Engineering Achievements that the World Marvelled At

By : Nethaniell Premdas Anthony Dass (700037538)

Throughout the course of history, many engineering feats have been know to amaze the world. The Seven
wonders of the Industrial World are also one of them. In the four-week classes of Engineering Connections,
I have reviewed four out of the seven wonders of the industrial world which are the S.S Great Eastern,
America’s First Transcontinental Railway, the Brooklyn Bridge and Bazalgette’s London Sewers. In my
reflection, I will focus on the ethical aspect and engineering aspect of the four documentaries.

The first aspect that I would like to discuss about is the aspect of ethics. An engineer with ethics is expected
to have qualities such as honesty, impartiality, fairness, equity and dedication to the protection of the
public health, safety, and welfare[ CITATION IES17 \l 17417 ]. Regarding the Great Eastern by Isambard
Kingdom Brunel, the construction was shown to be unethical on a few occasions. Russell was hiding
information about his debts and the process of constructing the ships which was a breach of terms. Brunel
demanded Russell to provide information on the usage of materials as agreed upon on their contract.
Instead, Brunel only managed to get irrelevant answers and half truths. In my opinion, Russell should have
discussed the matter with Brunel and they could have come up with a solution together. The documentary
also stated that riveting of the hull was done by children. The children were working between the metal
hulls in scorching heat with only a pair of gloves as safety equipment. Some cases of burns by hot rivets
were also reported by the workers. During the dismantling of The Great Eastern, it was rumoured that a
child’s dead body was found in between the hulls. In today’s world, child labour is unethical and absolutely
unacceptable. This causes long-term psychological, physical, societal and behavioral consequences to
children[ CITATION Fer18 \l 17417 ]. Furthermore, safety measures such as harnesses and guardrails should
have been used and death of workers could have been averted.[ CITATION OSH15 \l 17417 ]

Regarding America’s First Transcontinental Railroad, the project was run by the Central Pacific Railroad.
During the construction, Chinese labours were discriminated and treated unfairly compared to white
labours. The Chinese got a significantly lower amount of pay eventhough they all worked in a similarly
dangerous environment. They were also assigned to more difficult task compared to the others such as an
environment where Nitroglycerine was used as explosives to excavate rocky terrain. In return, the Chinese
workers held a strike and demanded for what was rightfully theirs, food and pay. Instead, they were
deprived of food and sent back into work starving. There was also a financial scandal involving Union
Pacific. At this time of the world, this would be considered embezzlement and could be punished under the
law.[ CITATION Mon \l 17417 ]

One of the lesson I learnt from the ethics aspect is to make sure the safety measures at the workplace are
properly addressed. As an engineer, I should be take responsibility upon the safety of my workers by
providing proper safety equipments such as helmets, boots, safety nets, guardrails and harnesses. These
steps will also aid in preventing accidents and injuries in the workplace which could severely affect the
progress of work. Another lesson I learnt is to treat all of my employees equally with no regard to their race
or public status. Everyone should be given an equal opportunity to showcase their work and talent. I will
also make sure there is no dispute between my employees and if there is any, I will take proper steps to
overcome them such as informing my higher officer about such events.

On the other hand, the engineering aspect also piqued my interest and is something I want to discuss
about. The Brooklyn Bridge was built on water and the construction of it came with its risks. One of the
challenges Washington Roebling, the chief engineer faced was the lack of technological advancements to
perform risky tasks. An example of such risky tasks is laying a foundation on the riverbed. Washington and
his workers decided to use the caisson method manually since they had no technology to do so. As the
chief engineer, Washington also had the responsibility to ensure the well being of his workers. The workers
and Washington himself were victims of the caisson disease which is due to release of nitrogen gas bubbles
that impinge the blood vessels of the spinal cord and brain and result in severe neurodeficit [ CITATION
Uda10 \l 17417 ]. Washington was faced with a challenge when he had to make a decision whether to lose
more of his men or to change the plan of the construction. He managed it well by trusting his foundation
and choosing his men’s lives over the bridge. When the bridge was completed, there was one risk that
could have been potentially fatal. Defective cables were used in the construction. Washington claimed that
the bridge had high built-in safety margin which could hold the bridge in place. If he was wrong and the
cables snapped, there would have been a high possibility of injuries or death to the users of the bridge.

Joseph Bazalgette wanted to free the people of London from cholera and the stench of sewage waste that
flowed on the streets and Thames river. He had a plan and it was the Sewer King. As it was a huge project,
Bazalgette faced big challenges in the construction of the sewers. One of it being the time taken for the
plans of the sewers to be approved by politicians. Early plans of the sewer construction was rejected by the
chief commissioner as he believed it would not be able to carry sewage out of London. Bazalgette took 8
years and the return of cholera to convince the government to approve his project. The workers of the
sewers were also withdrawn by their contracting company halfway through the construction and they
demanded for a higher pay. They wanted a raise from 5 shillings to 6 shillings a day. Bazalgette agreed as he
did not want to delay the construction any longer as people’s life was on the line. The stakeholders of this
project were Bazalgette, the workers and the people of London. An example of this issue is when Bazalgette
was blamed for the accident that happened to railway workers when it was the railway workers fault to dig
too deep to the sewers. During the construction, earth and timber fell upon men working underground and
6 of them were missing. 3 of them survived, 2 dead and one was never found even after 15 hours of
searching. Hence, the lives of workers were on stake. If the sewer system failed, the people of London
would not have been relieved of cholera and many would have died.

The lesson I learnt from these 2 documentaries are that as an engineer, I must be ready to face challenges
and risk at any cost. I should also use proper technology to carry out specific tasks as it will reduce cost,
manpower and time taken to perform the tasks. I should also be able to make sophisticated choices based
on sudden changes to plans and outcomes as it may help progress of the project. Another lesson I learnt is
to not give up easy and keep trying again and again until I succeed. I will also make sure the materials used
for the projects are of the highest quality which is strong. These steps will make sure the structures of
projects are strong and last very long.

In conclusion, the lessons I have learnt from these documentaries are absolutely valuable and I will use
them in the future for my engineering career. These documentaries have also inspired me to create such
feats and make a name for myself in the engineering field.

References
GS, I. (2017). Retrieved from IES General Studies: https://iesgeneralstudies.com/ethics-in-engineering-
profession/

OSHA. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3146.pdf

Phatak, U. A. (2010). Retrieved from NCBI: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2981759/

Quesada, F. (2018). Retrieved from NCBI: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6198592/

Steiner, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from Criminal Defense Lawyer:

https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/crime-penalties/federal/embezzlement.htm