Juan RangelMichael YassaMyles VillanuevaLorenc HoxhaThuan Tran Mohd Faiz Abdillah

EGR 402: Incident at Morales

• Fred Martinez, a licensed professional engineer

• Signed on to work for Phaust Chemicals.

• Tasked to design a new plant in Morales Mexico.

• He believes he has fulfilled his ethical responsibility to design a safe and efficient plant, but he and his colleagues are told by corporate headquarters to both cut budgets and get the plant on line faster.

Fred Martinez

Ethics Analysis

Ethical Issues

Lutz and Lutz Controls

• Wally claims that Lutz and Lutz controls are the best among the available alternatives.

• He also claims that the fact that Chuck's brother-in-law works with Lutz and Lutz is not a relevant factor.

Couplings

• In choosing both the type of couplings and piping as well as to use a local (Mexico) supplier without a plant inspection, what factors should Fred take into account?

• How does Fred balance safety and reliability with the need to cut costs due to the parent company's recent acquisitions?

Ethical Tests

• Harm test: Phaust did not care about the long-term quality of the plant.

• Colleague test: Professional colleagues may have said that I should have not joined

and processed the project of the plant.

• Publicity test: The death of Manuel caused by the usage of cheap pipe and control

is an embarrassing mark for the company and for me, who took care of the project.

• Common practice test:If everyone produces a product with inconsistent quality, then people

will be harmed in the process

Ethical tests:

Issues are defined in a stakeholder roles

Issues are defined in a stakeholder roles:

• Budget cut from the company’s parent.• Instead of using high pressure alloy for pipe running to

and from mixing vessels, Fred used steel pipe.• Used flanges and couplings that cannot sustain for high

pressure and high temperature for an extended period.• Determined whether or not line evaporation pond which

has all the waste from the plant.

Responsibility

Responsibility:

• Chuck and Wally should take their share of the responsibility on this incident because they tried to meet up with the budget cuts by buying cheap materials, but they didn’t care if there would be any consequences in using the materials.

• Many factors caused the problems: pressure from the parent company, managers, budget cuts, and low quality materials.

Improving The Conditions

How Improving The Conditions

• L&L controls and switch

• Replace or repair cheap and brittle couplings and flanges

• Work conditions with the higher ups

• International laws and standards

• Worker protection and rights

Questions???