Whistle blowing is basically an act of alerting the higher ups when an engineer found out that a product/process produced by the company is unsafe. Internal whistle blowing is to report to the boss/higher-up, while external whistle blowing is to inform to mass media and such.

Ok keeping story short, engineers are supposed to have the public's safety and interest as their main concern. If they found out something that could endanger the public, they should take measures to rectify it. Whistle blowing comes as a last resort.

Now, another concern is that in most of the countries, the law does not protect these whistle blowers. Also, while engineer should focus on public safety, they are naturally more concerned about keeping their job.

Thus the problem and focus of this discussion is that, should or should not one whistle blow? Save the people or save my own job?
Is it possible to compel the government to legislate a law to protect whistle blowers?

Discussable? XD

(I guess the correct tag would be Philosophy?)

Discussable? XD


sure discussable.. but is it the right place??? ahaha....

i think malaysians need to be train for emergency.. eg.. when in public, an alarm broke, people would just ignore it until it explodes....

am i right? what would you do if your in midvalley and alarm went off non stop?

I think the proper place should be RWI. But after some time there, I felt the people there aren't exactly, well, discussable if you know what I mean.

Well if there's alarm people would be slightly on the edge. When there are announcement saying there are accidents in the mall, panic would strike.

Do you want to talk about Corporate Governance in regards of whistle blowing policy?

Regards, Joey

yes... announcement would be the keyword instead of ringgg........ wee woo wee woo.....

so it seems like this thread is more on ethical... future of your job which you built for decades or life of people??

Redundancies, ethical questioning, rational thinking...depends on how big the issue in hand is.

Erin Brockovich-Ellis is a very good case to study upon. But we are speaking whistle blowing in Malaysia? I don't think it's totally feasible.

Regards, Joey

Perhaps you can shed some light on it?

Yeap. In fact it's one of my subject for this semester. It got me thinking, engineers have such huge responsibilities, yet we're paid peanut; overwork and underpaid.

How far would you want to take the case? Such incidences can be brought into Court for hearing.

In addition, you can do some reading on Jeffrey Wigand (tobacco case). I've lost the folio which I did back during my Univ time. It's a very good argumentative topic. It is challenging as well because it provokes multiple angles thinking and evaluation from each and every possible outcome.

Regards, Joey

This post has been edited by Joey Christensen: Nov 11 2009, 11:43 AM

which major? mechanical?? local U??

I must admit that we studied the same but doc and lawyer get better reputations...

I think,it's always ethics first,than my job.

If a structure fails,people get killed or get injured.That would put you in even bigger trouble than losing your job,like you can practise anymore or get jailed.

I havent done ethics yet,though.

Thats true,we have to work like a horse and get paid with some peanuts.

Engineering isnt really a glamorous job,to be honest.Still,it's the cool stuff you do/learn makes it fun.

Erm, I'm just referring to whistle blowing in general. In my texts I've read cases on the Intel Pentium chip flaw, Challenger and a lot of other cases.
Thing is, errors in most casses could have actually been prevented. In the case of Challenger, the obvious choice was to delay/postpone the launch. But the management insisted with the launch just to please Mr Bush.

So I'm wondering, how far could we, in Malaysia, go as to whistle blow? For one, the whistle blower's job would be at stake.

Yeah local U, electrical

Engineering isn't as glamorous. But it does the most for humanity!

That's true. The phrase "I'm able to engineer a thousand years of pain up your butt!" is much cooler than "Objection!" and "Take this twice a day after meal" XD XD

I did read about a few cases on large scale failures,like a huge concrete dam collapse and flooded a few village because someone didnt report on the rock toe failure.

That could prevented by the whistle blowing.

Yeap.Thats what i like about it.

Like what my dean said last time,save the world.



True.It's always cooler than "Objection" since day 1.

Thing is, it does sound very honorable to save the humanity. But then, who's going to save me after I've saved them?

Since you can save people,like preventing bad stuff from happening to them,i think you should be capable enough to save yourself too,right?

If not,consult someone who can save you?

ahahah... you got that right...

what is transformerwithout engineer..
what is Iphone without engineer
what is CAD scanw ithout engineer....

you know, till now I haven seen any drama dedicaated to engineer you know, i`ve seen drama on police, doctor, lawyer, fireman etc etc.. but engineer?

For our local scene, does this ring a bell?

"Whistle blower will surface only at a Royal Commission of Inquiry".

Regards, Joey

It's because engineer's work have nothing interesting to show on TV.It's just spread sheets,software analysis,or some dirty construction.

It's just not interesting to show it on TV.There isnt much tension or excitement in it.

~lynn~,

Your conscience.

What does doing the RIGHT thing has anything to do with HONOR??

You either do the RIGHT thing or you will face the consequences from God or Karma. There is NO ESCAPE. And, you do not have to wait for judgment day either.

Treat others like how you like to treated.
The Golden Rule

You build a bridge that last. You hope that people will return the favor so that when you walk under a bridge, it will not collapse on top of you. This is how the world works. If people STOP doing the RIGHT thing, they cannot expect OTHERS to do the same. We have MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY to each other.

You do not need to believe in any religion to understand this.

Dreamer

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Added on November 3, 2009, 9:46 amCheesenium,

Obviously, you do not watch

A) Learning channel

B) Discovery channel

C) History Channel

D) Sci-Fi Channel

Dreamer

This post has been edited by dreamer101: Nov 3 2009, 09:46 AM

not those....

DRAMATIC one... like ER, shield for docrot and police...

I did watched a documentary about the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan last two years if I'm not mistaken.

It was full of tension and everyone is praying for the engineering miracle to happen. Basically it's is man against nature. I can see the tensions in those Japanese engineer's eyes. Everything is calculated to the millimetres of difference between the hinge and the bearings.

The slightest mistake can cause the whole bridge to be scrap. Raging water of the sea, the unforgiving wind blowing, it's all in an engineer work. To be honest, I didn't know engineering is that unforgiving. It's gut wrenching than holding a scalpel in an Operating Room.

Regards, Joey

p.s: Definitely recommend to watch the bridge building documentary. Especially engineers.

This post has been edited by Joey Christensen: Nov 3 2009, 10:45 AM