Civil Engineering Professionals
Design, plan, organise and oversee the construction of civil engineering projects such as dams, bridges, pipelines, gas and water supply schemes, sewerage systems, roads, airports and other structures, analyse the likely behaviour of soil and rock when placed under pressure by proposed structures and design structural foundations, analyse the statical properties of all types of structures and test the behaviour and durability of materials used in their construction, and plan and develop transportation systems.
Soft ground on the road upgrade
You are a civil engineer on a road upgrade near a river, responsible for the design and for answering questions from the site. It is a wet Wednesday. Work has been going well, until the crew called you this morning. You have a site visit, a client and a community meeting to deal with before the end of the day.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
We have hit soft, wet ground where the report said it would be solid. The machines are sinking. I can get a load of rock in and keep going, or we can stop. I need to know what you want, because every hour costs us.
Tell Gaz to keep going with extra rock and sort out the design paperwork later
The work moves on, but nobody has checked whether the extra rock is enough. A section later settles and has to be rebuilt, which costs far more than a day of waiting.
Ask Gaz to stop that section, then visit the site, look at the ground and arrange extra testing before deciding
You arrive within the hour. The testing shows the soft layer is deeper than expected, and the design is adjusted before any more is built. You cost the crew half a day, and saved them a rebuild.
Ask Gaz to send photos and say you will review them at the end of the day
Gaz holds the section but the crew stands idle for hours. The photos help, but you could not judge ground from a picture, and you end up visiting anyway.
I have just heard about the ground problem. The opening is promised before the school term starts. If it costs more, I will have to explain to the councillors. Is there any way to keep this on schedule and on budget?
Promise it will stay on schedule and budget so she can reassure the councillors
Fiona repeats the promise. Weeks later the revised design needs more time and money, and she looks foolish. You said what she wanted to hear and not what you knew.
Tell Fiona what you know and what you don't, and say when you will have a better estimate
Fiona is not happy but she can plan, and tells the councillors a clear, honest story. Good news can wait for evidence, bad news should not wait for confirmation.
Say it is too early to say anything and ask her not to contact you until you have the results
You avoid guessing, but Fiona is left in the dark and calls your manager. A short plain update would have kept everyone calmer.
The trucks have been shaking my house all week, and now there are rumours the road might not hold. I have lived here for forty years. Can you tell me what is going on with the project?
Tell her it is all under control and that there is nothing at all for her to worry about right now
She leaves less worried for an hour. Then she finds out about the ground problem from a neighbour and feels she was told something false.
Tell her you do not handle community questions and give her the council's phone number
You send her to the right place, but she feels passed around. Even a few honest sentences would have shown her she was taken seriously.
Listen, explain simply what the problem is and what you are doing, and arrange regular updates
Mrs Kowalczyk thanks you for being straight. She even mentions where water gathers on her street, which helps your drainage design.
How it went
At the end of the day the soft section is closed off, extra testing is under way and everyone has been told the truth. Civil engineering means making careful decisions with incomplete information, and being honest about what you don't yet know. Would you be comfortable saying the ground is not what we thought?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The creek that would not stay in its bank
A fictional case set in a civil engineering consultancy designing roads, bridges, drains and flood works for towns.
The situation
The town of Linden Vale had flooded three times in a few years, and the council hired Praveen, a water engineer, to design a way to protect the main street. The first proposal was a high concrete wall along the creek. Shop owners liked it, but the families living downstream did not. They feared the wall would push floodwater onto their homes. The council wanted a decision before the next budget and a plan that nobody could argue with.
What they did
Praveen built a computer model of the creek and tested several ideas, including the wall. The model showed that the wall would indeed raise water levels downstream. He then tested a wider channel with a flood park that could fill during heavy rain, and a smaller wall. He presented the results at a public meeting with simple pictures, including the parts that did not work, and explained what each option would cost and protect.
How it turned out
The council chose the flood park and the smaller wall. It was slower and cost more than the original, and some shop owners were disappointed. After the next big rain the water filled the park and the main street stayed dry, as did the homes downstream.
What would you do?
- How would you feel presenting an answer that disappointed the people who hired you?
- Why is it useful to test ideas that do not work?
- Who should have a say in decisions that protect some people and put others at risk?