Sanitary Engineering
This is a branch of civil engineering, but because of its great importance for a healthy environment, especially in dense urban-population areas, it has acquired the importance of a specialized field. It chiefly deals with problems involving water supply, treatment, and distribution; disposal of community wastes and reclamation of useful components of such wastes; control of pollution of surface waterways, groundwaters, and soils; milk and food sanitation; housing and institutional sanitation; rural and recreational-site sanitation; insect and vermin control; control of atmospheric pollution; industrial hygiene, including control of light, noise, vibration, and toxic materials in work areas; and other fields concerned with the control of environmental factors affecting health. The methods used for supplying communities with pure water and for the disposal of sewage and other wastes are described separately.
Modern Engineering Trends
Scientific methods of engineering are applied in several fields not connected directly to manufacture and construction. Modern engineering is characterized by the broad application of what is known as systems engineering principles. The systems approach is a methodology of decision-making in design, operation, or construction that adopts (1) the formal process included in what is known as the scientific method; (2) an interdisciplinary, or team, approach, using specialists from not only the various engineering disciplines, but from legal, social, aesthetic, and behavioral fields as well; (3) a formal sequence of procedure employing the principles of operations research.
In effect, therefore, transportation engineering in its broadest sense includes not only design of the transportation system and building of its lines and rolling stock, but also determination of the traffic requirements of the route followed. It is also concerned with setting up efficient and safe schedules, and the interaction of the system with the community and the environment. Engineers in industry work not only with machines but also with people, to determine, for example, how machines can be operated most efficiently by the workers. A small change in the location of the controls of a machine or of its position with relation to other machines or equipment, or a change in the muscular movements of the operator, often results in greatly increased production. This type of engineering work is called time-study engineering.
A related field of engineering, human-factors engineering, also known as ergonomics, received wide attention in the late 1970s and the '80s when the safety of nuclear reactors was questioned following serious accidents that were caused by operator errors, design failures, and malfunctioning equipment. Human-factors engineering seeks to establish criteria for the efficient, human-centered design of, among other things, the large, complicated control panels that monitor and govern nuclear reactor operations.
Among various recent trends in the engineering profession, licensing and computerization are the most widespread. Today, many engineers, like doctors and lawyers, are licensed by the state. Approvals by professionally licensed engineers are required for construction of public and commercial structures, especially installations where public and worker safety is a consideration. The trend in modern engineering offices is overwhelmingly toward computerization. Computers are increasingly used for solving complex problems as well as for handling, storing, and generating the enormous volume of data modern engineers must work with.
The National Academy of Engineering, founded in 1964 as a private organization, sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages new research, and is concerned with the relationship of engineering to society.
For articles on professional engineering societies, see separate articles under individual names.