Question #1

The framing supervisor and the union representative had just completed a very
contentious disagreement about removing the new safety guards from sawing
machines used to prefabricate roof trusses. They have asked you, the safety manager
for the company, to mediate the dispute. According to the framing supervisor, We ran
these machines for 5 years without these so-called safety guards and never had an
accident. The only reason we put them on was because some OSHA inspector
suggested it. They are fine when we arent in a hurry, but they slow us down when the
rush is on, and its on now. The union representative counters, saying, These
machines are dangerous. Hes so worried about making a deadline that management
never should have agreed to it in the first place that he does not care about the safety
of my people.

The problem given us a discussion about the inclusion or not of the safety guards. We
had to analyze both the framing supervisor perspective and the union representative
perspective to answer the question. We got that the safety guards should be
maintained. We concluded that, because the safety of the workers should be the first
preoccupation of an engineer. Therefore, if there are some safety methods to protect
any future damage or accident and these methods are practical, these methods do have
to be considered by the responsible engineer. We could see these considerations at
code of ethics of the ASCE, on the CANON 1 that says: Engineers shall hold
paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public and shall strive to comply with
the principles of sustainable development in the performance of their professional
duties. Additionally, NSPEs code of ethics has one of the fundamental canons as
Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public. Even though, the
workers have worked without the safety guards for 5 years and no accident has
happened, it would be an irresponsibility from the engineer working on this way even
though he/she knowing that there are safer methods of working. One solution to this
problem is a better planning of the production, so the rush on of the workers could be
decreased, without affect the deadlines.