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To: Ilaine who wrote (2639)	11/8/2002 8:33:51 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6901

<I don't think engineers go through this process because engineers are not allowed to make mistakes. If it might not work, engineers won't take the risk.> Engineers do go through the process, but their mistakes are less immediate [usually]. Also, they don't get to bury their mistakes with the cloak of 'medical misadventure' or see them slink off to a life of sadness or incarceration and social disruption. Engineers' mistakes are big and ugly. I never actually designed big buildings, but the idea of it made me feel sick. Imagine being the person in charge of causing a lot of dead people. Imagine the engineers who thought the Twin Towers would stand. Even though the design might never have included unbelievable risk at the time of deliberate flying of aircraft, two at a time, into the buildings. Aircraft of that size had barely been invented at the time. People hadn't realized comets really can hit oceans and make tsunamis. Wars were possible, but usually warned about and evacuation could be carried out. With asbestos fire protection, they might still be standing, albeit a bit the worse for wear. Maybe engineers thought the cockpit doors should be made to prevent entry but they were over-ruled by cost-cutting managers. A friend was in charge of the Ruahihi Canal construction near Tauranga [in NZ, 1978]. I was a salesman for BP Oil. Having been a civil engineer, I was quite interested in proceedings. I didn't know my friend was involved [both of us having arrived there from other places in the world unbeknownst to each other]. I noticed a really steep bank on the side of the canal and thought it was a long way down. It was an earth canal. They have a relatively impermeable earth lining to prevent excessive leakage. I thought a coating of bitumen would be a good idea to keep ALL the water in and to avoid any risk of high pore water pressures which can lead to leaking, piping and total failure. I wrote to the company suggesting it. They weren't really interested so I got on with other things. As a sale, it would have been trivial, it was just interesting to me and something I thought they should do. The Prime Minister came along and they opened it. They had filled it up so it looked really good. A day or so later, it did what I had worried about. The whole damn think bust open and kilometres of water from the canal cut out a huge valley and away it went, fortunately not killing anyone. I came upon the scene on the way back from Hamilton later than day and got stuck in the traffic while they were clearing the road down by the river. $10 million down the drain for want of $5,000 of bitumen. Poor design = failure and huge cost. My friend now runs a squash court in Australia. I don't think he did much more in engineering, even though that wasn't his problem. Maybe he got hung with it somehow - I don't know. It was only years later I found out he was there! Ships in the night. <At the end of the process (which I found searing, as if being put through fire and melted, almost) I attained a state of mind I call professionalism.> Professionalism is the word I thought doctors etc would use, before reading as far as your use of it. But to me it is very often less flattering than professionalism. Inured, heartless, cynical, are other words which I'm sure are equally applicable in many instances [not for you - if the process is long and arduous, I expect inured would be the best choice]. How would you like to be the engineer with the o'rings? I guess you know which ones I mean. Doctors have it easy. Lawyers don't even have to bury anyone. How about the Hubble lens? Engineers seek truth probably because they are scared witless about the consequence of mistakes. They know how impossible it is to do things right, even if everybody tries really hard and some aren't digging holes below the waterline or sabotaging the operations manual. Mqurice