Briefs and Reports

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External PEO Briefs and Reports

The National Report of Workplace Conditions for Engineers

(The Forward and Executive Summary are provided below. The full report is available here.)

Foreword

Do women and men have equal access to engineering jobs?
What effects have equity policies had on the engineering workplace?
Why do men continue to outnumber women entering engineering in Canada?
Have womens workplace experiences changed in the last five years?

To Canada's professional engineers the answers to these questions are of serious importance. Finding the answers was the impetus behind The National Survey of Workplace Conditions for Engineers, a joint research project of Professional Engineers Ontario and the professional engineering associations of British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and the Northwest Territories.

The National Survey of Workplace Conditions for Engineers was conducted by the Women in Engineering Advisory Committee of Professional Engineers Ontario, under the direction of Hay Management Consultants, an international research firm. Undertaken in the fall of 1994, the survey asked 10,000 female and male engineers across Canada to comment on the challenges they face in the workplace and on whether female engineers face different challenges to success. The survey was targeted to women and men practising engineering in comparable geographic locations with a similar number of years in the workplace.

The report provides the invaluable data gathered in the National Survey of Workplace Conditions for Engineers. The data is accurate to within 1.8 percentage points, 19 times in 20. The survey response rate of 31 per cent is a substantial return for a membership survey.

This report is an important national research document. Professional Engineers Ontario and the other eight provinces who participated in its development intend that it be used widely and vigorously to encourage national dialogue and action. The desired outcome is that through this research tool, professional groups, employers, human resource professionals, educators, womens groups and governments will establish policy, develop initiatives and implement constructive programs leading toward employment equity for all Canadians.

Executive Summary

Is the road to success indeed more difficult for female engineers?

Yes, to an extent.

The Survey of Workplace Conditions For Engineers suggests that workplace challenges continue to exist for female engineers. Women feel they face at least some attitudinal barriers from their superiors, and a substantial proportion of men share that view. In particular, women are concerned about opportunities to network and to gain entry to executive levels in their organizations. Male engineers acknowledge such workplace gender barriers to a lesser extent than women. While women may see barriers to a greater extent, there is no substantial difference between men and women in how they perceive what it takes to succeed in the workplace.

Another area affecting the road to success is the lower number of women entering engineering compared to men. Survey results show that most engineers believe engineering schools and the profession suffer a lingering negative image with respect to treatment of women.

The survey results help in an overall assessment of the status of workplace gender equity among organizations employing engineers. The equity of human resource systems per se would appear to be less of a concern to female engineers. Rather, concerns centre on the nebulous area of workplace attitudes, and on access to such opportunities as internal networking, recognition of potential, and entry to the highest echelons of the organization. Notably, a significant number of male survey respondents share this view. These findings suggest that efforts to address workplace equity among employers of engineers will need to address areas of organizational culture, and the unwritten rules and norms that govern behaviour in the workplace. Survey results lead to the conclusion that workplace equity programs hold promise as a positive way to address attitudes and behaviours.

Based on survey results, notions that males are simply better qualified to be engineers by virtue of their sex are not prevalent among professional engineers. However, there does remain a significant proportion of male engineers who either question womens ability in this area or reserve judgment.

The workplace is changing in positive ways for women, but old lingering beliefs held by even a few can act as barriers to full participation.

WHEEL SEPARATIONS ON TRACTOR-TRAILERS A Brief to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services
(Provided below is an exerpt from the full 20-page brief. For a copy of the full report, please contact PEO at (416) 224-1100)

Working Group on Tractor-Trailer Wheel Separations:

  • John F. Clayton, P.Eng., Vice-President, FAMEX Engineering (Chair)
  • Victor J. Artem, CET, Senior Research Technologist, Research and Development,
  • Petro-Canada Lubricants
  • Dr. Peter C. Birkemoe, P.Eng., Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto
  • Dr. Lalit Malik, P.Eng., Manager, Metallurgical Technology, Fleet Technology Ltd.
  • Ronald J. Twigg, P.Eng., President, Glencor Engineering Ltd.
  • Thomas R. Wood, P.Eng., Consulting Engineer, Metals Failure Analysis, T.R. Wood
  • Consulting
  • John H.F. Woodrooffe, Principal, Roaduser Research International
  • Ron Covello, P.Eng., Manager, Vehicle Standards Office, Ministry of Transportation (Ex-Officio)

PEO Government Affairs Committee
September 18, 1995

Executive Summary

Wheel separations on tractor trailers have become a matter of great public concern. This year, there have been more than 17 such separations in Ontario; a number received extensive coverage in the news media. This coverage highlighted what has been a long-standing problem, and led the Ministry of Transportation to implement new truck-safety inspection measures in spring 1995.

Since then, additional incidents of wheel separation and other trucking accidents have prompted the newly elected Progressive Conservative government to direct the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services to produce jointly a long-term highway safety plan due in early October. A Coroners Inquest is also scheduled for early October to look into the causes of two wheel separation accidents which resulted in fatalities earlier this year.

Preventing wheel separations on tractor-trailers raises many complex issues. The obvious solutions may be better maintenance and informed inspection. Other solutins may exist. All must be practical and economically feasible.

Analysis of the Problem

In Ontario, detailed technical data about these recent wheel separation incidents or other transportation accidents are not made available in the public domain as they are in other countries, such as the United States. As a consequence, organizations concerned with public safety can neither analyze basic technical information about specific wheel separation incidents, nor conduct a statistical analysis of the various causes of wheel separation over a specific period of time.

In the absence of such information, Professional Engineers Ontario has called upon the extensive collective experience of the forensic engineering community to draw its conclusions.

