Originally Posted by
infrequentflyer789
Nope, engineers usually can't and don't overrule management cost decisions, they can't reassign budgets or move funding.
They can, and should, refuse to do what is unacceptable when asked, that is part of what being a professional is about.
So then they join the pool of unemployed professional engineers, and management prefer to employ non-professional, non-unionized engineers - and continue to get away with bad decisions. How does that help anyone?
Really, the idea that engineers can "make a stand" against management.decisions is like expecting to stand on the beach and commanding the tide to run back.
Soldiers on the other hand only have the choice of following orders or court-martial (and maybe summary execution, especially if at war). Is that your defence?
I am not interested in creating cute legal arguments, I am interested in improving safety. It is has been well documented over many decades that pressure from management has a chilling effect on the integrity of the engineering function in an organization. It is surely without question to any sane person, that an employee given responsibility to sign off on safety who is also a direct report to their management has an inherent conflict of interest, and that it will lead to management effectively overriding safety decisions in favor of cutting costs. This is exactly what the report mentioned above finds, and shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
Putting pressure on people to "do the right thing" who have the least power is simply not a practical or effective way to improve safety. Management have the power and responsibility - it must be their feet who are held to the fire, otherwise nothing will change.