Flores, Emilio Joaquin C.

BSME 5A
ME Laws and Ethics Summative Exam Answers

I. Identification

1. Philippine Mechanical Engineering Act of 1998 or RA 8495

2. 1998
3. 2 Members
4. At least 35 years old
5. 4 years or more

II. True or False

6. False
7. False
8. False
9. True
10. False
11. False
12. False
13. False
14. False
15. False

III. Multiple Choice

16. C
17. B
18. C
19. A
20. A
21. C
22. B
23. A
24. D
25. B
IV. Essay

1. What is the role of mechanical engineers in the COVID-19 pandemic?

In this pandemic, the role of mechanical engineers are more focused on the
HVAC design of the healthcare facilities in their respective local governments. Since we
know that the Covid-19 virus is an airborne virus it is crucial to design a heating and
ventilation system on the respective healthcare facilities on each local government to
assure that there will be no exposure to different impure substances or outdoor pollution
toward the facility. I also observed the role of the mechanical engineers in the area of
safety. Knowing the Philippine government would implement and do something as
imbecilic as putting a barrier between a motor rider and passenger, it would result to a
very unsafe mode to travel. Thus, professional mechanical engineers simulated
scenarios of the said “idea” that it would cause complications due to the air drag and
aerodynamics of a moving vehicle, it is unsafe to use, sad to say people still use it and
there were a lot of cases where vehicular accidents are caused by this hazard.

2. What do you think are the common unethical practices and how can you avoid them as a
Mechanical engineer?
A common unethical practice would be not wearing PPE in a workplace. Some
Filipinos have this mindset “nakasanayan”, that they are used to something they
avoid any changes because they don’t want to hassle themselves and they usually
end up getting hurt. This hits me personally because my first experience as a safety
officer and I was working on a project my uncle recommended me for in Marilog, I
was assigned as SO for a small establishment there and the workers really are
hardheaded, arrogant and boastful. As someone who is particularly younger than
them, they have a particular mindset not to listen because according to them,
“papunta pa lang ako pabalik na sila”. However, that does not reflect with their work
ethics at all. One day, some workers were not wearing PPE so I took a photo of them
and stored it just in case. Then late in the afternoon, there was a machine
malfunction and 2 of the workers got hurt and when they asked for money for their
hospital fees I advised my uncle not to. When they learned about this they
threatened my uncle that they will reach out to DOLE (Department of Labor and
Employment) but when I showed them the photos I took, they took care of their own
expenses and when they resumed their work, they already put on PPE. Being firm on
the safety of others is a way of being a good engineer, when you follow a systematic
way of working and you handle people, it reflects on how you design something that
should be followed step by step in order to create something.
3. What field of mechanical engineering do you plan to pursue and why?
Originally, I wanted to pursue a career in Vibrations Engineering because during my
early years as a mechanical engineering student in Ateneo, I studied under Engr. Mahinay
who was also studying Vibrations as his masters in engineering. I was fascinated on the
innovative technology vibration engineering contributes to technology and its untapped
potential. It paved a way into righting my thesis papers on automotive engineering,
dynamics and many more disciplines in ME that it would greatly contribute to. However, after
training as a Safety officer and additional training in SOLIDWORKS design, I was invested in
safety engineering of machineries, equipment and workplaces. In our thesis study I
conducted stress analysis and factor of safety simulations to validate our structural design of
our E-Bicycle frame. It answered a “why” to my question: “why do we need to study each
and every part of an item and its design?” it was to make sure that people who use our
product or item, are satisfied with our care and isn’t that the purpose of studying and
pursuing engineering and technology?