There appear to be a number of possible causes of wheel separation, ranging from the liberal axle weight and configuration regulations in Ontario to wheel assembly component failures.

However, the most common cause of wheel separations is inadequate servicing and maintenance of double-cap nut disc wheels, referred to as stud-piloted wheels or as Budd wheels. Stud-piloted wheels are usually employed in pairs (duals) with four to an axle. The dual wheels are secured by two nuts (inner wheel nut and outer cap nut) per stud. The inner wheel and the inner wheel nut are, in fact, completely obscured and cannot be inspected without removing the outer wheel. It is extremely difficult to inspect this type of wheel for deterioration of parts and assembly.

The recent advent of the hub-piloted wheel is an improvement over the stud-piloted system, primarily because one flanged cap nut per stud secures both the inner and outer wheels in each dual. When a stud breaks in the hub-piloted wheel, it is instantly recognizable as a failure. However, this design does not overcome the problem of detecting cracked studs. It should be noted that there is insufficient data to assess statistically the anticipated improvement or potential failure mechanisms of hub-piloted wheels. The same is true for flange nuts which have been developed in conjunction with the hub-piloted wheel.

Corrosion is a major problem for all wheel systems. This is especially true in Ontario where the presence of salt on the roads during winter months accelerates the corrosion process of steel a hundred fold. The corrosion process is ongoing, regardless of whether a tractor or trailer is in use.

During installation and maintenance procedures, precise torquing is a major contributor to the safe operation of a stud-piloted wheel. Over-torquing can occur and cause disc distortion, disc-hole damage, stud deformation and stud breakage. More importantly, it may cause time-delayed fracture of the wheel studs at their root, through hydrogen embrittlement. Under-torquing generally results in the nuts backing off; uneven torquing can produce cracked discs, distortion and imbalance.

Maintenance and inspection without understanding is only partially effective. At present, there is no requirement for the licensing or training of tire mechanics or inspectors. Further, no specialized training is required for licensed mechanics to work on heavy trucks and trailers; and, there are no consistent guidelines for servicing trailers.

A problem that has surfaced in recent years is the use of substandard, grey market or counterfeit spare parts and components in tractor-trailer disc wheels. These parts may be of inferior quality and are lacking in quality control and may falsely indicate that they are manufactured to specification. Counterfeit parts even carry the manufacturers designation and part numbers.

Conclusions

  1. A general lack of statistical and technical data and specific accident information has hindered the preparation of this brief.
  2. Training, maintenance and inspection are inadequate. Tire mechanics and inspectors are not required to be licensed.
  3. The most reliable wheel design appears to be the spoked wheel configuration.
  4. A major cause of wheel separation has been associated with stud-piloted wheels, which are generally regarded as being maintenance-sensitive.
  5. A general lack of understanding of the significance of torque and its relation to the stress induced in studs leads to increased potential for failure.
  6. Many of the problems associated with stud-piloted wheels appear to have been overcome by the advent of hub-piloted wheels and flanged single nut fasteners, but are as yet unproven.
  7. Corrosion seems to be an important factor in the general deterioration of all wheel systems in southern Ontario. This is associated with a phenomenon called hydrogen embrittlement, which appears to be contributing to stud failure.
  8. Liberal axle loading allowances and eccentric axle configurations have undoubtedly contributed to wheel separation, as well as contributing to the rapid deterioration of Ontarios highways.
  9. There is evidence that substandard, grey market or counterfeit parts are circulating in Ontario. However, it is unknown what impact such parts have had on public safety.
  10. The practice of taking trailers out of service for long periods and then reintroducing them into service without adequate inspection is dangerous.
  11. The incidence of wheel separations may never be reduced to zero, but it is anticipated that the potential for such accidents would be significantly reduced through the implementation of the recommendations incorporated in this brief.

Recommendations

To help reduce the incidence of wheel separations in tractor trailers, Professional Engineers Ontario makes the following recommendations:

  1. Statistical and technical data should be made available upon request to organizations and individuals with a mandate for public safety.
  2. All available wheel separation accident data should be examined for a correlation between wheel separation and vehicle design issues. Statistics on hub-piloted wheels should be compiled and analyzed.
  3. Stud-piloted wheels require a preventive maintenance program and guidelines associated with qualified inspection.
  4. Standards of training for maintenance and inspection of heavy-duty vehicles need to be established, upgraded regularly, and regulated. This is particularly true for tire mechanics.
  5. Mechanics and inspectors should attend OEMand after-market parts manufacturers seminars and study groups, and should pursue other training opportunities.
  6. Means of mitigating the effects of corrosion on wheel systems should be undertaken.
  7. Vertical and lateral wheel loads should be estimated on the basis of Ontario weight and dimension regulations; the effect of these loads on trailer performance and highway deterioration should be evaluated.
  8. A permanent log book documenting every trailers service and maintenance history should be mandatory. Failure to maintain and produce such a log should be a punishable offence.
  9. There should be a continuing search for substandard, grey market and counterfeit parts in Ontario to which the trailer log book will make a significant contribution.
  10. Penalties for those identified as having attempted to circumvent maintenance and safety requirements for either tractors or trailers must be sufficiently severe to provide a deterrent.
  11. Quality control procedures should be implemented by OEMs and after-market parts manufacturers.

Other

PEO 75th Anniversary: The Proud Tradition of Engineering in the Province of Ontario

In June 14, 1922, the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario received its Provincial Charter. Since then, APEO (now PEO) has been regulating the practice of engineering to serve and protect the public.

In honour of the 75th anniversary of its founding, PEO presented interesting information on the association, its members, and the role they've played in protecting the public of Ontario.