Abstract
Basically every new technology creates some negative effects in its environment, rearranging the social order it penetrates. Many of these effects are inextricably linked to ethical issues. New communication technologies normally either retrieves, amplifies, transforms, obsolesces or mixes ethical issues from the past or creates new issues to the future. This paper or study therefore presents the various ethical issues of Boston Tunnel events. This paper has been presented after survey, which was conducted on the various states of America. A survey questionnaires was given to the different American societies who included physicians, surgeons, scientists, nurses, Massachusetts Tumpike Authority, police officers, Engineers, state government and the head of the construction company..
Introduction
Boston has a limited time to make sure a fatal tragedy doesn’t become a major deterrent to tourism and convention business, travel industry. The closing of the tunnel to visitors could mean added costs, coming up with an alternative transportation options, adjusting schedules and avoiding certain parts of the city. During the event at least 12 tons of concrete collapsed onto a car in a big tunnel, fatally crushing a passenger and prompting renewed scrutiny the very day. The state of the attorney general said he was making plans to treat the site as a crime scene that could lead to negligent homicide charges. The attorney general issued subpoenas to those who were involved in the design, manufacturing, testing, construction and over sight of the panels and tunnels. The tragedy that happened at around 11 pm Monday had been discussed by the government and still a major issue being addressed (William, 2003). Up to date there is fear brought by the visitors discouraging them from traveling in the area. Several doctors and nurses have also raised complaints on the ethical issues that were created by the construction and collapse of the tunnel. Among the issues included rising cost of transportation, crime, water shortage, carelessness and greediness among others (David, 1998). Lack of enough technological knowledge that led to faulty concretes from suppliers and engineering ethical issues were also raised.
Research objective and propose
The objective of this research is to investigate the various ethical issues that were associated with the Boston Tunnel event. A lot of lives were lost and this led to the closure of the tunnel as a means of transportation. The events caused a variety of health hazards. Diseases such as asthma, cancer, dermalises and tuberculosis were some complications that were created. It was argued that the event occurred because of the carelessness of the engineers. This paper therefore finds out exactly who is to blame and the various ethical issues associated with the event.
Research Scope
The study was carried using the following approaches. A postal questionnaire was used to capture the information required for the survey. The target group included the physicians, nurses, surgeons, and scientists/engineers, heads of the construction company and the government officials, the public and the body responsible for the highway project. The engineers that participated were expected to give the possible weaknesses and reasons that could lead to the collapse of the project ceiling. The physicians from the health sector were to give report on the health issues or risks that were associated with the collapse of such a project. The risk could help the government to make some policies and strategies of coming with proper plans. It is often said that your health is your wealth. So it was believed that if the accident could have happened during daytime, then many lives would have been claimed/lost. Losing many lives means the health sector is seriously affected. The cost of health services such as drugs and even hiring physicians would have been too expensive for the government. This means that more money would have been spent to help the victims.
The police officers that assisted in the investigation were to fill the questionnaire and give the risk associated with the incident. The effect on transport sector was very crucial as it was reported that, movement of vehicles along the area was interfered with for almost two days (Vicki, 1998). The amount of income that was lost by the transport sector was too high leading to a standstill of some activities in the area.
The Turnpike Authority was to administer the questionnaire. They were to give information on the incident that took place. The government was to play a central part in the study especially the office of the attorney general. The banking sector officials were also to fill the questionnaire to give information on the financial issues that were involved in the construction of the central Artery Tunnel product. The Bechtel Company squandered a lot of dollars, as this project was the most expensive in U.S history. The public is the source of the government revenue. They are the taxpayers and their money was squandered in the construction of the project. Therefore Taxpayers were required to participate in the study.
Piloting of the questionnaire was done or conducted to test the questionnaires construct validity. The results that were to be received were to be as accurate as possible. This was the reason why piloting was done to the questionnaire.
Sampling was also done to the groups that were to participate in the study. Sampling is mainly done during the study to ensure that; time is not wasted or consumed during the study and for efficient result to be obtained. However, when sampling is done it should represent the entire target group that is to participate in the sample twenty taxpayers were given the questionnaires to identify the issues that was associated with the horrible events. Five Auditors from the US government were used to check on the financial aspect of the project or central Artery Tunnel project. Three engineers amongst those who participated in the construction of the project were involved and the chief executive officer of the company was consulted and was requested to give the various issues that were associated with the incident.
