I was troubled by the article in The Chronicle Herald week ago Friday that noted the engineer’s role in innovation and iconic advances in society but was silent on our role in the built environment, that is everywhere. Then went on to express concern that “…the breadth of expertise and the engineering profession’s impact on the world around is largely unseen.” (Ref. 1)

This in a report in the newspaper on a talk by Gerald McDonald, Chief Executive Officer, Engineers Canada.

I don’t think our role is unseen. It’s staring us in the face in the built environment that would not exist if not for engineers designing, constructing and maintaining it. We just got to see what we’re looking at.

I suggest addressing this concern by taking a cue from Jane Goodall’s focus on kids who will arrest climate change when they grow up – Jane talked about this in Halifax last Saturday. (Ref. 2) Jane is not focusing on politicians and prominent people to fix climate change. In her spirit, we must focus on the humble engineer toiling away in the built environment, getting his hands dirty and mud on his boots providing habitat for the man in the street. Ye shall know him by his iron ring.

(For those of you who forgot, Jane Goodall is an English primatologist who studied the social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees, starting when she was 26, and changed the way we think about humans. She travels the world today, at 89 years of age, writing, speaking and spreading hope through action to make the world a better place)

There’s no question that advances like the following are important – shepherded by engineers:

• Helicopter safety
• Harnessing renewable energy
• Launch of the first Atlantic Canadian-built satellite into space
• The Canadarm
• The pace maker
• Halifax Central Library
• Confederation Bridge

Shepard’s focus on the engineer’s role in the big stuff is good – engineers are even in space as I write – but, so too is the engineer’s role in the design, construction and maintenance of the built environment that is comprised of the following, and more:

• Buildings – residential and commercial. There are more hi-rise and low rise buildings in the world than any other structure. Think about that.
• Water treatment and supply systems to and from the buildings
• Sewage collection and treatment systems
• Storm collection and drainage systems
• Foundation support systems like spread footings and piles
• Foundation subsoils
• Parking lots and airport runways
• Towers, like hydroelectric towers
• Chimneys, particularly the tall ones
• Highways and roads between the buildings and beyond
• Highway embankments, cuts and fill slopes
• Hydraulic structures like canals (eg. Shubie canal)
• Electric power supply systems
• Bridges – small like over highways, large like suspension bridges over water, very large like the Confederation Bridge
• Hydroelectric dams like Mactaquac in New Brunswich
• Marine structures like docks and wharves, breakwaters, and coastal protection
• Ships – designed, constructed and maintained by engineers
• Planes – same role as for ships
• Etc.

These structures come into being and are maintained by engineers working in the civil, foundation, geotechnical, environmental, mechanical and electrical fields. What we have in common in our different disciplines is a creative desire for problem solving.

I felt good as that loooong list above came into being. We engineers are everywhere producing and maintaining the built environment and helping alter the natural environment, carefully. Gerald McDonald knows this and could easily inspire a complementary piece in the The Chronicle Herald.

References

1. McDonald, Gerald, Tap Engineers For New Ideas, The Chronicle Herald, Friday, May 19, 2023
2. Jane Goodall’s talk in Halifax, May 27, 2023

(Posted by Eric E. Jorden, M.Sc., P.Eng. Consulting Professional Engineer, Forensic Engineer, Geotechnology Ltd., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, May 31, 2023. ejorden@eastlink.ca)   

It’s a good question because, for all the importance attached in law to the standard-of-care and reasonable-person concepts, there are few concrete examples to guide the design engineer. Concepts are nice – something conceived in the mind – but you got to get out of your head and get concrete – something characterized by actual things or events. (Ref. 1)

There are few concrete examples of the standard of care in Dr. Google or Wikipedia, nor in the engineering books, to guide the design engineer. (Ref. 2) There’s very little on when he should design above the minimum standard set by the National Building Code (NBC). (Ref. 3) Go read and see for yourself.

That’s what I learned during my research, prompted by realizing most engineers don’t even know about the standard of care. Then I wondered, how many look at the minimum requirements of the NBC and sometimes figure they’ve got to design to a higher standard? Then, I thought, how many civil litigation lawyers and claim adjusters know about these issues facing design engineers? Then I got scared and figured I’ve got to write about this – get it out in the open.

***

Before we go a bit further – just a bit, because I want to alert you to these issues not educate you – this is how these concepts are described in law dictionaries and Dr. Google:

The standard of care means “…the degree of care that a reasonable person should exercise” as put by Black’s Law Dictionary, 4th edition 2011. (Ref. 4)

Put another way in more detail, the level at which an ordinary, prudent professional with the same training and experience, in good standing, in a same or similar community would practice under the same or similar circumstances. (Ref. 5)

Or “… what is reasonable in the circumstances” according to Dr. Google. (Ref. 2)

A reasonable person according to Black is “… a person who exercises the degree of attention, knowledge, intelligence, and judgement that society requires of it’s members for the protection of their own and other’s interests. The reasonable person acts sensibly, does things without serious delay, and takes proper but not excessive precautions”.

Or, as put by Dr. Google “A person who is thought to be careful and considerate in their actions … the way a typical person with “ordinary prudence” would act”.

***

I’ve got queries out to two engineering friends, one who worked as a design engineer for many years and another who worked in construction. I asked each how often they came across situations where something more than the minimum NBC standard was in order. I’ll let you know when I hear back.

Like, for example, if designing to a factor of safety of three (3) is normal – the minimum? – are there times when it should be greater, perhaps (4)? Should a steel or concrete beam be deeper than normal, a column larger, a concrete slab thicker, a storm drainage pipe bigger?

Here’s a question: To what extent is a designer liable if he designs for the Code’s minimum standard – and goes happily on his way – when something higher is order? What’s the big deal, he met the NBC’s standards?

(A factor of safety of three (3) means something is designed three times stronger or bigger than it needs to be before it breaks or falls down)

I asked three other friends – two engineers and an oceanographer who investigated the cause of failures and accidents for years – about the standard of care and the reasonable person. They didn’t know about these concepts.

***

So, what’s a reasonable person in law or insurance to do about a situation like this? Hmmm? How about first asking your expert if they’re aware of these concepts. Then, depending on their answer ask how well their work would stand up to a peer review. If they’re important concepts in Law and Dr. Google, it seems they would be important concepts in the forensic investigation of a failure or accident.

And as you’re asking these questions, remember, there are no concrete examples in the engineering text books to guide the reasonable engineer on when to design to a higher standard than the NBC minimum.

(I may be out in left field a bit with some of these comments but if they stimulate thought about these concepts in the concrete world of engineering design, construction and forensic investigation then I’ve achieved something)

References

1. Merriam-Webster dictionary
2. Dr. Google May, 2023
3. National Building Code (NBC), most recent edition
4. Blacks law dictionary
5. A Bundle of Blogs: On assessing the standard of care. Posted August 12, 2022

(Posted by Eric E. Jorden, M.Sc., P.Eng. Consulting Professional Engineer, Forensic Engineer, Geotechnology Ltd., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, May 19, 2023. ejorden@eastlink.ca)