Essay Instructions: For this writing assignment, please examine, in detail, the following engineering ethics case study:
British Petroleum Texas Bay Explosion (2005) - local engineers want money for safety upgrades, and London will not give it to them. Big explosion with people killed.
The Writing Task - the write up should explain how ethical lapses contributed to the engineering failure. Describe the actions, as an engineer, that should be taken to come to grips with the failure, utilizing one of the ethical frameworks as a guide in influencing or determining the course of action. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of the actions you propose and provide justification using one of the ethical frameworks as a guideline in the analysis process.
Audience - identify an audience for the write up, this can be either a government regulatory agency such as the NTSB or the FDA, the company's board of directors, etc. Write your analysis to that audience, including info and analysis that would be of most interest and of most use to them. The audience you are addressing must be clearly specified in your paper. (I prefer general public as the audience)
Research and Analyzing the Case - Read about the case and understand the complex issues surrounding the case, including the parties in the case and the various components including engineering, management, regulatory, socio-technical and ethical. Decide what the major issues surrounding the engineering failure are. Also, consider which ethical frameworks best explains the ethical lapses in this engineering failure case.
IMPORTANT!!!!!!
Prepare a report for the audience that includes:
1. a one paragraph abstract of the paper
2. a description of the engineering failure based on news reports, technical literature, or governmental documents
3. an in-depth analysis of major issues surrounding the failure (engineering, management, regulatory, socio-technical)
4. an analysis of the ethical lapses (stakeholder's actions, decisions or interests, principles adopted or flouted, risks ignored and reasons for doing so, etc)
5. recommendations for actions, with analysis of the possible outcomes and justification based on one or more of the ethical frameworks.
6. a list of references consulted in preparing the report.
Common problems with the ethical case study:
1. Application of an Ethical Framework: You must apply a specific ethical framework to your chosen problem. However, before you apply it to your problem, you must give a general explanation of the framework. A good paper will answer the question: Why does this framework apply to the party at fault?
IMPORTANT: For this paper please use utilitarianism as the ethical framework. Utilitarianism is characterized by the fact that it measures the consequences of actions against one value: human pleasure, happiness, or welfare. In utilitarianism actions are judged by the amount of pleasure and pain they bring about. The action that brings the greatest happiness for the greatest number should be chosen.
2. Ethical Lapses: A listing of the ethical lapses involved in the case study must come after you state your ethical framework. You should identify how each ethical lapse violated the chosen ethical framework.
3. Solutions - What not to do: Identifying solutions is one of the hardest parts of the essay. What you should not do is simply state what the party "should" or "should not" have done.
Example of wrong solution:
Consider the Therac-25 radiation therapy machine case, in which, bad programming leads to people being fried when being treated. The Therac-25 technicians shouldn't have ignored error messages is not a helpful solution, this solution is simply opinion.
4. Solutions - What to do: Propose a concrete, specific solution that will aid adherence to the ethical framework.
Example: The Therac-25 technicians should immediately report error messages and machine malfunctions to AECL authorities, discontinuing treatment until receiving confirmation that the problem has been analyzed and corrected. In this case the solution adheres to duty ethics framework.
Here is the outline that I created for this paper. You are free to change/add/follow my outline.
Problem Statement:
This post-mortem report is directed to British Petroleum (BP) board of directors concerning the BP Texas City refinery explosion incident on March 23, 2005. A series of explosion occurred during the restarting of the hydrocarbon isomerization unit in the refinery. The main technical reason behind the explosion is the flooding of the overpressurized distillation column which ended up in a geyser of combustible vapor release in the vent stack. A car engine near the tower then ignited the vapor causing ghastly explosions that resulted in 15 deaths and 170 injuries. In the past few years, BP has many work incidents that is caused by BP’s unethical decisions of putting profit ahead of everything else. By only concentrating on money, they failed in utilitarianism ethical framework where a right decision must be made on the course that gives the greatest good for the greatest number. The recommended action for BP is to apply a new process safety regulation where workers can report any work hazards without fear of retaliation. With this solution, the BP will have more source and options before making decisions in accordance with utilitarianism ethics.
Description of Engineering Failure:
• It is all started when the refinery starts in the morning and operators overfilling the isomerization unit because the alarm failed to work
• When the shift change, the new operator was unaware of this condition and kept the feed running.
• The distillation column overflowed with liquid and it went all the way to the vent stack causing a geyser release of combustible vapor and liquid.
• The vapor went into an engine of nearby car and a spark ignited a big explosion in the refinery.
Analysis of major issues surrounding the failure:
• Trailers for workers were built too close to the isomerization unit.
• The operator doesn’t keep a decent record in the log book.
• The senior supervisor came late and left early leaving the operator with no experienced personnel in the refinery.
• The alarm that failed to work has been discovered before but no action was taken.
Analysis of ethical lapses:
• BP ignored any poor safety condition warning from the Texas City refinery analysis
• They cut back the budget leaving the refinery with inadequate workers especially in emergency.
• They only care about the worker’s personal safety instead of the whole refinery process safety.
• BP focuses mainly on profit and giving bonuses to workers who can cut the costs.
• BP didn’t apply the utilitarianism ethic when they make decisions.
Recommendations of actions:
• BP board of directors should appoint an additional non-executive member with professional expertise in refinery operations and process safety.
• Incorporate process safety in management decision making.
• Promote anyone in the company to report any hazard with no fear of retaliation.
• Apply utilitarianism ethics in every decision making so then it covers any options with their benefits and harms.
References:
Galveston County Health District, June 2, 2010, Blast Rips Texas City. [http://www.gchd.org/press/2005/03BPFire.htm, Accessed May 9, 2012]
Mauer, R., Tinsley, A. M., May 8, 2010, Gulf Oil Spill: BP Has a Long Record of Legal, Ethical Violations: McClatchy Newspaper. [http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/08/93779/bp-has-a-long-record-of-legal.html, Accessed May 9, 2012]
U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, 2007, Investigation Report Refinery Explosion and Fire: Texas City, Texas, U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, 341 p. [http://www.csb.gov/assets/document/CSBFinalReportBP.pdf]
Nocera, J., June 18, 2010, BP Ignored the Omens of Disaster: The New York Times. [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/business/19nocera.html?pagewanted=all, Accessed May 9, 2012]