Beruflich Dokumente
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0 INTRODUCTION
In Malaysia, there are few bodies of the code ethics. An engineer must be
registered with the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) to get professional
recognition and in order to practice or take up employment which requires us to
perform professional engineering services in Malaysia. The Registration of Engineers
Act 1967 sets out the requirements of the registration of engineers in Malaysia. BEM
is the main statutory body of engineers in Malaysia constituted under the
Registration of Engineers Act 1967 with perpetual succession and a common seal,
which may sue and be sued. It was formed in 23rd August 1972. Its primary role is
to facilitate the registration of engineers and regulate the professional conduct and
practice of registered engineers in order to safeguard the safety and interest of the
public. Besides that, Institutions of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) is a learning
organization for engineers. In order to get privileges from IEM, an engineer need to
register to be member first and there are a lot of membership types. Engineers
need to register to be graduate member to start getting privileges in term of
trainings, industry exposure and so on. Differ from BEM, IEM recognize experience
from the graduation date.
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The following Regulations on Professional Conduct are made by the Council
under Section IX of the Bylaws. In these regulations member means a member of
any grade referred to in Section II of the Bylaws, and employer includes client. B.
(1) A member shall at all times take care to ensure that his work and the products of
his work constitute no avoidable danger of death or injury or ill health to any
person.
(2) A member shall take all reasonable steps to avoid waste of natural resources,
damage of the environment, and wasteful damage or destruction of the products of
human skill and industry.
(3) A member shall take all reasonable steps to maintain and develop his
professional competence by attention to new developments in science and
engineering relevant to his field of professional activity and, if he is an employer,
shall encourage his professional employees to do likeness.
(5) A member shall accept personal responsibility for all work done by him or under
his supervision or direction, and shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that
persons working under his authority are competent to carry out the tasks assigned
to them and that they accept personal responsibility for work done under the
authority delegated to them.
(6) A member called upon to give an opinion in his professional capacity shall, to
the best of his ability, give an opinion that is objective and reliable.
(7) A member whose professional advice is not accepted shall take all reasonable
steps to ensure that the person overruling or neglecting his advice is aware of any
danger which the member believes may result from overruling or neglect.
(8) A member shall not make any public statement in his capacity as a professional
engineer without ensuring that his qualification to make such a statement and any
association he may have with any party which may benefit from his statement are
made known to the person or persons to whom it is directed.
(11) A member shall inform his employer in writing of any conflict between his
personal interest and faithful service to his employer.
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(12) A member shall not improperly disclose any information concerning the
business of his employer or of any past employer.
As an engineer of a company, the activities that are currently carried out had
cause negative impact on HSE regulation. To improve HSE, the production must be
stop until the risk is under control but stopping production will cause our production
cannot reach the target. How would you handle a situation where there is a conflict
between the IEM Regulations on Professional Conduct and commercial
consideration?
3.0 OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of this report is to discuss the way to handle the situation
where we need to follow the IEM regulation at the same time getting the scheduled
target of production required of the company.
1. To identify and control the risk that causes impact on Health, Safety and
Environmental (HSE) issue.
4.0 DISCUSSION
In this matter, due to the production activities of the company had cause an
adverse health, safety and environment (HSE) impact, as a responsible engineer
we have to stop the entire production for a period of time in order to solve the
overall risk so that to improve HSE quality. We will immediately stop the project and
report to company although might caused the project could not meet the schedule
and targets. Right after that, we discuss with company on the repair and
rectification works and also the contingency plan to catch up the schedule of the
project activities and production once the repair works is completed. The Figure 4.1
below shows the action procedure that we will consider to solve this conflict
effectively.
Figure 4.1: The step action to be taken to solve the conflict between HSE and
commercial consideration.
First of all, the immediate action to carry out once I notice my project
activities or plant production had caused an adverse HSE impact is stop the
project and report to company. For example in mining industry case, stop work
once noticed there are signs about tunnel access and its underground structure will
be the best solution to uphold safety of the mining workers. I choose to stop the
project even this decision might cause the project could not meet the schedule and
targets of the project because there are laws or acts such as IEM Regulations on
Professional Conduct, Environmental Quality Act (EQA) and 1974 Occupational,
Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994 that need to be followed. If offended the laws
and acts, fines and imprisonment could be imposed and also impact the reputation
of the company. Furthermore, the self-voluntary stop work is not merely obligation
to the laws, but also indeed the commitment of HSE and sustainability of project
activities or plant production. Stop all the work at the early stage when notice
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problems is better than waiting until the problem becoming serious could maintain
good image for company and make business sustainable. In general, engineers
should hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public. Engineers
having knowledge of any alleged violation of the code shall report to appropriate
professional bodies and to public authorities, also cooperate with the proper
authorities in furnishing such information or assistance as may be required.
