatment. It is used to identify and analyse each potential system failure mode to determine effects on the system and to classify them according to severity. The aim of FMEA is to eliminate the causes of potential failure modes or to reduce the severity of the failure should it occur. Some of the core concepts in FMEA are:    

Failure mode: the “way” a part fails to perform e.g. hose leaks Effect: adverse consequence of failure mode e.g. hose leak results in oil spills, refill costs. Effects can be severe or hardly noticeable. Cause: why it fails (or may fail) e.g. poor hose manufacturing, improper pressure. Causes occur with some likelihood or probability. Dectectability: the ability to discover the cause before the part is shipped from the factory e.g. conduct a pressure test to detect leaks?

These concepts are built upon to create FMEA criteria that are used to rank the effects of failure modes. (The examples used here refer to the discussion below on the hydraulic hose). The details of how FMEA is implemented in a company differ in terms of the team, and how they structure the process but there are common steps starting with identifying the failure modes and then determining the effects of each of the modes. The next step is to categorising each failure mode. FMEA categorises failure modes by combining three aspects of failure: 

 

Severity (Consequences) o Determine all possible means of failure o Determine potential consequences as perceived by affected party Occurrence (Frequency) o Frequency at which failure is likely to occur Detection o Likelihood that existing controls will detect failure or weakness

(The bolded letters are how the criteria are often referred to). Each failure mode is given a rating from 1-10 for each of these aspects considering them in terms of the effect on the environment, health and safety and customer satisfaction. Once again, the ratings can be adapted to the industry or project but some generic ratings are shown here. NOTE: For the detection rating, a low number means is certain that any fault will be picked up before the product gets to the user (using fault testing or other means).

Once each failure mode is rated by each of the criteria, a Risk Priority Number (RPN) is calculated for each failure mode according to the formula: RPN = S * O * D The RPN sets the priority for the fault mode: the more severe the consequences are, the more likely it is to occur and the lower the likelihood that it will be detected, the higher the fault priority. Remember that each of the criteria variables is ranked from 1 (low) to 10 (high). This means that RPN must be between 1 (unlikely, unimportant) and 1000 (hazardous and harmful). Once all the fault modes are ranked, decisions can be made about which faults to address based on their standing in the list.

Severity Severity

Severity Rating

Type of effects

Description

10

Catastrophic

Causes injury to people, property and/or the environment

9

Extremely Harmful

Causes damage to product, property or environment

8

Very Harmful

Causes damage to product

7

Harmful

Major degradation of function

6

Moderate

Causes partial malfunction of product

5

Significant

Performance loss causes customer complaints

4

Annoying

Loss of function is annoying and cannot be overcome

3

Minor

Some loss of performance, but can be overcome

2

Insignificant

Very little functional degradation

1

None

No noticeable effects in function or harm to others

Occurrence

Occurrence

Occurrence Rating

Likelihood

Description

10

Expected

>30% or > 1 per day

9

Very likely

30% (3 per 10)

8

Probable

5% (5 per 100) or One per week

7

Occasional

1% (1 per 100) or One per month

6

More Plausible

0.3% (3 per 1,000) or One per 3 months

5

Plausible

Performance loss causes customer complaints

4

Remote

0.006% (6 per 105) or One per year

3

Unlikely

0.00006% (6 per 107) or One per three years

2

Very unlikely

1

Improbable

< 2 per 109 events or five years per failure

Detection Detection

Detection rating

Detectability

10

Impossible

9

Very rare

8

Rare

7

Possible

6

Quite possible

5

Somewhat likely

4

Likely

3

Quite likely

2

Almost certain

1

Certain

Description Impossible to detect, or no inspection

Some chance of detecting, or 50% inspection

Quite likely to detect, or 75% inspection

Will be detected, or 100% inspection

Scenario For a worked example consider this following series of steps and the scenario below for implementing FMEA. A defect in design or manufacture might cause a part (product or process) to fail to perform . For example, consider a hydraulic hose on a home-use log splitter, that begins to leak. The leak reduces the pressure to the piston/ram resulting in poor log splitting. The leak drips oil on ground, creating a mess, costly too! Upon examination, a weak spot is found on hose due to poor manufacturing! Steps: 1. Determine the failure modes 2. Determine potential effects of each failure mode 3. Determine a severity (S) rating for each effect from the Severity rating table. 4. Determine an occurrence (O) rating for each cause from the Occurrence rating table. 5. Determine a detection (D) rating for each cause from the Detection rating table 6. Calculate the risk priority number for each effect 7. Prioritise or rank the failure modes for action 8. Take action to eliminate the failure mode or reduce its severity 9. Recalculate the risk priority number as failure modes are reduced or eliminated

Steps 1-7 can be done and tabulated on paper, the following steps require an interven...