ENGINEERING ETHICS CASE STUDIES

1. What is Engineering Ethics?

2. Why study Engineering Ethics?
3. The scope of Engineering Ethics
4. Case studies in Engineering Ethics
a. Killer Robot
b. C ! 1"
c. Whistle #lo$ing
d. Citicorp #uilding
e. The Challenger case
1. %a&ple Codes
a. 'a&&urabi(s code
b. )#ET code
1. *urther case studies
a. #hopal
b. Three +ile ,sland
c. Chernobyl
-. Concluding re&ar.s
WHAT IS ENGINEERING ETHICS

Engineering Ethics is the study of moral issues

and decisions confronting individuals and
organizations engaged in engineering.

The Study of related questions about moral

ideals,character,policies and relationship of
people and corporations involved in technological
activity.
WHY STUDY ENGINEERING ETHICS

What is the point in studying engineering ethics?

What can be gained from taking a course in ethics?

Engineering ethics course is not about preaching virtue

rather, its obective is to increase your ability as
engineers to responsibly confront moral issues raised by
technological activity.
THE SCOPE OF ENGINEERING
ETHICS
%cope of Engineering
Ethics
!oral
"easoning
#
Ethical Theories
Engineering as
Social E$perimentation
The Engineers
"esponsibility for safety
Engineers and !anagers,
%onsultants and headers
&lobal 'ssues
"ights of Engineers
"esponsibility to Employees
ENGINEERING ETHICS
CASE STUDIES
CASE 1 : THE CASE OF THE KILLER
ROBOT
(ane !c!urdock, prosecuttting attorney for the
city of Silicon )alley, announced today the indictment of
"andey Samuels on charges of manslaughter.
Samuels employed as a programmer at the Silicon
Techtronic*s 'nc. The charge involves the death of +art
!atthe,s, ,ho ,as killed last !ay by an assembly -line
robot.
!atthe,s ,orked as robot operator at
%ybernetics 'nc.,in Silicon .eights. .e ,as crushed to
death ,hen the robot he ,as operating malfunctioned
and started to ,ave its hands violently.
The "obot arm struck !atthe,s, thro,ing him
against a ,all and crushing his skull. !atthe,s died almost
instantly. /ccording to the indictment, Samuels ,rote the
particular piece of computer program responsible for the
robot malfunction.
0There1s a smoking gun23 !c!urdock announced
triumphantly at a press conference held in the hall of
(ustice.4 We have the hand ,ritten formula ,provided by
the proect physicist, ,hich Samuels ,as supposed to
program.
+ut he negligently misinterpreted the formula leading
to this huge gruesome death. Society must protect itself
against programmers ,ho make careless mistakes.
The Sentinel - observer has obtained a copy of the
hand,ritten formula in question. There are actually three
similar formulas ,scra,led on piece of yello, legal pad
paper.

Each formula describes the motion of the robot in one
direction5 east6,est, 7orth6south and up -do,n. The
Sentinel68bserver sho,ed the formulas to +ill 9ark a
professor of physics at Silicon )alley :niversity.
.e confirmed that these equations could be used to
describe the motion of a robot arm. The Sentinel - 8bserver
then sho,ed 9ark the program code ,ritten by the accused
in the programming language.
We asked 9ark ,ho is fluent in % and several other
languages, ,hether the program code ,as correct for the
given robot - arm formulas.
9arks response ,as immediate. .e e$claimed, 0+y
(ove2 't looks like he misinterpreted the formula. .e*s
guilty as hell, if you ask me3.
The Sentinel - 8bserver ,as unable to contact
Samuels for comment. 0.e is deeply depressed about all
this,3 his girl friend told us over the phone,4 but "andy
believes he ,ill be acquitted ,hen he gets a chance to tell
his side of the story.
'ssues5
CASE 2: DC 10 JUMBO JET
The fuselage of the ;% - <= (umbo et of ,hich the
cargo door is a part ,as developed by %onvair, a sub
contractor for !c;onnell ;ouglas.
%onvair1s senior engineer directing the proect, ;an
/pplegate had ,ritten to the )ice president of the company5
0The %argo door could burst open, leading to crash of
the plane. .ence the door has to be redesigned and the
cabin floor has to strengthened3.
Top !anagement at %onvair neither disputed the
technical facts or the predictions made by /pplegate. The
liabilities and the cost of redesign ,ere to high.
T,o years ,ent by.
'n <>?@ the cargo door of ;% - <= (umbo burst open and
the et crashed near 9aris killing A@B .
'ssues5
CASE 3: WHISTLE BLOWING

;efinition5 Whistle blo,ing is alerting relevant persons

to some moral or legal corruption, ,here 0"elevant
persons3 are those in a position to act in response.

7o topic in Engineering ethics is more controversial than

,histle - blo,ing.

