Better Regulation of Engineers Critical

Weak legal regulation of the engineering industry in Ireland, including the software sector, can jeopardise public safety and squander taxpayers’ money, according to our President, Dr Chris Horn.

In his presidential address, the founder of Iona Technologies told engineers in Dublin today that Engineers Ireland wants statutory regulation introduced for engineers to protect the public’s wellbeing. “At the minute, the engineering profession is out of step with other disciplines such as architecture where there is statutory regulation, and which allows follow through if there are major incidents involving public safety. Government needs to safeguard the public against unprofessional engineering judgement and poor analysis.”  
 
Dr Horn highlighted the situation with software engineering, which is a key sector in this country and which he says should be part of the statutory regulation of all engineering activities.  He said that, while there had been great improvements in software design in recent years, technology needed to be vetted in a similar manner to that being considered for the broader engineering industry.  “Currently the Irish engineering profession is weakly regulated and compares unfavourably to certain other jurisdictions such as Canada where professional certification of all engineering works which may impact health or safety is legally required.”
 
“The HSE abandoned the PPARS system in July 2007 at a cost of some €220 million due significantly to software failures.  In one incident, one employee was overpaid €1 million as part of an electronic funds transfer error in the system.  This may have been avoided by more rigorous professional software engineering under a more robust regulatory framework.  Other more prosaic examples include the collapse of the Ryanair and Aer Lingus web sites in recent years due to poor software engineering.”
Dr Horn highlighted several infamous incidents worldwide where software failures resulted in human life being lost or put at risk.  “In late September 1983, a software failure in a Russian early warning system mistook sunlight reflecting off clouds as missile plumes from a NATO nuclear missile attack, almost sparking a catastrophic counter-strike at the height of the Cold War.  In 1991, there were 28 deaths in Saudi Arabia after a US Patriot Missile malfunction destroyed a US army barracks due to a software rounding error.”
 
“Computer software is now a technological foundation for society, especially for military systems, but also for security and intelligence systems, financial trading systems, telecommunications and mobile phones, power generation and distribution, logistics and management of goods in transit - the list seems almost endless.  It is Engineers Ireland’s view that all engineering projects in Ireland which may affect health and safety of the public, or may damage property, should be certified by a Chartered Professional engineer.   For software, it seems natural now to expect similar regulation and certification of software systems.   Ireland could take a global leadership position on software certification,” finished Dr Horn.