ethical question

ECIV 401 – Engineering Ethics & Professional Practice

Final Exam Spring 2019 Due: Monday April 29, 2019 At approximately 2:20 AM on March 7, 2019 the roof of South Gym of the Marga Hosaeus Fitness Center on the Montana State University Campus collapsed. By noon on March 8, an MSU news release indicted that, “The North Gym is part of the same structure and it was built at the same time, using the same methods and type of materials as the South Gym. An assessment of its structure indicates that the North Gym’s roof is likely to fail as well.” Indeed, at approximately 6:30 PM on March 9 the roof of the North Gym collapsed. There is little question that the immediate cause of failure was an unusually heavy snow load on the roofs of the two buildings that were constructed in 1973. As is typical in these situations, questions regarding responsibility of the failure were soon thereafter posed in the press and social media1. Was the cause a dereliction of duty by the architect, the engineer, the contractor; or was it a natural phenomenon beyond reasonable expectations to anticipate? A detailed analysis of the failure is pending, but an initial assessment indicates that while the estimated snow load exceeded the current design standards, the building was designed and properly constructed to the code that existed in 1973. The gym collapse highlights issues raised in ASCE’s Infrastructure Report Card2. Engineering codes, and the regulations engineers must adhere to, change with time. Many older buildings, roads, bridges, dams, treatment plants, etc. are not in compliance with current standards and/or regulations and, as demonstrated by the gym collapse, are potentially unsafe. Nevertheless, older infrastructure is typically “grandfathered” in an inferior condition; upgrades to current standards are made only if specific “trigger point” conditions are met. Bridges are replaced only if the road is widened. Old buildings must be upgraded to current code only when significant modification to the floor plan is made. If the modification is less than a certain percentage of the space, the building need not be upgraded to current standards. Older wastewater treatment plants must be upgraded to meet more stringent requirements only when the discharge flow rate exceeds the design discharge flow rate. Since actual flows are typically much less the design flow, increases in treatment efficiency are made only when the plant must be expanded to meet population growth. There are sound reasons for improving infrastructure only when a trigger point is met. It would be cost prohibitive to improve all infrastructure when a new code or regulatory standard is implemented, thus trigger points allow this cost to be distributed over time. However this reality puts engineers into a potentially compromising position. To reduce cost, clients might reasonably expect engineers to meet their immediate needs without triggering more expensive rehabilitation. The engineering solution then becomes one of avoidance; rerouting traffic to keep the current road width acceptable for the traffic volume, or modifying only a portion of an unreinforced masonry building so that the entire building does not have to be improved to meet current seismic code, or installing low flush toilets or sealing leaky sewers to keep wastewater flow rates below the design flow rate as population expands. However by doing so, complete infrastructure improvement is not addressed even while satisfying all legal requirements. In the current renovation of Montana Hall, where an elevator is being installed to make it ADA accessible, modifications were deliberately kept below the threshold triggering more extensive modifications to bring the oldest building on campus up to current code. The Montana legislature recently approved a remodel of Romney Gym. The cost exceeds $30 million specifically because the remodel exceeds the trigger point for bringing the building up to current building code. It is likely that the space the University successfully lobbied for could be gained for less cost by simply replacing Romney gym with a new structure designed to current code.

Your final exam is to write an essay exploring the conditions under which it might be acceptable for engineers to design around more costly rehabilitation and under what conditions any improvement should trigger a complete redesign (or complete abandonment and/or replacement) of the civil engineering infrastructure. Your essay should consider the full breadth of topics covered in this course with specific references to topics in assigned readings and/or discussed by guest speakers and/or videos. Your essay is limited to two pages using either 11 or 12-point font, double spaced, with 1” margins turned in through a Dropbox on D2L. You name can be in the top margin and no other identifying material (course title, etc.) is necessary. Cite any references that you may have accessed on a separate page at the end of your response (this page does not count in the two page limit). Your essay should consist of the following.

1. An introduction that identifies the ethical principles you would use to create dividing line(s) for appropriate infrastructure upgrade approaches (partial or complete infrastructure improvement or replacement/abandonment of the infrastructure)

2. An analysis of the ethical issues you posed in the introduction. You analysis should include a logical justification of your position using the ethical thought principals and code of ethics elements you have studied this semester. Your analysis needs to be based on more than your feelings.

3. A conclusion that summarizes the results of your ethical analysis. Your essay will be evaluated as follows:

1. Identification of the ethical issue – 33%: Did you clearly articulate the ethical issue(s) raised in the problem statement.

2. Analytical strength – 33%: Was your analysis of the ethical issue based on sound principals of ethical thought and on relevant elements of the professional code of ethics.

3. Writing style – 33%: Was your essay clear and concise and professional in language, structure and mechanics.

Cited Works: 1https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/montana_state_university/montana-state-dean- blames-roof-collapse-on-record-snow-not/article_475425a8-d6c4-5b21-978b-243b8c7d3316.html 2https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/