Print this page Ethical Issues from the Panama Canal Failure
J. Paul Guyer, P.E., R.A., Fellow ASCE, Fellow AEI
Course Outline
1. INTRODUCTION
2. WHAT HAPPENED
3. THE ENGINEERING ISSUES
4. THE HUMAN FACTORS
5. THE ETHICAL ISSUE
6. LESSONS LEARNED
This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.
Learning Objective
At the conclusion of this course, the student will:
- Learn about the history of the project and the economic and political issues that shaped its development;
- Learn about the French commercial and government interests that promoted this project;
- Learn about the engineering issues that were overridden by the French commercial interests;
- Learn about the competing routes for the canal, and how the specific route and alignment in Panama came to be selected;
- Learn how rudimentary soils engineering principles and practices were ignored by French promoters of the project;
- Learn how the project was undertaken without an engineering plan for the critical transection of the canal and the Chagres River;
- Learn how the project was undertaken without an engineering plan for managing differential tidal fluctuations in the Atlantic and Pacific;
- Learn about the political machinations by French interests to obtain an exclusive franchise to build the canal in Panama;
- Learn how the pressure on French canal promoters to produce a profitable project overrode good engineering methods and practices; and
- Learn how engineers need to avoid similar ethical traps in the future.
Intended Audience
This course is intended for engineers, architects and other design and construction professionals who need to understand that reasonable and prudent engineering methods and practices cannot be allowed to be overridden by commercial and political goals of project promoters.
Benefit for Attendee
This course will give engineers and others an ethical framework within which to address many complex engineering projects that challenge the limits of engineering theoretical knowledge and experience.
Course Introduction
This is a discussion of issues in ethics in a civil engineering project, but it has application in all engineering disciplines and fields of practice.
About Course Author
Paul Guyer is a registered mechanical engineer, civil engineer, fire protection engineer and architect with over 35 years experience in the design of buildings and related infrastructure. For an additional 9 years he was a senior-level advisor to the California Legislature on infrastructure and capital outlay issues. He has designed and supervised the design of hundreds of construction projects requiring the preparation of detailed working drawings and specifications for federal, state and local public agencies and private companies. He is a graduate of Stanford University and has held numerous national, state and local positions with the American Society of Civil Engineers and National Society of Professional Engineers.
Course Content
The course content is contained in the following PDF file:
Ethical Issues from the Panama Canal Failure
Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.
Course Summary
This course will give engineers and others an insight into the lessons that can be learned from the tragic failure of French commercial and political interests to build a Panama canal in the 1880s.
Quiz
Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.
DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.
