ENG4623 PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS

& SOCIETY

CASE STUDIES SET A

mohdridha88

Surname First Name(s) ID No. Signature

Abdul Rahman Yasir Ashraf

Ahmad Fawzan Mohammed Ridha

Bero Mohammad Nabil

Aklif
Abdul Rashid Ramzi 0318716

Rostam Muhammad 0307664

Fadzrul Hafidz

CASE STUDIES SET A

Instructions: The following document highlights 2 case studies that address Learning
Outcome 1. In developing a proposed solution please ensure to refer to the rubrics
given for the case studies. Provide the solution to the case study in the space
provided. DO NOT exceed the space provided. A minimum of 3 pages or a maximum
of 5 pages are required. Please ensure to use the same font/line spacing as this text.
Please list all references used at the end of this document note that references are in
the Harvard style format and are to be listed alphabetically.
Case Study 1

Urban poverty can be defined as an inability to earn an income that can is

needed to maintain healthy and minimally comfortable life that is also set based on
average standard of living in a nation (McDonald & McMillen, 2008). According to
Baker (2008), the urban poor live with many deprivations which includes limited
access to employment opportunities, unhealthy environment, insecure housing, no
social protection mechanisms and limited access to adequate health and education
opportunities.
Kechara Food Bank was launched on 23rd May 2012 to distribute food
amongst the urban poor. Foods like rice, oil, salt, sugar, biscuits and others are
examples of food that were used for distribution. The initiative to start the Food Bank
was from Kechara Soup Kitchen (KSK) from the regular items being dropped off at
our doorstep by anonymous donors. They currently serve more than 100 households
around Klang Valley, up to Seremban. On 28th April 2017, five engineering students
joined KSK for this program to help them distribute the food around Klang Valley.
During food distribution, the students have to get some information regarding the
receiver to know whether they still need and eligible for this food distribution
program in the future or not. Besides that, other information like employment status,
condition of the house, and others were also obtained during the visit. After the food
has been distributed to each receiver, the students had to get signature from them to
inform KSK that the food had been distributed via email.
The guidelines for Code of Professional Conduct provided by Board of
Engineers of Malaysia was followed and applied throughout the duration of the
activity. The first code that is related to this activity is code 1.0 which states that a
registered engineer shall at all times hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of
the public. Before the food was distributed, the condition of the food and expiry date
was checked so that the food can be safely consumed by the receivers. Since this
activity requires the students to drive around Klang Valley, road regulations must be
obeyed at all times to ensure the safety of all passengers and ultimately food can be
delivered safely. For instance, the student who did the driving follows the speed at all
times to prevent accident from happening. Upon arrival, the vehicle was parked at
designated parking lot to prevent any traffic obstruction especially in emergency
cases.
As mentioned above, the urban poor usually lives in an unhealthy
environment. This will lead to higher rates of diseases related to poor hygiene like
Typhoid, Hepatitis, Legionellosis, Scabies, Dengue and others (Prss, 2002). This is
why it is important for the students to assess the condition of the households to ensure
that the receivers live in a healthy environment. Unfortunately, one of the places that
the students visited was not in a good in condition. The house was too small, dusty
and quite dangerous as they are still using damaged furniture. Other than that, the
mattress was placed onto the wall and there is a possibility that it could fall anytime
on anyone walking next to it. The students managed to give some advice on how to
provide a safer living condition. There was not enough time to help them clean their
house as limited time was given to distribute all the foods.
Another Code of Professional Conduct that was followed is code 4.0 which
states that a registered engineer shall act for each employer or clients as faithful
agent or trustee. This food distribution program was participated by the five
engineering students as volunteers. This means that the students are not hired directly
by KSK to distribute foods to those three eligible homes. Upon the delivery of the food
at each home, the food checklist was checked and read out loud in front of the
recipient. This was needed to make sure that transparency of the job is
unquestionable. After all food deliveries has been done, the leader of the five students
submitted an email to KSK to show evidence of the job was successfully performed
including group photos at the three homes and the scanned food checklist with the
recipients signature. The students honesty for this voluntary activity is in
accordance with code 4.0 although the biggest penalty for not completing the tasks as
promised is merely getting blacklisted from participating future KSK events.
In addition, another Code of Professional Conduct which was followed by the
students is code 5.0. Code 5.0 states that a registered engineer shall conduct himself
honourably, responsibly, ethically and lawfully so as to enhance the honour,
reputation and usefulness of the profession. By volunteering for KSK, the volunteers
were tasked with carrying out the duties assigned to them, which in this case is to
deliver food to the three families. The volunteers were hereby required and expected
to perform their task responsibly, honourably and honestly so as to uphold the
reputation of KSK as a whole, such as handling the deliveries punctually, taking good
care of the items, as well as to ensure that all items to be delivered are accounted for,
as there may be the possibility where the volunteers might steal the items. As a result
of failing to adhere to those principles, the name and reputation of KSK as a whole in
the eyes of the public will be affected due to the poor service provided by the
volunteers.

Case Study 2
Based on what you have accomplished in Case Study 1, evaluate the effectiveness of
the role and how you would further improve the involvement of engineers in CSR.

Safety, health and welfare of the public are one of the most integral parts in
the codes of conduct of engineers. As can be seen in the example in case study 1, the
conditions of the food and its expiry date were checked and confirm first and the
students has thoroughly gone through them before it is distributed. The Kechara Soup
Kitchen (KSK) has shown a proper insight of the code of conduct where they strictly
imposed the checking process every time before the distribution is made. Thus, in-line
with the code of conduct, the safety of the distributed food were ensured will full care.
Without proper system of validating and checking of the food, the food may get
expired and affect the health of the receivers. Apart from that, following the code
also, the students have learned to monitor and view the conditions of the households
which denote whether the household conditions are safe or not. It is important to
ensure that they live in safe and comfortable conditions and report back the
observation to KSK for further actions. This equips the student with the insight of
obtaining information and provides suggestion for further improvement of the safety
for the household.
In addition to that, through the examples, we can see that code 4.0 is pro-
actively carried along the program. The trust and responsibility given to the student
were carried and imposed throughout the program where the food checklist was
equipped as the delivery was done. This encourages transparency and portrays the
faith of the student towards the organizer, KSK. Evidences such as group photos and
checklist by the receivers further improve the level of the code of conduct which is a
really good alternative and practice for the engineering students. The act of this
volunteering program also has portrayed the sense of trust from KSK to the students
where they were not directly employed but carry the organization name as a
volunteering agent.
To improve involvement and participation of engineers in CSR activities,
future prospective engineers are required to be educated on CSR and its importance
due to its utmost importance as CSR will be heavily applied in this line of work.
Furthermore, prospective engineers should also be made aware of the impact which
they can bring about towards the betterment of the community, making them realize
the importance of their contribution towards society which in turn would increase
their reputation amongst others. In addition, another way in which participation of
engineers in CSR can be improved is by conducting CSR activities periodically in
which engineers are required to perform CSR activities, such as holding an activity
every few months.

References

[1] Annette Prss, David Kay, Lorna Fewtrell, and Jamie Bartram (2002). Estimating
the Burden of Disease from Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene at a
Global Level, p. 538.

[2] Baker, Judy L. (2008). Urban poverty: a global view. Urban Papers; no. UP-5.
Washington, DC: World Bank.

[3] McDonald, J. F., & McMillen, D. P. (2008). Urban Economics and Real
Estate. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 395-397.