The questionnaire carried the questions such as; the ethical issues behind or associated with the Boston Tunnel event, effects of the incident on health, causes of the collapse of tunnel, financial issues or how the taxpayers money was used in the construction of the project, effectiveness or the strength of the project.
A part from sampling and questionnaires, other methods of data collection that were used included interviews. Interviews were important in getting first hand information. The chief executive officer of the construction Company was interviewed to give some relevant information on the incident that happened. The public was also interviewed by asking them questions about the rate at which they use the tunnel during daytime. This was to approximate the number of lives that could be lost assuming the incident took place during daytime. The finding that was found from the interview was compared with information from books, journals, the Internet and magazines. Comparison was made repeatedly to verify that the information obtained was reliable and valid. Books or the secondary sources of data that were used was to be current if the books were to be used, then they were to undergo review not older than three years ago. The journals that were reviewed from the year 2005 going onward were to be used to assist in the study. For example, eight journals were used and four books during the study to ensure that the study that was conducted provided concrete result. Analysis of the data was mainly qualitative as no statistical instrument or tool was used in the analysis of the data. The findings were then recorded for presentation. The information could be used by the congress to redesign and restructure its operation on the project. For example, the head of the construction company was to be relieved of his duty and a new team to monitor and control the project was to be appointed immediately. This is why the closure of the use of tunnel was done immediately.
During the interview, tape recording was done to store the answers that were given by the public and other senior people who were interviewed. The answers that were tape-recorded were then compared with the information on the questionnaires that were posted. The questionnaire was addressed to a named individual from the various sectors that were then requested to complete and return the questionnaire in a prepaid envelope. A follow up letter was also distributed in an attempt to improve response rates. After coding the questionnaire responses, qualitative data analysis was carried out using the various secondary sources named above. Survey was done during the study to ensure that, a good area was represented and no part was left during the study. All the groups who were to participate in the study were persuaded or requested to be honest when administering the questionnaire. Any difficult terminology in the questions used were to be further explained in a simplified manner to avoid any inconveniency. It therefore means that the reaction and mood of the individual administering the questionnaires was going to determine the validity and reliability of the results.
Background information
Boston is America’s walking city with various amenities in small town environment. There is a variety of museums, restaurants, shops and attractions sites outside the center and adjoining hotels. The beautiful features in the city have attracted many tourists in the area. This led to the construction of Boston tunnel in the city near the airport. The main aim of the tunnel construction was to ensure that traffic congestion was reduced and visitors could have easy movement in the city (Mark, Deuze, 2001). However the construction of the tunnel did not meet the required standards leading to a lot of unfolding scenes. The tragedy has gained nationwide notoriety for rising costs, tears of traffic snarls, and a criminal investigation into faulty concrete from suppliers and problems with hundreds of leaks that sprouted in another of the Big Dig tunnels. Arguments were raised claiming that the tunnels were unsafe and the event was termed to be a horrible one. The collapse of the tunnel happened around 11 pm Monday when the underground highways were relatively free of traffic. It is estimated that about 200,000 vehicles a day travel along the roadways that make up the Big Dig, the $14.6 billion highway construction project that buried the Central artery underneath the city (Thomas, 1998).
The debris that came from the scene spread along the city whereby traffic jam was realized for almost two days. Much of the blame (Thomas, 1998) was put in the head of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority that was connected with the construction of the tunnel. The then head of Turnpike Authority Amorello insisted that tunnels were safe and he would not step down on his principles. He added that even though the event was a horrible one, he was to try by all means to ensure that the project was rebuilt again.
Unfortunately the section that collapsed was near the entrance to the Ted Williams Tunnel that was under Boston Harbor to Logan international Airport. This was the major root where all state officials and other officials from different states and outside the country could use.
The contractor of the project, modern continental gave a statement on the event saying that the its work was fully complied with the plans and specifications provided by the central Artery Tunnel project. In addition, the contractor added that the construction of the project was inspected and approved by the Central Artery Tunnel project. The contractor therefore said that he could not be blamed for the horrible event that occurred on that night.
The head of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority gave a brief press release on the cause of the incident saying that a steel “tieback” that had held a 40 foot section of ceiling over eastbound interstate 90 gave a way, letting the concrete slabs loose as the couple drove beneath them on their way to Hogan Airport to pick up relatives returning from a vacation (Jane, 2006). One of the couples lost her life as a result of the accidents. “There was a snapping sound heard,” Amorello said. “One of the tiles panels from the roof released and further caused a series of panels to be released” (Thomas, 1998).
