During my internship at Myanmar Jardine Schindler Ltd (MJSL) that is a local branch of Schindler Group, I worked as a junior technician in the team of testing and commissioning at the site called Golden City Condominium Project which has the tallest buildings in Myanmar. Our team is responsible for checking the safety of the elevators. Therefore, we have to conduct all the final tests including fire test, power test, and speed test, adjust car doors and floor doors, calibrate floor sensors and car door sensors, activate operation panels and balance car and counter-weight before handing over the elevators to the project owner.
Starting from the first week, I had to work for the elevators in Block 3 and 4 which had not been handed over as the process of testing had not been completed yet. However, I came to know that residents had been already living there and they were using them. At the same time, I noticed that those elevators are facing breakdowns every day and the company had to place a technician at the site to fix the breakdowns that happened at night. According to the procedures, rules, and regulations, it is very dangerous for them as the safety had not been approved by us at that time. As far as I knew, it must not be allowed by the authorities of the company and the project. Even if the residents were allowed to live there by the authorities of the company before the process of handing over the elevators, they must not be allowed to use them. It is mentioned in the contract between the company and the project owner. Therefore, I asked my manager about that and he told me that I am right about it, however, we had to allow that as the project owner requested and the authorities from the head office agreed for that use. I got shocked that those kinds of important and essential rules can be broken on the agreement in such conditions. However, as our authorities did not take any action on it, the only thing we could do was trying to complete the process of testing quickly and approving for safe use.
This incident reflects the ethical conduct and professional accountability of professional engineers and it makes me uncomfortable about the morality and ethical decisions of the project owner and the authorities. It is very critical as the consequences can be fatal. I should have contacted the government authorities about this. Or, I should have discussed this with my internship supervisor from UTS. Another option is to explain this to the residents living there. If they understand well about the danger, they will ask to make complaints to the project owner and will force him to take responsibility for it. However, it would become a public case and the impact would be enormous. It is always better to solve between the companies. The government should also strictly take action on these kinds of incidents and give a strong warning to others in order to prevent happening again in other workplaces by other companies in the future.
Later, I came to know the reasons for this incident. On the side of the project owner, they would like to sell the apartments as fast as they can in order to get back the investments quickly. Moreover, they were constructing more blocks in the same compound and they were in need of money for that. On the other hand, they had not paid the full amount for the lifts installed as they had not been handed over yet. Our company was also at the tight corner of finance at that time and they did not want to make any arguments with the project owner to keep a good relationship. However, for no matter what, these are not acceptable reasons and these financial problems are on their own responsibility.
In any kind of engineering project, it is necessary to be approved by the responsible engineers for the safety of the project before allowing others to use it. For example, in a bridge building project, the load test and other safety tests have to be conducted by the engineers before allowing the commuters to go over it. If the safety did not meet the requirements, the project duration has to be extended for the improvements even if millions of dollars could be lost because of that. Safety takes place the first priority in all engineering projects.
In the future, if I get into similar conditions, I will never hesitate to write to the authorities at the top head office and the government. For example, the top head office of MJSL would be Schindler Elevator Corporation in Switzerland to take action on it. If I am in one of the top positions in a company, I will never break the rules and regulations for anyone and I will never allow that kind of condition happened.