Presentation of“Engineering Failures and Case Studies in Ethics”

Topic (B. F. Goodrich A7D aircraft brake failure (1968))

need finshed in 2 hours 

Each of the 20 topics covers a significant

engineering failure that occurred due to some combination of the following issues:

o Faulty assumptions made during the engineering design cycle.

o Overconfidence and lack of attention to risk management.

o Inadequate testing of prototypes, excessive focus on rushing a product to market

in spite of known flaws, scheduling pressures from unrealistic deadlines.

o Deficiencies in regulatory oversight such as regulatory capture by businesses,

inadequate or ineffective legislation, failure of regulations to keep up with

advancements in technology.

o Business-related problems such as cultural and communications issues: lack of

coordination and communication between design teams in different areas or

countries, language barriers, inadequate staffing and resources, excessive focus

on company financials and budgets, “short-term” thinking.

o Ethical issues such as falsified data, inadequate peer review of designs,

corruption and bribery, engineering staff working outside the scope of their

competency, suppression of information about design flaws to enable continued

sales of known defective or hazardous products, conflicts of interest.

• Each student will need to perform research into their chosen topic and present the

following information in their presentation. Each presentation should be 7-10 minutes

in length.

o What were the most prominent factors that caused the engineering failure to

occur?

o Where did ethics violations occur and how did they contribute to the failure?

o What deficiencies in oversight procedures, regulations, and engineering

practices contributed to the failure?

o What changes were brought about by the engineering failure? Examples may

include more stringent regulations and oversight, financial and legal

consequences, overhauling of engineering and regulatory procedures, and

changes to engineering and design practices.

• Cite at least three quality references in your presentation slides. Case studies, reports

from governmental agencies, and well-researched factual articles from major media

outlets are good sources of information. Sources such as blogs from unknown authors

and forum posts should not be considered quality references.

• Each presentation should follow this format:

o Overview of the engineering failure and contributing factors.

o Consequences of the engineering failure: societal, legal, and financial.

o Changes that occurred because of the failure and effects that these changes

have had on society, public safety, laws and regulations, and the engineering

profession.