During the ceasing period, all the problems related to personnel and
measurement of the project should be evaluated and fixed. After the project is
stopped, the causes of problems and proper solutions have to be identified
prior or ready to be carried out. In general, if machine problem, machine shall be
repaired and replaced. If the working environment, the place shall be cleaned and
arranged in order. Besides that, experts and related personnel should change the
work flow and inform all the staffs if the work place causing HSE matters. Necessary
trainings should be provided to all the staffs to sharpen the capability of carrying
out the project.
As summary, after the problems are identified, work must be stop at early
stage rather wait until serious damage take place, this could maintain good
corporate image and make the business sustainable. Engineers having knowledge
of any alleged violation of this Code shall report thereon to appropriate professional
bodies and, when relevant, also to public authorities, and cooperate with the proper
authorities in furnishing such information or assistance as may be required. The
stop work period will provide full access of all relevant personnel and measurement
to repair and rectify the problems to solve the problem in the shortest time. During
the stop work and repair work period, planning and schedule to catch the project
and production activities can be carried out, which can cover all aspects after the
completion of repair works. The planning can cover order and delivery of materials,
sourcing for suitable tools, machines and technology to carry work in an efficient
and speedy ways, training of staffs to be more skilful and employment of additional
manpower.
(1) A member shall at all times take care to ensure that his work and the
products of his work constitute no avoidable danger of death or injury or ill
health to any person.
(2) A member shall take all reasonable steps to avoid waste of natural resources,
damage of the environment, and wasteful damage or destruction of the
products of human skill and industry.
(3) A member shall take all reasonable steps to maintain and develop his
professional competence by attention to new developments in science and
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engineering relevant to his field of professional activity and, if he is an
employer, shall encourage his professional employees to do likeness.
We will discuss this case with respect to the related codes of conduct as it is
very important for the engineer to follow and obey all the rules in the professional
conduct stated yet we need also to fulfill the required demand of the client to take
care of the commercial consideration as the following solution.
1. A member shall at all times take care to ensure that his work and
the products of his work constitute no avoidable danger of death or
injury or ill health to any person.
The first regulation mentioned above told us not to endanger the safety and
health of our employee or any person regardless what the activities are carried out.
As a very first point to solve the safe and health problem in workplace is the mind
set needed that it is necessary to put as much energy into our commitment to
safety and health as we put into any other important part of the business. It must
always keep in mind that safety and healthy are important issue to be considered
when carry out any plan of work and it is everyone's responsibility. In a safe and
healthy workplace, employees have a stake in the success of the program hence we
need to actively encourage employee involvement and hold people accountable
and makes sure everyone does their part for the sake of safety and healthy work
condition. In this case I suggest that we can have some related action as stated in
the following points for a long term benefit:
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Discipline employees who behave in ways that could harm themselves
or other.
Once I know the hazards, I can decide how to control them as well. I try to
prioritize the hazards that found by ranking which of them are most likely to cause
serious injury or illness and the time needed to fix it. Then, I will make a plan for
correcting the hazards by conducting the job hazard analysis to identify how best to
correct the hazards and also find out best practices from companies in the particular
industry. After that, I could effectively correct the hazards by several ways for
example the engineering controls to eliminate the hazards through safe tools,
facilities, and equipment.
Some administrative controls also can be carried out though they do not
remove the hazards directly but they will reduce exposure by changing the work
practices, for instance, safety precaution and rules in workplaces, rotating workers
and some training programs when needed. Health and safety policy can be set as
the general approach and management arrangements for health and safety. The
policy should describe how health and safety controls are implemented and
monitored and should be reviewed regularly. For example, the statement of general
policy can be stated as to provide clear instructions and information, and adequate
training in order to ensure the employees are competent to do their work. In this
matter, the action needs to be taken will be the staff and subcontractors given
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necessary health and safety induction and provided with appropriate training which
included working at height, asbestos awareness and electrical safety, and personal
protective equipment. We as engineer must ensure that suitable arrangements are
in place to cover employees engaged in work remote from the main company site.
Another necessary policy might be the implementation of emergency procedures,
which is the evacuation in case of fire or other significant incident. The escape
routes must be well signed and kept clear at all times and the evacuation plans are
tested from time to time and updated as necessary so that immediate movement of
people away from the occurrence of hazard.
For a more direct and easiest way, some personal protective equipment
that puts a barrier between the employee and the hazard can be used, for example,
gloves or safety shoes. For high risk to safety and health activities such as job
expose to radiation in a nuclear power plant, the action we can take such as prepare
enough number of radiation protection outfit, always check and maintain equipment
use during the job to ensure it is functioning in good condition. These simple steps
such as PPE and maintenance are the way for us to reduce the risk even though we
cannot eliminate them. For example, works in construction such as manual handling
in industries that likely to pose ergonomic hazards should be rectify. Manual
handling will lead to longer term or recurrent problems known as musculoskeletal
disorders (MSDs). Lifting machine should be introduced instead of handling with
manpower. The Figure 4.2 below shows the signboard that is usually at workplace to
ensure the safety of all workers. At work, employers are responsible for providing,
replacing and paying for personal protective equipment.