A state police major was appointed by the project authority head to assist in the investigation of the accident that took place. The police officer was to be assisted by team from the Federal Highway Administration.
The Central Artery and Third harbor Tunnel, buried interstate 93 beneath down town and extended the Massachusetts Turnpike to the airport. The idea for the Big Dig was repeatedly criticized when it was to be started. The project was criticized for US ballooning cost and a variety of constructions problems. Water leakage and at least one incident when dirt from an airshaft fell onto cars were identified. Findings reported that, the quality of the concrete that was used was not to blame for the Monday incident. The Monday accident was therefore associated with a variety of ethical issues drawing the state attention and the public at large.
Ethical issues
A lot of companies make mistakes when undertaking their duties as many engineering companies run over their completion deadline. The 2000-01 Chair of Boston’s Turnpike Authority refused to take the legal action against Bechtel aforementioned incompetence who was the chief executive officer. Among the ethical issues included health issues. The collapse of the tunnel was regarded to be a very dangerous and posing a lot of health issues to the people or public. It was estimated that, many lives would have been claimed if the incident could have occurred during the normal business hours. The tunnel is mostly used by majority of the people operating between the city center and the international airport. It is only that the incident happened around 11.pm when the underground highways were relatively free of traffic. It was estimated that about two hundred thousand vehicles travel along the roadways in a day that make up the Big Dig. It thus implies that, many people would have been killed by the collapse of the panel. Only one person was reported dead in the incident. It was reported to that four concrete slabs weighing three tons slipped down onto the passing Buick sedan killing Milena Delvalle, who was riding on the passenger side, which bore the brunt of the collapse. However, her husband managed to crawl to safety through a window that was only a foot wide (Principles and Canons, 2003).
Poor construction was identified as one of the issues that led to the collapse of the tunnel. The project was very weak since some leakage of water was seen coming from the tunnel. The construction company was therefore blamed for the poor design they used during the construction. The current and former employees of a concrete supplier were charged with fraud for allegations that some concrete delivered to the Big Dig was not freshly mixed. According to the investigation, the quality of the concrete was not freshly mixed but there were some debates on this.
Corruption was also another issue that was identified during the Boston Tunnel event. The construction company squandered billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money on the project, which was always going to be the most expensive civil engineering project in US history. The incompetence of the company was seen when it forgot to mark a 19,600-seat arena called the Fleet center on its preliminary designs. However, no legal action was taken to monitor the company’s incompetence.
An ethical engineer (Hellman, 2003) will not simply sell technical services to the highest bidder, but should think about the far-reaching effects of each project or job according to Willie Nelson. The Boston’s Big Dig project is the most expensive project that United States had ever had. On July when the project was completed many people were very happy that they could begin to put the disruption and cost overruns behind them, a three-ton ceiling tile came loose in a connector tunnel and killed a newlywed women.
Being careless was another ethical issue of the Boston Tunnel event. The contractor can be said to be careless. The Big Dig project was the most expensive project United States spent a lot of money. However the construction company was just too busy or after the American dollars instead of doing the real job. Everyone involved in building project, from those who pay for it, to the architects and engineers, to the constructors to inspectors, down to the lowliest laborers cleaning up afterwards, has to walk that same line between excessive over caution and reckless carelessness. Since majority of engineering projects have been successful without major failures or loss of life, we can assume that most if these who participating in the building of the Central Artery tunnel were careless. This implies that, they did not pay much of the attention on the job they were doing. Serious engineers take their time when doing their work. Maturity of an academic discipline is often judged by the extent to which its theories and techniques are employed in everyday practice. For example, the theoretical principles governing engineering are employed daily in the construction of artefacts as diverse as bridges, buildings, roads, motor vehicles, ships and aircraft. Therefore the construction company or the engineers who participated in their work were careless because of the weak building/tunnel they constructed.
