ENGGMG7121: Professional Engineering Practice Report Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of professional engineering practice, focusing on a gas turbine power station project in Taranaki. It begins by outlining the project's summary and defining the roles of engineers for various stakeholders, including clients, consultants, contractors, the government, and objectors. The report then assesses the environmental impacts of the project, detailing both positive and negative aspects, addressing the concerns of objectors, and examining the developer's mitigation plans. Furthermore, it delves into the ethical considerations within the project, highlighting aspects that engineers must consider to maintain professional and ethical conduct, such as environmental impact, information transparency, and public safety. The report concludes with case studies on negligence and unforeseen accidents, exploring causes and potential solutions to prevent such incidents in engineering practice.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE 1
Professional Engineering Practice
Student Name
Professor’s Name
University Name
Date

PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE 2
Part A: Role of the Engineer
a. Project Summary and the Engineer Role
Project Summary
The new gas turbine power station built in Taranaki is a multimillion-dollar Peaker plant
that was constructed on a site between junction road and Mangorei road, approximately
seven kilometers south of the city. The site was constructed by a subsidiary of Todd
Corporation known as Bay of Plenty Energy (Maetzig, 2012). The plant primary
objective is to provide peaking capacity through generation of power during high demand
periods and running as base-load plant in periods when the wind and hydro power
sources are unable to meet the demand. It has a capacity of 100MW and is estimated to
provide power to one hundred thousand households (Watson, 2018).
Engineers Professional Role
To the Client, Design Consultants, and Contractor
The engineer has the responsibility of ensuring that he reports and advices the possibility
of any adverse consequences of the project resulting from not following the laws, the
standards or the advices given. The engineer should also act as middle man between these
stakeholders, the government and the public with an aim to ensuring that all the interested
parties are satisfied. Additionally, the engineer has a responsibility of acting
competitively, behaving appropriately and maintain the confidentiality of these
stakeholders (Stovall, 2015).
To the government
The engineer has a responsibility of ensuring that the project is carried out within the
limits of the law, the set regulations and policies. He should report any case of

PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE 3
misconduct regard non-obligation to the necessary authorities. Additionally, the engineer
should collaborate with governmental environmental agencies to ensure that the project
promotes environmental management and conservation for sustainability. He also has the
responsibility of reporting any possible adverse effect resulting from the project.
To objectors and the general public
The engineer should act as middle man between the public and other stake holders,
advising both parties on the benefits and the limitations of the project. He has the
responsibility of ensuring that health and safety of the public is protected and not
jeopardized by the project. He should ensure that each and every activity involved in the
project promotes the safety, health and environmental hygiene.
b. Environmental Impacts of the Project
Positive Impacts
Through the development of the project, the welfare of the residents in the areas was
improved. Over one hundred thousand residents benefited from power generated by the
project. Besides, the probability of power black outs and shortages during peak demands
and in circumstances where the wind and hydro stations would not provide sufficient
power was reduced and power could now be available at an affordable price.
Additionally, the plant development provided job opportunities to the locals thus
promoting their socio-economic lives.
The development of the plant led to the development of the infrastructure in the regions
increases the economic base and revenues of the region. The road network in the region
was developed as a result of the project. For example, the access road from junction
road/SH3, opposite the new play mouth water treatment plant was developed as a result

PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE 4
of project (Burroughs, 2016). Additionally, led to the expansion of other companies in the
region that would directly collaborate with the plant in service provision. For example,
the Methanex New Zealand company was contracted to supply Mangahewa gas to the
methanol production complex at Motunui was able to restart its second production unit
that doubled the total production of Taranaki methanol to 1.5millions a year.
Negative Impacts
Environmental pollutions also resulted from the construction the site. From a resident’s
point of view, noise pollution, visual pollution, and air pollution were major concerns.
Noise pollution resulted from the machinery that were being used in the side, air and
visual pollution were attributed to the industrial discharges in the form of smoke. Some
of the residents also viewed visual pollution on the basis that the development would lead
to destruction of the physical features that were already existing in the region. Other
residents feared that the discharge from the site would soon get into the nearby water
bodies and land surfaces and thus lead to water pollution and land pollution.
The project led to the displacement of the initial residents who lived near the site. For
example, Carolyn Hinton and Mr. Johnston, residents who had lived close to the site for
nearly a decade had to move away to pave way for construction.
The development of the site also led to massive reduction in the value of the property
near the site. The reduction in the value of property were attributed to the pollution that
had occurred from the plant. The reduction in the value of property meant that some
residents had to lose revenue they had expected to gain through the sales of their
property.

PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE 5
Concerns of the objectors
The major concerns of the objectors were:
Lack of Information
Residents claimed that despite leaving very close to the site, no information was
conveyed to them. Some of them learnt about it from neighbors (Ewing, 2013). Others
claim that the company never informed them of possible future expansion.
Displacement
The residents had raised issued about displacement from a habitat they had resided in for
close to a decade. Carolyn Hinton, a resident who together with the family had settled a
kilometer away from the site were concerned about the forceful need for them to move to
a different place. Mr. Johnston had lived in his $1.6million property for 28yerars and was
concerned about possible eviction.
Pollution
The issue of pollution was a major concern. Hugh Russell, a resident of Mangorei road
raised concerns about noise pollution and visual pollution (Keith, 2013). He attributed the
pollutions to the plant discharges. Mr. Martin, yet another resident had concerns about
noise pollution and possible land and water pollution from the plant discharge.
Loss of Property Value
The residents were concerned about possible lose of property value. They had attributed
the loss of value to the pollution from the plant and the possible expansion of the plant
which could lead to further evictions from the area.

PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE 6
Developers Plan to Mitigate the Concerns
The developers promised to keep the neighbors up to date with the developments of the
project. To include the residents in the project the developers planned of carrying out
consultations with them to ensure that all their concerns were addressed. Additionally, the
developers guaranteed the residents of the plant being fully compliant with the
environmental regulations (Keith, 2012). Regarding possibility of future expansion and
hence more evictions, the developers guaranteed the area dwellers that the process would
follow new and more inclusive consents.
c. Ethical Considerations
The aspects in the project that the engineer would need to consider to ensure they act in a
professional and ethical manner were:
Environmental Aspect
The New Zealand code of ethics requires an Engineer to have regard on the environment
by reasonably foreseeable impacts on the ecosystem and the need for sustainable
management of the environment (“Code of ethical conduct,” n.d.). In this scenario,
environment concerns that included degradation and pollution in the form of air, noise,
light, water and land were a huge concern. The engineer through collaboration with the
appropriate environmental organizations should have advised the client of the impact the
project had on the environment. Through consultation with all the involved stakeholder,
the engineer should have ensured that proper means to mitigate the projects impact on the
environment were developed and implemented and for all the steps taken to promote
environmental conservation, the engineer should have shared the same with the public to
ensure they on board with all the activities that were being undertaken. In the case there

PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE 7
were possible severe impacts on the environment that would have resulted from the
project, the engineer should have shared the same with all the stakeholder.
The New Zealand code of ethics for engineers requires the engineer to have regard for the
safety and health of public. Considering that the project, had raised concerns that would
lead to unsafe environments and health related issues for the customers, the engineers
should have worked had to see that these concerns were addressed and an appropriate
solution that would have promoted the health and safety of the public arrived at.
Denial of Information to the Public
Residents claim that there was no prior communication before the construction of the
plant despite leaving close to the site. Other residents claim that the company approached
them individually and lied to them about the future after the expansion of the plant. The
public had a right to information and therefore, this was a clear violation of law (Bhat,
2016). The engineer’s ethic code requires that engineers be honest while undertaking
their activities. The engineer should have advised the company the need to be true and to
deliver timely information and updates to the residents to ensure that they were satisfied
with the project. If the engineer had observed a clear resistance from the company of the
need to keep the public informed, he/she should have advised on the consequences or
should have reported to the necessary authorities so that the correct action should have
been taken against the company.
Part B: Negligence and Accidents
a. Negligence and Unforeseen Accident Case Study, Causes and Possible Solutions.

PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE 8
Case 1 (Negligence): The Killer Robot
The case of the killer robot is presented as indicator of negligence in the engineering
practice. It involves the death of a robot operator who was crushed to death by the robot
arm malfunction.
Samuels had been hired by Techtronic’s Inc as a programmer. The company had been
contracted to program and supply a robot that was used in the assembly line of
Cybernetics Inc., in the Silicon Heights. The project physicist had provided a hand-
written formula and Samuels was required to program it.
Samuels negligently misinterpreted the formula resulting to malfunctioning of the robot
arm. The robots arm started waving violently, crushing Matthews; a Cybernetics Inc
robot operator to death.
Through a press conference, McMurdock, the prosecuting attorney of the city of Silicon
Valley confirmed that he had received the hand-written formula from the project
physicist. The sentinel observer received the handwritten formula and confirmed that it
described the motion of the robot in a specified direction. The directions were north-
south, east-west and up-down. Sentinel further showed the formula to prof Bill Park-the
professor of physics at the Silicon Valley University and an expert in C and other
programming (Gurney, 2018). The professor confirmed that the written formulas and
equations described the motion of the robot arm. A comparison of Samuels formula and
the hand-written formula showed no similarity hence a clear indication of negligence.
Samuels was indicted on charges of manslaughter (Epstein, 2014).
The problem could have been avoided if Samuels was serious in his work. If he had
programmed the robot arm based on the formula that had been provided by the physicist

PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE 9
no problem would have occurred (Guyer, 2018). Besides, if he had experienced problem,
consultation with his co-workers would have helped solve the problem.
Case 2 (Unforeseen Accident): The Citicorp Building
The case of the Citicorp Building in the New York is presented to indicate the impact of
unforeseen accident. It involves a structural engineer who had experienced difficulty
when working project, and after adjusting his project, he realized the impact of his
adjustments when the project was already completed.
Structural Engineer Bill LeMessurier was working on the Citicorp Centre in the New
York. The 900 feet bank would rise from nine-storey high columns. Due to the existence
of a church at the corner of the plot that had to be accommodated in the location, the
columns were arranged in a manner such that there was one in the middle and all the
others would be at the center of the sides of the tower (Brady, 2015). However, this was
not the usual case, the normal case involved placing the columns at the corners of the
towers.
When the project was accomplished in 1977, an engineering student inquired on what
would happen incase the wind loads were oblique. The result showed that in the case of
oblique wind loading the resultant force would be 40% greater than normal. Besides, the
structural engineer had designed welded joints but the contractor; Bethlehem Steel
changed the design to utilize bolted joints. While this happened, no calculations were
done to determine how this change would impact the building.
When we tunnel tests were performed, they confirmed that the oblique wind loads could
lead to failure of the critical bolted joints and hence the whole project. The structural
engineer approached his client. The building was later strengthened by welding of steel

PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE 10
plates with a thickness of two-inch over the bolted joints. The structural engineer was
accused of misleading the public about the magnitude of the danger during the process of
reinforcement, for keeping the insights to himself for decades and for poor oversight that
led to bolted joints rather than welded joints (Loui, 2018).

PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE 11
References
Bhat, P. R. (2016). Engineering ethics. Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1117-1127.
doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-9619-8.ch049
Brady, S. (2015). Citicorp center tower: How failure was averted. Retrieved from
http://www.engineersjournal.ie/2015/12/08/citicorp-centre-tower-failure-averted/
Burroughs, D. (2016). Roadworks on SH3 in preparation for new Nova Energy power station in
New Plymouth. Retrieved from https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily
news/news/82384390/roadworks-on-sh3-in-preparation-for-new-nova-energy-power
station-in-new-plymouth
Code of ethical conduct. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.engineeringnz.org/resources/code
ethical-conduct/
Epstein, R. G. (2014). The use of computer ethics scenarios in software engineering education:
The case of the killer robot. Software Engineering Education, 429-437.
doi:10.1007/bfb0017631
Ewing, I. (2013). Group seeks help in power-plant fight. Retrieved from
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/slider/9015344/Group-seeks-help-in-power
plant-fight
Gurney, D. (2018). Killer robot arms: A case-study in brain–computer interfaces and
intentional acts. Minds and Machines, 28(4), 775-785. doi:10.1007/s11023-018-9462-9
Guyer, P. (2018). Ethical issues in professional engineering. Guyer Partners.
Keith, L. (2012). Power plant promise to neighbors. Retrieved from
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/7278054/Power-plant-promise-to
neighbours?rm=m

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Keith, L. (2013). Residents fear power plant expansion. Retrieved from
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expansion?rm=m
Loui, M. (2018). Professional engineering ethics: The Citicorp tower case. Retrieved from
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Maetzig, R. (2012). New Plymouth to get power station. Retrieved from
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/7264373/New-Plymouth-to-get-power
station?rm=m
Stovall, P. (2015). Professional virtue and professional self-awareness: A case study in
engineering ethics. Science and Engineering Ethics, 17(1), 109-132. doi:10.1007/s11948
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Retrieved from https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/101893797/construction-of-new-gas
turbine-power-station-site-steadily-taking-shape?rm=m