Oops turned to Oh Shit!

Engineering mishaps happen frequently. Engineers are educated to function quickly and efficiently while designing various components of a project. One of the project advisors from my class said it best: “Engineers are not paid to bullshit with businessmen. We are paid to be right; not mostly right, or conventionally right, but absolutely right.” We are all human, and it is very hard to assume that we are going to be right all the time. When things are done wrong anything can happen from a malfunction from a piece that does not fit to a whole project that blows up mid use.

A balance in caution is nessicary. Keep in mind that too cautious and no deadlines will ever be met, and too incautious . . .take a look at the engineering accidents over the last couple decades. Space shuttles have taken flight like a phoenix, only to go out like a phoenix: a flaming ball. Bridges have torque themselves to the ground. A mishap involving a the type of string used in a birth control device caused numerous infections and diseases which had effects from simply irritating the victim to sterilizing them.

Let’s narrow down what causes the disasters which plague the engineering community. Human factors, design flaws, material failures, and extreme conditions can cause disaster. Excluding the ethical lapses that are experienced, failures could be minimized not by using equations more effectively, but by consulting outsiders on the job. Material failures could be prevented by employing materials science engineers and a material quality control. Insufficient knowledge can cause major problems, and there is sometimes no way to foresee some effects. Other times, it is a blatant oversight that could have been prevented with the simple measure of having an outside consultant look over the project. Why not exercise the caution. We should be more afraid. The fear of killing someone would definitely give enough hesitation for a company to double check and possibly get a consultant on the design.

http://www.library.ubc.ca/scieng/engineeringfailure/EngFailures.htm