| Victor R. Johnson, Jr., P.E. | |
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| Civil engineering is arguably the oldest engineering profession in the world. Civil engineers have been involved for many centuries in helping people throughout the world build and maintain the basic infrastructure in which they live. This has included designing and building everything from pyramids in Egypt to modern transportation systems. The technology that civil engineers use has similarly advanced over the same centuries. With the advent of modern computers, civil engineers now have access to technology at an unprecedented scale. These technological advances are very exciting, but too often engineers forget that technology is a tool-a way to get things done better for the client. In our fast paced world today, another reality is that technology has to be coupled with service. International and US clients normally have two basic requirements. The first is for cost effective civil engineering solutions that work. The second is to for extremely responsive client service. Solutions must be provided on time, on budget and must work the first time. Similarly, all technical service providers need to understand and accept that client service is equally as important as technical excellence, especially in environmental engineering. The challenge for civil and environmental engineers is to provide solutions that work in an extremely responsive service mode on a consistent basis. The best pathway to meet this challenge is to employ primarily experienced professional and support staff that truly care about providing service and then provide them with modern analytical and communication systems. On international assignments, it is also important to utilize experienced bilingual/bicultural personnel as another way to design and implement technical solutions that work and can be maintained by local personnel. There are scores of major projects around the world that were designed and built with "first world" technology but only ran a short period of time because they could not be maintained by "second world" operational and maintenance resources. Unfortunately, many domestic and international projects are not completed as the client desired due to a variety of pervasive issues including: 1) Compliance with Codes and Specifications 2) Use of other's information 3) Estimates 4) Inspection 5) Jobsite Safety 6) Permits and Approvals 7) Standard of Care 8) Time of Engineering/Construction, and 9) Cost of Engineering/Construction When clients are unsatisfied they deserve answers from their consultants as to: A) What happened to cause the problem? B) What can be done to get the project "back on track"? C) What are the new costs associated with rectifying the problem and who should pay them? and D) What is being done to avoid similar future occurrences? In some cases the consultant is able to explain what has happened to the satisfaction of the client and in other cases the engineer is not. In cases where the client remains unsatisfied the next step is often some form of dispute resolution. As a Professional Civil Engineer for 29 years (and most recently as a Senior Officer of a major domestic-international consulting engineering firm for 16+ years), Mr. Johnson has gained a significant understanding of what constitutes "good civil engineering and contractor practice". He has also gained significant understanding on how civil engineers should interact with other disciplines and should react towards disputes associated with environmental engineering projects with problems. When disputes do arise (related to waste management practices) they often require a number of experienced technical experts to analyze the technical and regulatory components of the dispute and to find the appropriate resolution. Such ELA disciplines as: hydrogeology, environmental geology, chemistry, toxicology, health and safety, microbiology, as well as civil (environmental) and metallurgical engineering are often called into action in such disputes. Substantial information is available from the numerous sources in civil engineering involved in waste management and related activities (see ASCE). Additional information can be found on the Institute of Environmental Technology's Resources Page. The ELA Principal responsible for civil engineering activities is: Victor R, Johnson, Jr., P.E. Note: The environmental field is multi-disciplinary by nature and, for maximum effectiveness, ELA incorporates input from complimentary disciplines, when appropriate, in most projects undertaken. |