Risk and Liability in Engineering

Risk and Liability in Engineering

1.How does the National Society of Professional Engineers Code of Ethics promote safety, health and welfare to the public/society? (write at least 3 paragraphs). 2.Read the case study 6: “Citycorp” and analyze the situation of substantial risk. Discuss the ethical and safety issues involved and steps taken to resolve those issues. (use the template: Evaluation of Case Study). Professor is very critical od assignments.

CITICORP
William LeMessurier was understandably proud of his structural design of the 1977 Citicorp building in downtown Manhattan. He had resolved a perplexing problem in a very innovative way. A church had property rights to a corner of the block on which the 59-story building was to be constructed. LeMessurier proposed constructing the building over the church, with four supporting columns located at the center of each side of the building rather than in the four corners. The first floor began the equivalent of nine stories above ground, thus allowing ample space for the church. LeMessurier used a diagonal bracing design that transferred weight to the columns, and he added a tuned mass damper with a 400-ton concrete block floating on oil bearings to reduce wind sway.
In June 1978, LeMessurier received a call from a student at a nearby university who said his professor claimed the Citicorp building’s supporting columns should be on the corners instead of midway between them. LeMessurier replied that the professor did not understand the design problem, adding that the innovative design made it even more resistant to quartering or diagonal winds. However, since the New York City building codes required calculating the effects of 90-degree winds, no one actually worked out calculations for quartering winds. Then he decided that it would be instructive for his own students to wrestle with the design problem.
This may have been prompted by not only the student’s call but also a discovery LeMessurier had made just 1 month earlier. While consulting on a building projecting Pittsburgh, he called his home office to find out what it would cost to weld the joints of diagonal girders similar to those in the Citicorp building. To his surprise, he learned that the original specification for full-penetration welds was not followed. Instead, the joints were bolted. However, since this still more than adequately satisfies the New York building code requirements, LeMessurier was not concerned.
However, he began to work on calculations for his class, LeMessurier recalled his Pittsburgh discovery. He wondered what difference bolted joints might make to the building’s ability to withstand quartering winds. To his dismay, LeMessurier determined that a 40 percent stress increase in some areas of the structure would result in a 160 percent increase in stress on some of the building’s joints. This meant that the building was vulnerable to total collapse if certain areas were subjected to a “16-year storm” (i.e., the sort of storm that could strike Manhattan once every 16 years). Meanwhile, hurricane season was not far away.
LeMessurier realized that reporting what he had learned could place both his engineering reputation and the financial status of his firm at substantial risk. Nevertheless, he acted quickly and decisively. He drew up a plan for correcting the problem, estimated the cost and time needed for rectifying it, and immediately informed Citicorp owners of what he had learned. Citicorp’s response was equally decisive. LeMessurier’s proposed course of action was accepted and corrective steps were immediately undertaken. As the repairs neared completion in early September, a hurricane was reported moving up the coast in the direction of New York. Fortunately, it moved harmlessly out over the Atlantic Ocean, but not without first causing considerable anxiety among those working on the building, as well as those responsible for implementing plans to evacuate the area should matters take a turn for the worse.
Although correcting the problem cost several million dollars, all parties responded promptly and responsibly. Faced with the threat of increased liability insurance rates, LeMessurier’s firm convinced its insurers that because of his responsible handling of the situation, a much more costly disaster may have been prevented. As a result, the rates were actually reduced. Identify and discuss the ethical issues this case raises.

