THE INTRODUCTION of a statutory licensing and regulatory system for the engineering profession before a “major incident” occurs has been called for by Engineers Ireland.
The body, which represents 24,000 engineers in all disciplines of the profession in Ireland, said engineers were out of step with architects, doctors, vets, dentists, pharmacists and other professions which were statutorily regulated.
Engineers Ireland director general John Power said the public needed reassurance that critical engineering works which had a public safety remit were carried out by qualified personnel.
Some 20m of the Broadmeadow Estuary rail viaduct over the estuary between Malahide and Donabate in Co Dublin collapsed shortly after 6pm on Friday last, moments after a train had passed over it.
Mr Power said he did want to comment directly on the controversy surrounding the inspection of the viaduct before it collapsed as it was the subject of an investigation, but it highlighted the need for the public to have confidence in the inspection process.
“The real issue for us as a country is that we should have learned a lot about quality and standards.
“In everybody’s best interest of sending out the right message, it should be people with accredited engineering degrees and experience behind them who should be the people that would sign off on any project that would have a public health and safety dimension to them.
“It would be wrong to wait until there is some major incident in the construction sector, in the environmental area, at a power station or in a chemical plant for the anomaly to be rectified.”
He described the failure to regulate as an anomaly that needed to be addressed, especially if companies decide to cut costs by using less-qualified personnel. “It is a rigorous process to become a properly qualified engineer. It involves a degree, followed by a thesis, a searching interview and then several years of experience, and this needs to be recognised.”
Separately, the viaduct which collapsed into the sea last week will take at least six months to a year to repair, a senior marine engineer has said.
Dr Peter McCabe said Iarnród Éireann’s current estimation that it will take three months to fix the Broadmeadow viaduct is optimistic.
Dr McCabe, who designed the Arklow Roadstone Jetty and was involved in examining O’Connell Bridge for erosion last year, estimates that it will take between six months and nine months, depending on the availability of engineering plant.
“I don’t believe it could be fixed in three months. There has to be a site investigation. That alone could take two to three months. You can’t build on top of gravel and sand.”
Dr McCabe, who has been a marine engineer for more than 40 years, said he walked the viaduct many times and he believed the piers were built on “extraordinary foundations”.
“They were built on random rubble. What was the random rubble founded on? Was it just tipped into the ocean or is there a stable foundation? The site investigation is the all-important thing. Indications are that the flow of the estuary would be gravelly. Gravel isn’t rock. Gravel or sand would gradually wash away in the presence of currents or waves.”
He said other piers may need to be replaced, adding to the duration of the repair job.
Iarnród Éireann spokesman Barry Kenny said it was standing over the three-month timeframe for repairs. “With respect to other experts, it is only our engineers and the independent expertise who are on site.”
