• Question: What do you value more in your work - safety or speed/efficiency? Why?

    Asked by FrameSomeone to Matthew, Neil, Paula, Pete, Philippa on 12 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Pete Symons

      Pete Symons answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      Hi Hop311,

      It has to be safety, speed and efficiency are of course linked to cost! So the longer it takes you to do something then it will likely cost companies money.
      Companies (and engineers that work for them) need to be very careful about putting speed and efficiency before safety because if you have an accident, the resulting cost from having to clean up the mess is mega bucks compared to taking the time to consider safety in the first place.

      Most companies will write a safety policy which says something like’ Safety is our number 1 priority’ and for good reasons, to quote a famous saying (ki the safety world anyway) “if you think safety is expensive, try having an accident”.

      I hope this answers your question 🙂

    • Photo: Neil Taylor

      Neil Taylor answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      Hi Hop311!

      I definitely value safety over speed and efficiency. Safety is part of everything that I do as an engineer – and it’s vital to make sure things are safe so that we protect human life and also the environment.

      For example, it’s important that when I design or analyse a pipeline that I ensure that the pipe is designed to pass all the necessary checks (e.g. is the pipe wall thick enough to prevent bursting under the pressure of the oil/gas it is transporting?). This becomes EVEN MORE important for sections of pipe that are close to people – e.g. pipe approaching offshore oil rigs.

      The time it takes to ensure safety is the time that should be taken on a project – there should be no corners cut in the interest of saving money through speed/efficiency.

      So yep, Safety over Speed/Efficiency every time! 🙂

    • Photo: Philippa Jefferis

      Philippa Jefferis answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      Safety first, always. Engineers are there to help people, so if it’s at the cost of someone’s life it’s not worth doing. My company has a Target Zero policy, and I am fully on board with it’s belief that no one should be injured during their work.

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