Greediness is also another ethical issue that can be learnt from the Boston tunnels event. It is said that the most recent Bech tel project that the US government had s evidence of the company’s work was the Central Artery Tunnel project or Big Dig, as it was earlier known. In Boston, the company or Bechtel squandered billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money on the project. Both the United States government and the public at large expected a lot of wonderful job to be done by the construction company. To their surprise, all that was done was not worth even appreciation. Before they could even see the fruit of their sacrifice they made, the negative effects of the construction was realized. The project was the most expensive civil engineering project in US history. An accident like the Big Dig tunnel collapse brings a lot to lessons to be learnt of what has to happen at every step of the way and what can go wrong if somebody does not pay enough attention to details that don’t seem to matter at the time. The financial constraints that the US government underwent were very heavy. Such a spending without any thing in return was not economical at all. Even after the accident that is the Boston tunnel event there was no action that was taken. This is an example of amoral and immoral type of management by some construction companies. The construction company is seen to be interested in its self-interest other than the interest of the people it is serving. The company is seen to be benefiting from destruction of its poor construction work. The 2000-01chairman of the Boston’s Turnpike authority by the name Andrew Natsios refused to take legal action against Bechtels aforementioned incompetence. Andrew Natsio is now the current head of USAID the same company that handed Bechtel its contract for the rebuilding of Iraq (Finn, 1998).
Terrorism is another ethical issue that is associated with the Boston Tunnel event. The American government had some interest in the Iraq. The then chairman of Boston’s Turnpike Authority was appointed the head of USAID. USAID is an organization that handed Bechtel its contract for rebuilding of Iraq (Thomas, 1998). Bechtel who was the chief of executive of the construction company by then had joined president Bush’ export council. Other friends of Bechtel who was in the team to see the rebuilding of Iraq was George Shultz, the secretary of state in Ronald Reagan’s administration and on the company’s board: general counsel member, and former central intelligence Agency leader john Mc Cone. Bechtel board members and employees with advisory positions to the bush administration helped ensure that Bechtel would receive one of the most lucrative contracts for rebuilding what they had helped to destroy. Bechtel’s Iraq contract had led to calls by legislations in Washington for increases transparency in the bidding process for contracts (Joyce, 1998). The water scandal the company brought in Iraq led to a change in their manifests. The war was experienced in Iraq, which ended with more riot police, one death and a state of emergency. The privatization of water in Iraq is a big issue that has been created by Bechtel Company. A group of Bechtel resisters from Cochabamba summoned the people of Iraq about the attempts of the company to take advantage of the Iraq people as they did to the Bolivians. The company was being used by Bush to conquer Iraq. The mass privatization of water in Iraq meant raising the profits at expense of the Iraqi people. Of late Bechtel has built or designed forty-five nuclear power stations in twenty-two stats in the United States (William, 2003).
Bechtel has been strongly participating in West Papua a well-known site of a struggle for independence from Indonesia. The company also extended its help to build Freeport Mc Mo Ran’s notorious Grasberg Gold mine. The operations of the company have been under the influence of the US president Bush. The lesson that can be learnt from this is that mismanagement of companies can lead to immoral acts.
Aftermath and Results
After the area had been declared a crime scene, it forced the Attorney General the so-called Tom Reilly to issue subpoenas to those who were participating in the construction and testing of the tunnels (Thomas, 1998). The Governor ordered an immediate closure of connecting roads that lead into the Ted Williams Tunnel and several ramps to the westbound section from within the city. However, the closure of the connecting roads created congestions almost everywhere in the city. Most of the motorists decided to change their operation whereby they shifted to use the routes to and from Logan International Airport and several other key arterials.
The Governor Mitt Romney after receiving information a bout the incident or the accident that occurred, he was forced to return from a vacation in New Hampshire to view and cross-check the conditions of the tunnels. Both the east ends of the westbound and eastbound connected tunnels were designated and constructed in the same manner according to his findings. According to the investigation none of the tunnel ends were designed for a hanging ceiling system and it was realized that the ends of the connector tunnels had been constructed much earlier than the remaining tunnel sectors which was to allow for the construction of the D street bridge above (Kontogianni, 2005).
Around two hundred and forty two potentially dangerous built fixtures that were used to support the ceiling tiles in the interstate 90 connector tunnel were identified by the team that was appointed to carry inspection. The team consisted of a six members from the engineering section who was appointed by the National Transport Safety Board after having been requested to do so by the Massachusetts congressional delegation. The national Transportation Safety Board released a report on the one-year anniversary of the disaster, which attributed the major cause of the collapse to epoxy creep. The governor finally assumed the oversight of the investigation into the collapse and the whole responsibility was taken away from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. Additional amount of $20 million was allocated for the review and finalization of the central Artery System (Hellman, 1997).
The collapse of the ceiling travel also caused political fallout. On July 13, 2006, the leaders of the state legislature, senate president Robert Travaglini and House speaker Sal Dimasi ordered the turnpike Authority chairman Matthew J. Amorello to step down from his position. The governor and the Attorney General also supported the resignation of the Turnpike Authority chairman. The chairman of the Turnpike Authority, Amorello was presented will a formal list of charges that was to be used by the Governor to justify his resignation (David, 1998). He finally resigned from his position to give room for further investigation.
