Professional and Career Topics

A recent discussion came up with one of my friends who works as an EIT. Someone asked him if he had any input on where things are built and why, and he said no, because that's obviously the role of policy makers and urban planners, not civil engineers.

For a little more added context, we both live in Salt Lake City, which has it's own housing crisis: there are too many people moving into the city and not enough homes to build for them. In other parts of Utah, like the city of Moab, things are even worse. A large part of the population is worried about the environmental impacts of rampant construction as well as if we even have the carrying capacity for so many people in the state, not to mention if the homes are even affordable and if we're just building a bunch of apartments that take up space that will always have "for lease" on the side of the property.

In my opinion, we aren't expanding in a very smart way, but nobody would ask me if I should build the apartment complex as an engineer, but if I can. They obviously want to build it even if it wouldn't necessarily be in the city's best long-term interests, and they don't care what the engineer really thinks, at least in this context.

My question to all of you is: Have you ever regret building or designing something? Did you ever have input on what should be done and did it have an impact later down the line? Have you ever refused to work on a project because you thought it would be against the best long-term interests of the public, the environment, or even the client themselves? I look forward to hearing your responses.

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Yours Truly,
Haydn Chambers S.M.ASCE
Salt Lake City UT
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Your question is subtle, Haydn.

Early in my career, working in military research, I worked only on defensive projects -- defending personnel, supplies, and bridges from destruction by enemy fire -- and refusing work on flame-throwing devices. I wish my justification had been moral but it was mostly physical recoil from the idea of burning people. However, would I have taken the flame-thrower work if necessary to feed my children? I don't know. As it was, I just moved to another project.

Now, late in my career, I work for fun, not need, and turn down projects for several reasons. Housing is not my field, so I don't need to make that particular choice. I decline work for clients who reject my recommendations on how to accomplish the work or insist on telling me what conclusions I should reach. They don't change their plans, they just find someone else.

Bill Mc

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William McAnally Ph.D., P.E., BC.CE, BC.NE, F.ASCE
ENGINEER
Columbus MS
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I am situated in a part of the industry where I also don't really have much of a say on what gets built, where or why; buildings are usually already permitted & full architectural drawings have been produced by the time I get involved. I haven't regretted anything I've designed so far and I hope to keep it that way, but I've refused to work on a handful of projects/scopes that were counter to my ethics. Fortunately I worked with a mentor that I was pretty aligned with and we just ended up not pursuing the work in question at all. Some of it got designed by other engineers who did not feel the same way as me and some of it seems to have never come to fruition, though it's unclear how much my refusal played a role in that. 

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Renn Henry, PE
Staff Engineer
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Haydn, another excellent post! In the greater Houston area, there is residential and commercial development in the catchment area of two dry reservoirs. This development was permitted because it is located outside the 100-year pool, and there were no state or county ordinances that prohibited it. The infrastructure in the catchment area was inundated during Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Many were unaware that they were living in a reservoir. I have always wondered about the engineers who enabled this development and what they knew. Taking on this type of work raises an ethical dilemma and has real consequences on one's livelihood.

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Mitch Winkler P.E.(inactive), M.ASCE
Houston, TX
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When we plan and build for the generations to come, "is this the right project?" needs to be the first valid part of defining the project.  The EnVISION methodology and others show that sustainability needs to be built in from the very beginning.  Where to build (and buy property) is as important as meeting desired outcomes, especially when life cycle, not just upfront capital costs are included.  Look what happened when owners didn't want to pay higher insurance, or building bans, when they talked FEMA out of including Guadeloupe River floodplains in the flood maps?

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Sarah Simon P.E., M.ASCE
RETIRED
Ipswich MA
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Haydn - Late in my heavy industry career, for impractical internal reasons, my employer requested a design for a sizeable WOODEN pipe bridge across a railroad track (on company property, for exclusive company use).  Explained that wood was an unnecessary fire hazard with a continuing high maintenance requirement... using steel a better solution.  My response was not appreciated.  After continued resistance, I was asked to prepare cost estimates for both wood and steel.  Made sure my that the steel design was less expensive (it was, anyway).  Also, a prominent part of my wood estimate was a line item for retaining an outside professional engineer to make the design... since I would not do it.

Without further discussion, we proceeded with my in-house steel design, construction, and operational use.

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Robert Higgins, P.E., Life Member ASCE, Life Member ASME, Retired Member AISC
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