"PE's In Federal Government" Revisited

[JimmyJunior]

Last year (May, 07) I brought to the attention of this fine forum the fact that I was the only electrical PE in the federal agency branch where I work. The situation is still the same. I asked our legal department about the ethical issues involved and I am still waiting for an answer. I did get a response stating that if I or any other PE in our branch was sued and brought to court the legal department would decide whether to defend him/her or not depending on the value of such a defense to the Agency!!.

We have an extensive electrical system (substations, overhead and underground distribution lines,). A need exists to perform power systems analysis, every so often, to set our protective relays, fuses and other protection system devices. To the best of my knowledge this type of analysis is done by professional electrical engineers because of the liability, safety issues and specialized knowledge that is required. All of the reports I do in this area are sealed and signed by me as a matter of ethical duty.

Recently technicians (high school education and electrical construction courses at best) have been charged with doing these studies. Since life and limb will depend on the accuracy of these studies, it is my considered and professional opinion that this is not only wrong and unethical, but also criminal.

Am I wrong in having this opinion?

 

[greenone]

Sounds wrong to me yes, but criminal? Aren't fed agencies exempt from most, if not all regulation? That puts you in a difficult position.
Are you covered by Whistleblower Proteciton Statutes?

 

[Gymmeh]

sounds like evil shenanigans!

Mac: Hey Farva, what's the name of that restaurant you like with all the goofy $hi7 on the walls and the mozzarella sticks?

Farva: You mean Shenanigans?

-SuperTroopers

 

[BJC]

Who are the "high school grads" doing it for? Are they totally unsupervised? If they are supervised and I would assume they are to some degree whats the problem? Is the person totally incopent? Greenone is right federal employees and facilites are exempt from state registration laws.
For what it's worth I have seen private utilites do the same thing. They use techs to fill in the data on very complex software. In most state utilites are also exempt from registration laws. That is utilities don't have to have PEs doing a lot (if any) of stuff. Most do but it's not required.
Supposedly utilities have people smart enough to do their job and they don't really put the public at risk, hence the exemption.

 

[Gymmeh]

I think what BJC is talking about,"smart enough" was shown to the public in the summer of 02 or 03 when a power plant failure in Ohio was able to wip out all the power in the north east for a couple days.

This is the one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_North_America_blackout

Jimmy, It is good to know the pubilc utilities learn from the past...

 

[graybeach]

I know this is totally anecdotal, but I work for a state owned utility. We are very serious about having all engineering work supervised by Professional Engineers. Some number crunching and detailing work may be performed by technicians, but it is always directed by PEs and reviewed and sealed by them.

Maybe this is an opportunity for JimmyJunior to get a promotion. As the only Electrical PE, he should be directing and supervising the work of the technicians.

 

[mshimko]

Here's a contraian view, just for discussion (disclaimer - I am a PE): what do you answer when/if asked the following:
- what is the benefit to our bottom line of using a PE?
- do you have an example of work we lost because we didn't use a PE; or work we did get primarily because we did use a PE?
- what is the legal requirement for a PE?

These are all legit questions even for a federal agency.

 

[RossABQ]

Another contrarian view from another PE:

I think if you investigate, you'll find that large central steam power plants are comprised of equipment that is largely designed by non-PE's, operated by non-PE's, and maintained by non-PE's. Really only the assembly of the components into a plant design is done by PE's. After that, it's up to people trained with the specific knowledge needed. Somehow they manage to keep the lights on an amazing 99%+ of the time.

 

[Sideswiper]

I didn't think a federal agency would seriously consider hiring me until I got my PE.