Data Analysis and findings
Data analysis in this research paper was done after the responses from the posted questionnaires were received from the head of Construction Company, engineers, government auditors, physicians, taxpayers and the public. The in formations that were tape recorded during the interview were also analyzed. The type of data analysis was purely qualitative meaning that the secondary source of data such as books, journal, Internet and magazines were used to verify whether the data was valid and reliable.
Discussion
Engineers and ethicists who participated by filling in the questionnaires gave out their views on the ethical issue associated with the Boston Tunnel event. Four areas of engineering were identified as ethical issues. The areas included sustainability, nanotechnology, neurotechonlogy and energy. Those who participated in the study presented the following approaches to ethical issues such as analyzing the factual, conceptual, application and moral aspect of an issue, evaluating the risks and responsibilities of a particular course of action. The theories of ethics or codes of ethics developed by engineering societies were used as a basis for decision-making.
According to ethicists, ethics can be built into the education of engineering students and professional, either as an aspect of courses already being taught or a component of engineering projects to be examined along with research finding. Scholars claim that an ethical engineer will not simply sell technical services to the highest border, but should also think of about the far-reaching effect of each project or job.
The main finding during the study indicated that the Boston Tunnel project failed or collapsed because of the carelessness of the engineers. Structural engineering is based mostly on physical science and things do not generally fall down for no good reasons at all. The horrible incident of Boston tunnel collapse was very strange almost to everybody who participated in the study. Many people assembled in the scene to watch the sad incident. It was found out that the engineers who participated in the construction of the Central Artery project were negligence when performing their duty. They did not pay much attention on the job they were doing. It was discovered that most of the fasteners that were used to hold up the tiles were defective. Earlier on, the suppliers of the concrete that was used in the construction company were blamed for the accident.
The project was said to be very weak whereby some water leakage was seen coming from the tunnel. If the project would have been constructed according to the usual engineering plans then the accident would have not occurred. Those who were concerned with the implementation of the plan are the people who went wrong. Majority of the engineering projects have been found to be successful. However the Boston Tunnel project was one of the rare projects that had failed. It did not mean that lack of enough funds or resources was the problem but carelessness of the engineers was one of the ethical issues in the collapse of the Boston tunnel project. Everyone involved in the engineering construction project should be vigilant in his or her areas. Most the experts reported that the epoxy used to hold the concrete ceiling tiles up was either not prepared and applied correctly or used with oily steel. Steel according to experts as it comes from the factory has a thin coating of oil on it, and unless this oil is cleaned off prior to use, adhesive such as epoxy cannot form a good bond (Thomas, 1998). They added that even if the steel was clean, the widely varying temperature at a Boston construction site might have interfered with the chemical changes that epoxy went through in order to harden. Plastic adhesives that are inadequately hardened according to experts can creep under stress, moving a tiny fraction of an inch every month, until the entire joint fails. Therefore whatever that was done wrong, it appears to have been done wrong consistently, because Governor Mitt Romney had announced that over one thousand three hundred fasteners were suspect and were to be removed or replaced but this was not done (David, 1998).
The Boston tunnel collapse was seen to be quite similar in some ways to a much more serious tragedy that happened twenty-five years ago on July 11, 1981. Several people gathered on a suspended concrete walkway to watch a dance party in the newly opened Hyatt Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. The walkway was to be supported up by steel rods that should have been strong enough to support the weight of the crowd. If the steel rods could have been installed according to the original engineering plan then everything would have been fine. However the contractor just decided to make some changes on the process of constructing the walkway. He decided to make a slight change in the way the roads were made and assembled and this significantly weakened the structure and caused the road to collapse killing one hundred and fourteen people and injuring two hundred (Firin, 1998). In addition the heavy concrete slabs were used in the project, which was dangerous to life especially when suspended by thin steel rods. It therefore means that the contractors or engineers were not responsible and attentive when they were doing the construction. Carelessness when doing something was observed to be the major cause of the accident that happened in Boston Tunnel event.
Corruption is one of the ethical issues that had been identified according to the study on Boston Tunnel event. The Bechetel Company’s most famous scandals regarding water pipelines are related to the experience in Bolivia. The company was found to be corrupt by forcing privatization and forcing market competition on poor countries (Kontogiaanni, 2005). According to the government officials who participated in the study the privatization of water and free market competition made by the company did not make ay political or economic sense.
