Engineering Innovations and Ethics: Hurricane Katrina Report

This report delves into the engineering failures associated with Hurricane Katrina, examining the design flaws and ethical breaches that exacerbated the disaster. It explores the role of engineers and the importance of adhering to the EA Code of Ethics in Australia to prevent similar catastrophes. The report highlights challenges in pre-project planning, the need for sustainable design, and the significance of incorporating principles like hydrostatic pressure and shear area reduction. It emphasizes the importance of vigilant material auditing, technical expertise, and the application of innovative approaches to drainage systems and structural features. The conclusion underscores the necessity of innovative design planning and adherence to ethical guidelines to promote sustainable development and effective disaster management strategies. The report references relevant literature and provides a comprehensive overview of the event's implications for civil engineering and ethical practice.

DRAFT REPORT ON HURRICANE
KATRINA FROM THE SUBJECT
ENGINEERING INNOVATIONS AND
ETHICS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Overview on Hurricane Katrina...............................................................................................1
1.1 Engineering elements in relation to EA Code of Ethics........................................................1
1.2 Challenges..............................................................................................................................2
2. Role of engineers.....................................................................................................................2
2.1 Code of Ethics to be followed by engineers..........................................................................2
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Engineering innovations and ethics focus on safeguarding the legal industrial framework
and environment protection to laid the foundation of sustainable development in Australia. This
assignment is based on learnings from hurricane Katrina in terms of EA Code of Ethics for better
disaster management in case such scenario might take place in Australia. This EA code of ethics
is the regulatory framework to be followed by the members of Engineers Australia to exercise
the concepts for sustainable judgements.
Background information: The motivation of conducting this project is to understand the
designing elements to construct any engineering structures while keeping in mind about ethics
and sustainable development. Its focus is on underpinning the challenges that leads to damage
and destructive impact on the infrastructural components during natural calamity like floods,
hurricanes etc. It describes about the role of engineers for application of code of ethics and
safeguarding the safety and health of public.
MAIN BODY
1. Overview on Hurricane Katrina
Katrina is considered as one of the biggest engineering failures in context with improper
design structures and number of faulty decisions by management. There was lack of proper
assessment of materials handling and design planning by the civil engineers. They took flawed
decisions which affected the safety, health and welfare of lives of public (Moraga & et. al.,
2017). Along with this, lack of vigilance was noted under the technical guidelines mentioned by
the regulatory bodies like ASTM standards,CPSC which represented the pressures from external
sources and these cases were analysed by EA Code of ethics, Australia to lay the foundation for
their own mitigation strategies in case of any natural calamities.
1.1 Engineering elements in relation to EA Code of Ethics
The EA Code of Ethics of Australia is extensive guidelines on conducting the
professional values and principles that is essential in representing the solutions for better and
eco-friendly approaches. Here, the engineers try to ensure sustainable methods to be used while
constructing any new structures or bring modifications by applying competency and adequate
knowledge (Gilbert, 2016). It is important for the engineers to demonstrate a good technical
understanding for implementing them in ethical manner to protect the human lives and without
1

hampering the environment. The purpose is to promote approaches for establishing
sustainability.
1.2 Challenges
The major challenges that the engineers face is drawing the outline for pre-initial stages
before initiating any project. They sometimes lack the knowledge and technical skills on minute
details and thus, it results in destructive form when the state is hit by natural phenomenon like
hurricanes etc. There is a need to balance the needs of the present with respect to the future on
the basis of parameters like allocated resources and energy. Additionally, the engineers must be
vigilant and aware regarding auditing of the materials, task force's credibility and others.
2. Role of engineers
Engineers have the technical expertise and are capable in bringing innovation through
sustainable approaches to maintain and mane the drainage systems. Furthermore, the focus must
be on incorporating the concepts like putting hydrostatic pressure, targeting the shear area and
reduction in proper manner to mitigate the measures in advance. This assists in analysing the
disaster management planning and assist the engineers to conduct experimental teats on pilot
levels for better implementation (O'Brien, Arundel, Bowen Butchart & Gatenby-Clark, 2015). It
influences them to take an account of the elevation points and use of analysis tools such as
hydrology, soil testing, structural resistances power and more.
In regard to this, the engineers take help in designing the outline to have a better vantage
points in terms of flood probabilities and other remote sensing aspects. It leads to better
designing of structural features by evolving the levee factors in Australian land mass where more
than half of the country's population live nearby coastal areas. Thus, engineers shed light on the
functionalities and establishing sustainability in adopting strategies to construct physical
structures.
2.1 Code of Ethics to be followed by engineers
These guidelines must be followed by the engineers with strict adherence to safeguard the
ethical responsibility. The EA code of ethics has informed the members of Engineers Australia
to maintain the knowledge and expertise fields for practising the environmental and health and
safety considerations before initiating any infrastructural or production related projects. This aids
them in withstanding to challenges like resistance power, tensile strength, materials handling and
2

mitigate or propose any solutions to minimise the effects of natural calamity like Hurricane
Marcus of 2018.
CONCLUSION
To sum up, innovative design planning is essential for promoting sustainable
development and to maintain an escape plan for any natural calamity or critical situation.
Furthermore, Australia's Engineers Code of Ethics has been outlined to reflect upon the code of
ethics while working on any construction project.
3

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Gilbert, F. (2016). Ethics: Managing the impact of innovation.
Moraga, M. Á. & et. al. (2017). GreCo: Green code of ethics. Journal of Software: Evolution
and Process.29(2). e1850.
O'Brien, K. R., Arundel, A., Bowen Butchart, D., & Gatenby-Clark, S. (2015). New evidence on
the frequency, impacts and costs of activities to develop innovations in Australian
businesses: Results from a 2015 pilot survey.
4