PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY TO CREATE VIABLE SYSTEMS
According to Engineers Australia, all its members are committed to creating and delivering outcomes that will ensure the long-term survival of life on earth in a fair and equitable manner. Sustainability can be defined as equal or better environmental, social, and economic condition by the future generations. Engineers Australia acknowledges that to achieve sustainability outcomes requires transformative change in business practices, lifestyles, and in the way resource allocation decisions are made.
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During my internship at Optik Engineering Consultancy UTS, I worked as an Engineering consultant. My project was aimed to design and develop a control system for a robotic surgical instrument. Due to the paperwork required for patenting, the clients were unable to communicate the design of the surgical instrument for which the control system was supposed to be developed. Sustainability also pertains towards the best use of human resources in a project. Being the team leader of my group, it was my responsibility to make sure the engineers involved in this project were actively participating. Instead of waiting for he clients to confirm the design of the instrument, based on the concept of the device I encouraged my teammates to design a new concept for the surgical instrument. I practiced sustainability by not waiting for four weeks, when we actually received the client design, and thinking outside the box for an innovative solution thus promoting creativity.
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Generally, any medical device or instrument is preferred to be one-time use so as to minimise the chances of contamination. During the research work for this project, my team came up with a strategy to improvise the design of the surgical instrument in such a way, that it can be sterilised successfully. To define proper sterilisation, an appropriate material has to be selected for the instrument. Although the material cost might have increased during this process, but this paved a way to a create a sustainable future for using the resources used to manufacture this instrument. To arrest this incurred cost, during the product development stage, my team selected the appropriate materials that will cost less when developing a prototype.
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I can confidently state that being a professional engineer at a workplace, I was able to follow the code of ethics laid out by Engineers Australia to practice sustainability in the workplace. I was committed to ensure all relevant stakeholders were consulted, and that open and regular reporting of progress towards delivering sustainability outcomes formed a fundamental component of engineering practice.
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REFERENCE
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Engineers Australia (2014), Sustainability policy, viewed 28 February 2021, https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/2018-11/Sustainability-Policy.pdf;
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Engineers Australia (2014), Engineers Australia Stage 2 Competency Standards Stage 2- Experienced Professional Engineer in Leadership and Management, viewed 28 February 2021, https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/content-files/2016-12/australian_engineering_competency_standards_stage_2_-_leadership_and_management.pdf