Geotechnical Engineering: A Risky Profession with Many Issues and Problems

Geotechnical engineers typically face greater risks, such as injury or financial loss, than others do in the civil engineering profession. Subsurface exploration is probably the most dangerous aspect of geotechnical engineering. This risk requires that safety procedures be incorporated into engineering curriculum and that student engineers develop safety consciousness. Engineers must also constantly examine operations with a view to their own safety and the safety of the workers they supervise. Because geotechnical engineering has a potential of serious or even fatal injury, it is especially important that young engineers be trained to evaluate the safety of engineering operations in the field. Geotechnical engineers are particularly vulnerable to financial loss because of unknown soil conditions. This is because the geotechnical engineer is vulnerable to charges that he or she failed to perform a complete or diligent subsurface exploration. Two ways for geotechnical engineers to mitigate the potential of financial loss from lawsuits is through errors‐and‐omissions insurance and limitation‐of‐liability clauses in contracts.