According to World Bank officials (Hellman, 1997), they had promised to give a $ 14 million loan to expand the water service on condition of privatizing the water supply. After some weeks after taking over the water project, Bechtel’s company hit the local families with rate of increases of up to 200% and sometimes higher. To make it worse, workers living on the local minimum wage of $60 per month were told to pay as much $15 just to keep the water running out of their taps. After attempts to negotiate with the company and its government, nothing was done instead protestors took the streets and attempted to shut down the city with a general strike. The government intervened with a deadly force and in two days more than 175 people were wounded, mostly victims of the gas canisters or police beatings. This shows the scandals that the company was involved in.
The company’s scandal was also realized in the construction of Boston tunnel project called the central Artery Tunnel project of “Big Dig”. In Boston Bechtel squandered billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money on the project, which was going to be the most expensive civil engineering project in US history. This was obtained from government auditors. It was said that in 1985 the costs were projected at $2.5 billion, but had already skyrocketed to $14.6 billion and counting (Thomas, 1998). The huge money that was squandered by the company depicts corruption as an ethical issue of Boston Tunnel Event.
From the research it was also found that being greedy was one of the causes that led to the collapse of the tunnel. The central Artery project was one of the most expensive projects in the history of United States as stated earlier. The company never minded about the contract it was given but instead was after its selfish interest. The same thing was realized on water scandal in Iraq where the company wanted to maximize the profits by privatizing water in the area. To worsen the situation the target group was mainly the poor living in the rural area. Several projects had also failed and more people died because of the poor construction. Engineers therefore advised to take their serious.
The physicians who participated in the study by filling in the questionnaires reported health issues. The horrible event was a health issue since many people or vehicles used the tunnel during daytime. According to physicians, it was estimated that over two hundred thousand vehicles use the tunnel during the day. During the tragedy, the ceiling that collapsed killed one person and the other got injured. Therefore if 200,000 people would have been involved then it could mean that the health care sector was to incur a big expense. The Engineers should be concerned with the lives of the other people since they are just human beings as others. It was not wrong if most people said that the incident was associated with terrorism. It could have been a massive killing in the US history apart from the bombing of September 11, 2001.
According to the my finding and analysis, I would strongly say that the Boston Tunnel event was as a result of poor construction by engineers. The project was very weak since some water leakage had been identified in the initial stages of the construction. This was a sign of carelessness and negligence. The epoxy that they used was used with oily steel, which does not form a strong bond. The whole construction process was wrongly done and monitored. Could be he contractors changed their working system to work against the plans on the way the tunnel was to be made and assembled. I strongly disagree with some comments that were raised by some officials of the construction company. According to the investigation or study, the quality of the concrete was not to blame for the accident that happened. The whole issue was concerned with the carelessness and laziness of the engineers. Assembling and mixing of the construction materials was not properly carried out. Failure of the government to take action was a sign of its interest on the project.
Conclusion
The Boston Tunnel event raised many ethical issues whereby the engineering issues were the major concern. For example areas of engineering were identified such as sustainability, nanotechnology neurotechnology and energy. Ethics can be built into the education of engineering students and professionals either as an aspect of courses already being taught or a component of engineering project to be examined along with research finding. An ethical engineer should not simply sell technical services to the highest bidder but has to think about the far-reaching effects of each project or job. It can be concluded that the collapse of the tunnel occurred as a result of the carelessness of the contractor and greediness about their interest and stomach. A project that had taken billions of dollars is not expected to last for a short period of time and then bring a big loss to the government. Those participating in construction projects should consider people’s life.
It is true that all these are brought by the new technological changes in the world. People should therefore learn about how to cope up with the changes in the environment brought by the new technology. Proper training should therefore be given whenever people use a new technology. All employees starting from the chief executive officers to sweepers in any organization should be trained to handle their duties effectively. The HR should ensure that all the organization members are aware of the new technology that is introduced within the organization. Supervision is also very important when work is being done. The supervisors of companies need to regularly monitor all the aspect of jobs that are being done by the organization members. Action should be taken whenever the supervisor identifies something wrong. This can also be done if proper evaluation of workers progress is followed.
Proper supervision was therefore lacking when the Central Artery Tunnel project was being constructed. This shows the weakness of the various heads of the construction company. They were supposed to carry regular supervision to the project to monitor how effective the job was being done. Best business practices were therefore not applied the supervisors, human resource department and the chief executive officer of the construction company.
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