Figure 4.2: Sign to ensure all the workers to wear PPE at all time to ensure
safety.
Lastly, we need to evaluate the changes had made to make sure they have
corrected the problems and not created other hazards. Furthermore, periodically re-
survey the work environment and work practices are necessary as well to
continuously improve the system. We need consulting with the employees once at a
time as the law says that employers must consult their workers on health and
safety. Consultation does not mean telling workers about health and safety. It means
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discussing health and safety with them to allow them to raise concerns and
influence decisions.
For example, in the mining industry, exploration and mining for minerals or
extractive minerals can cause damage to the environment. Thus, the company must
take reasonable steps to avoided damage to the environment.
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An Authorisation is required from the Department of Mines and Energy
before undertaking exploration or mining activities
Mining companies must have environmental protection management
systems in place for mining sites
Mining companies must pay money as security to the Department of Mines
and Energy so that mining sites can be rehabilitated and any environmental
harm caused by mining activities can be cleaned up without the Northern
Territory government having to pay for it
Every person on a mining site has an obligation to take care of the
environment
Operators must ensure that the environmental impact of mining activities is
limited to what is necessary for the establishment, operation and closure of
a site
Operators of mining sites have to set up an environmental protection
management system and check that it works
A person must not willfully or recklessly cause environmental harm on a
mining site or interfere with or misuse anything provided on a mining site
for environmental protection
Any person on a mining site must follow all reasonable directions given by
the operator about preventing environmental harm
i. Reducing inputs
Water
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Energy
Many of the processes can be very energy-intensive processes, such as mining and
metal processing. For instance, diesel fuel is used by trucks and excavators during
mining, electricity is used to grind ore and refine copper and aluminum, and coal is
required in order to smelt iron ore and make steel. The extraction of fossil fuels
(coal, oil, and gas), and the construction of infrastructure required for energy
generation have their own environmental impacts, including the production of
greenhouse gases and increased risk of environmental contamination along the
energy supply route. Reducing energy consumption at mines can reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and extend the life of fossil fuel reserves in addition to
reducing operating costs and therefore the cost of the commodity being mined.
Land disruption
There are a number of ways to reduce the land-use impacts. These include reducing
the overall footprint of the operation area, minimizing the amount of waste
produced and stored, maintaining biodiversity by transplanting or culturing any
endangered plants found on site, and planning mines around existing infrastructure
where possible. Although current technology requires ores to be excavated in order
to produce metals, research in areas such as bio-mining offers the possibility of
mining with minimal land disruption in the future.
Waste
Manufacturing waste includes solid waste, used water, and air particles, which can
vary significantly in their composition and potential for environmental
contamination. In addition to preventing soil, water, and air pollution, waste
management plans are required in order to select and design appropriate storage
facilities for the large volumes of waste produced at most industry sites.
In this case, reasonable steps should be taken in order to solve the problem
by replanning the production of the specified products. For example, calculate how
many number of parts that we need to produce due to production down time period
and divide it among every coming month whenthe production line is recovered.
Giving overtime bonus to all workers is one of the ways to ensure the production get
going until it reach our target and catch up with the losses.The next step is to find
sub-contractor to produce the products when the company is unable but to cease
the project or production due to unavoidable accidents happened. Compare to
losing the whole batch of production within the stopping period, we try to reduce
the losses by finding sub-contractor so that to ensure our product keep on supplying
to our customers.
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by conducting the GMP, those unnecessary accidents can be avoided indirectly and
so smoothing the production procedures. The Figure 4.3 below show the GMP
process for production control in re-planning stage.
Figure 4.3: Good Manufacturing Practice Process for production control in re-
planning stage.
Lastly, all engineers in the company should take responsibility on taking care
of every single worker working under them. They should always monitor their
performance, frequently ask them is there any problems with the current working
condition so that we can improve from time to time to ensure no accident happened
and assure the health of all worker in good condition. Frequent body check-up for
every employee should also be provided by the company to make sure their body is
in optimal condition. For example, those employees who always expose with high
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frequency sound production might cause them in counting with ear problems such
as ear pain. Hence, regular body check-up should be carried out in order to
minimize health risk.
As a responsible and qualified engineer, they also need to make sure all
workers follow SOP set by company on every equipment. If there is any employee
that trying to violate the standard procedures, proper actions should be taken by an
engineer such as reporting to the management so that all employees follow and
fulfill the requirements set by the company.
5.0 CONCLUSION
6.0 REFERENCE
ii. http://www.hse.gov.uk/toolbox/ppe.htm
iii. http://www.bakeryandsnacks.com/Processing-Packaging/Oregon-fines-
ConAgra-for-nitrate-pollution
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iv. http://www.miningfacts.org/Environment/How-can-mining-become-more-
environmentally-sustainable/
7.0 APPENDIX
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