Title of Your Essay
Randy Kirkham
Engineering and Ethics ET100
Professor Raymond Castellani
October 12, 2015

Title of Your Essay
Start the first paragraph here. It should introduce your reader to the subject you are writing about, as well as your particular position or claim. Before you can create your first paragraph, consider these “pre-writing” tips. You can use this template to help you format your paper. For longer papers, include sub-headings or levels of heading.
The writing process
Spend time planning your paper. A good practice is to brainstorm ideas and decide how to express the main idea or thesis. Once you have a rough idea of what you want to say or argue, create an outline or list to help you organize the evidence you plan to present. For more suggestions, please read about thesis statements on our Ashford Writing Center website: Thesis Statements. Other helpful tools on our website are the Thesis Generator and Moving from Prompt to Thesis.
Writing the body paragraphs
Each paragraph of your assignment should be clear and easy to follow. We have several good resources to help you write a strong paragraph, such as How to Write a Good Paragraph and the P.I.E. Paragraph Structure.
Using citations correctly
In addition to being well-written, each paragraph should include an in-text citation to all ideas, references, or quotations that are from outside sources and research. The Ashford Writing Center provides many resources to help you follow correct citation style (primarily APA) and gives lessons and examples of how to paraphrase and cite sources. The APA Key Elements page is a good place to start.

References
The following are commonly used references. Please fill in the required information, and if you need more help, see the AWC References page. References are listed in alphabetical order.

Ashford Textbook (Online edition): *
Author, A. (Year published). Title of book: Subtitle of book (edition, if other than the first) [Electronic version]. Retrieved from from URL
Example:
Witt, G. A., & Mossler, R. A. (2010). Adult development and life assessment [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/4

Online Journal Article (such as from the Ashford Library):**
Author, A. (Year Published). Article title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), page range. doi:# or Retrieved from journal’s homepage URL
**When including a URL for an online journal, you must search for the journal’s home page and include this in your reference entry. You may not include the URL found through your university library, as readers will not have access to this library.
Examples:
Churchill, S. D., & Mruk, C. J. (2014). Practicing what we preach in humanistic and positive psychology. American Psychologist, 69(1), 90-92. doi:10.1037/a0034868

Santovec, M. (2008). Easing the transition improves grad retention at Trinity U. Women in Higher Education, 17(10), 32. Retrieved from http://www.trinitydc.edu/education/files/2010/09/Women_in_higher_
Ed_Trinity_Transistions_10_08.pdf

Online Magazine:*
Author, A. (Year, Month Date Published). Article title. Magazine Title. Retrieved from URL
Example:
Walk, V. (2013, April 29). Can this woman fix Europe? Time. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,213969.html

YouTube Video:*
Author, A. [Screen name]. (Year, Month, Day). Title of video [Video file]. Retrieved from URL
Example:
Apsolon, M. [markapsolon]. (2011, September 9). Real ghost girl caught on video tape 14
[Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nyGCbxD848

Web Page:*
Author, A. (Year, Month, Date Published). Article title. Retrieved from URL
Example—Corporate web page:
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2008). Police and detectives. Retrieved from http://bls.gov/oco/pdf/ocos160.pdf
Example—Article or section within web page with no author:
Presentation tools. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://web2014.discoveryeducation.com/web20tools-presentation.cfm

*Please delete the headers and notes in this document before submitting your assignment.
EE 100 – Engineering and Ethics
Evaluation of Case Study (For Assignment submissions)

Please follow the steps when analyzing a case study and answer the questions in the assignments.
Step1: Describe the issues discussed in the case study. (Write 1-2 paragraphs)
• Read the case study and understand what the issues are presented and write it in your own words.
Step 2: Present the concepts and principles that could be applied to address those issues. (Write 1-2 paragraphs)
• After understanding the issues in the case study, try to recall the concepts learned in the course and think which principles are relevant and could be applied to this particular case.
Step 3: Analyze the case study using the principles. (Write 1-2 paragraphs)
• Once you are sure of the principles to be used to address the issue, then try to analyze the problem using reasoning and multiple viewpoints.
Step 4: Discuss your solution to resolve the ethical issue. (Write 1-2 paragraphs)
• After analyzing the problem, you would come up with a solution to resolve the issue in a way you think is best. Remember it’s your analysis and there might be different ways to resolve the issue.
Step 5: Answer the questions asked in the assignment.
• Don’t forget to answer the questions asked in the assignment as they carry points.

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