Engineering ethics

As professionals we must give the same priority to safety when working overseas as we would at home

Your magazine was presumably working on the Overseas Work survey (Oct 2013) at the same time that the Guardian newspaper was running its story about Nepalese migrant workers dying at an unacceptable rate on Qatari construction sites (Sept 25th). Was this coincidence?

When we work in the UK of course we have the HSE and others checking up on us. Some countries have less regulation and virtually no enforcement of health and safety, but as professionals we must surely give just the same priority to safety when working overseas as we would at home. The data appears to show that in Qatar the main issues are not those that we traditionally think of as part of site safety, but things like heat exhaustion and other matters. Since it results in work related illness, injury and death, this kind of thing really must be included in the exporting of good standards which British engineers wish to be known for. The dreadful conditions in which many South Asians are working in Qatar are a shameful reflection on the construction companies concerned, and by extension on our profession.

Richard Hudson

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