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The Truesteel Affair

Accession number: 
1983.0022

Producers:

Distributors:

Production Years: 
1983

Languages:

Film Properties: 
Length (minutes): 
25
Holding Institutions: 

University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario: 16mm, VHS.
"This film was created from a composite of cases taken from the files of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario (APEO). This dramatization focuses on Robert Williams, an engineer who has a reputation for being 'one of the sharpest designers in the business.' It is Mr Williams' expertise that allows Alex Carter, president of Truesteel Ltd., to bid $50,000 lower than anyone else on a large shopping centre construction project. Carter, facing a cash-flow crisis and possible bankruptcy is unable to get more money from his banker. When Williams discovers the steel trusses needed for the centre are not welded together correctly, he insists on sending them anyway while Williams wants Truesteel to take the extra week to ten days to reweld them. When it comes to a showdown, however, the company president wins and the trusses are sent ahead. Williams talks to a colleague and his wife about whether to go to his professional association for advice, but he delays making a decision and does nothing except return to the construction site to recheck his calculations. Asking Carter to allow him to make some reinforcement adjustments, Williams is turned down and the shopping centre eventually opens on time. Later Mr Carter receives a call from the builder stating that the centre's roof has collapsed after heavy rains. Although no one was hurt, because the store was closed when the roof caved in, it is Williams who suffers most by losing his reputation, being sued, and being investigated by the engineers' association. Found guilty of gross negligence and in violation of seven sections of the professional ethics, Mr Williams has his licence suspended for six months and the case published in the association's journal, and Truesteel goes bankrupt. Williams works long and hard trying to regain his reputation. The cost of disregarding the engineers code of ethics is made amply clear in this film for engineers and their employers."

Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario: VHS.