%arl .ouston ,as a ,elding supervisor for a nuclear

po,er facility in )irginia C<>?=D for Stone # Weber
.e sa,

'mproper ,elding procedures

:se of ,rong materials

Welders ,ere not trained properly

The Situation ,as dangerous

.e reported to Stone # Weber1s !anager, ,ho
ignored him. .e threatened to ,rite to Stone # Weber1s
.eadquarters. Shortly thereafter he ,as fired on trumped -
up charges.
Einally he ,rote to Senators .o,ard*s +aker and
/lbert &ore. The Senators prompted the /tomic Energy
%ommission to investigate, ,hich confirmed his
allegations.
'ssues 5
Structural Engineer +ill Fe!essurier faced a big design
problem ,hen he ,orked on the %iticorp %entre, 7.G - fifth
highest skyscraper in 7e, Gork.
The >== feet bank ,ould rise from >6storey C<<@1D
high columns. The columns are positioned as follo,s5 one at
the center and the other at the %E7TE" 8E E/%. S';E 8E
T.E T8WE" and not at the %8"7E"S 8E T.E T8WE"S Cas is
usualD
This ,as because of a corner of the plot belonged to
a church and the church had to be accommodated there.
The building ,as completed in <>??. /n engineering
student like you questioned5 ,hat ,ill happen ,hen the
,ind loading is oblique?
CASE 4: CITICORP BUILDING
y
x
%alculations should sho, that in %ase CcD the
resultant force is @=H larger.
While Fe!essurier designed ,elded oints, the
contractor, +ethlehem Steel changed them to bolted
oints. "ecalculation ,as not done to check ,hat the
construction change ,ould do.
Wind Tunnel Tests proved that the diagonal ,ind
loading C,ith a return period of <B yearsD can lead to the
failure of the critical bolted oints and therefore the
building.
(a) (b) (c)
Fe!essurier ,as deeply troubled. .e considered his options

Silence

Suicide
Then he told himself5

' have information that nobody else in the ,orld had.

' have po,er to effect e$traordinary events that only '

could initiate.
.e e$plained the problem to his client %iticorp.
The building ,as strengthened by ,elding t,o6inch
thick steel plates over each of the I== bolted oints. With
only ,elding half the number of bolts hurricane Ella ,as
threatening to strike the building. Fuckily Ella1s direction
changed.
;espite the fact that nothing happened as the result of
the engineering gaffe, the crises ,as kept hidden from
the public for almost I= years.
Fe!essurier ,as criticized for

'nsufficient oversight leading to bolted rather than

,elded oints.

Eor misleading the public about the e$tent of the

danger during the reinforcement process

Eor keeping the engineering insights from his peers

for decades.

.o,ever his act of altering %iticorp to the problem

inherent in his o,n design is no, used as an e$ample of
ethical behavior in several engineering te$tbooks.
'ssues5
/fter a lot of delays %./FFE7&E"1S J
th
flight ,as set
up for IJ
th
(an <>JB
/llan !c;onald of !orton - Thiokol ,ho designed
the solid-rocket booster kne, the problems ,ith the field
oints on previous cold ,eather oints. /nd IJ
th
(an ,as
e$pected to be cold.
CASE 5 THE CHALLENGER CASE
Seal e$perts /rnold Thompson and "oger +oisoly of
!orton - Thiokol, e$plained to 7/S/ representatives ho,
upon launch the booster rocket ,alls bulge and the
combustion gases can blo, past one or even both of the 86
rings that make up the field oints.
The rings char and erode, as had been observed on
many previous flights. 'n cold ,eather the problem is
aggravated because the rings and the putty packing are less
pliable then Cmore brittleD
Senior )ice 9resident (erry !ason told +ob Fund C)ice
9resident EngineeringD 0T8 T/KE 8EE G8:" E7&'7EE"'7&
./T /7; 9:T 87 G8:" !/7/&E!E7T ./T3. The managers
Cnot engineersD voted that the seals %8:F; 78T +E S.8W7
T8 +E :7S/EE.
The count do,n ended at <<.AJ /!. The
temperature ,as AB degrees. /s the rocket carrying the
%hallenge "ose from the ground, cameras sho,ed
smoke emanating through the 8 rings.
Soon these turned into a flame that hit the
e$ternal fuel tank and a strut holding the booster
rocket. The hydrogen in the tank caught fire, the
booster rocket broke loose, smashed into %hallenger1s
,ing, then into the e$ternal tank. /t ?B seconds into
the flight, by the time %hallenger and its rocket had
reached L=,=== feet, it ,as totally engulfed in a fire ball.
The cre, cabin separated and fell into the ocean, killing
all abroad. !ission %ommander5 Erancis Scobee.
9ilot5 !ichael Smith. !ission specialist5 &pegory (arvis,
"onald !c7air, Ellison 8nizuka, (udith "esnick.
Teacher in space5 %hrista !ac/uliffe C%hosen from
<<,=== applicantsD
'ssues5
+abylon1s +uilding %ode
C.ammurabi1s %odeD
'f a builder has built a house for a man and has not
made his ,ork sound, and the house ,hich he has built has
fallen do,n and so caused the death of the house6holder,
the builder should be put to death MMMMM
SAMPLE CODES
CODE OF ETHICS FOR ENGINEERS
T.E E:7;/!E7T/F 9"'7%'9FES
Engineers :phold and advance the integrity, honor and
dignity of the engineering profession by5
'.:sing their kno,ledge and skill for the enhancement
of human ,elfareN
''. +eing honest and impartial, and serving ,ith fidelity
the public, their employers and clients5
'''. Striving to increase the competence and prestige of the
engineering professionN and
'.Supporting the professional and technical societies of
their disciplines.
F!"#$%&"'$( C$")"*
<. Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and
,elfare of the public in the performance of their
professional duties.
I. Engineers shall perform services only in the areas of
their competence.
A. Engineers shall issue public statements only in an
obective and truthful manner.
@. Engineers shall act in professional matters for each
employer or client as faithful agents or trustees, and
shall avoid conflicts of interest.
L. Engineers shall build their professional reputation on
the merit of their services and shall not compete unfairly
,ith others.
B.Engineers shall act in such a manner as to uphold and
enhance the honor, integrity and dignity of the profession.
?. Engineers shall continue their professional development
throughout their careers and shall provide opportunities
for the professional development of those engineers
under their supervision.

CONCLUDING REMARKS
When you leave this Fecture .all today you must
leave ,ith the kno,ledge and conviction that you have a
professional and moral responsibility to yourselves and to
your fello, human beings to defend the truth and e$pose
any questionable practice that ,ill lead to an unsafe
product or process
<. !artin, !ike # Schinzinger, "onald5 Ethics in
Engineering, A
rd
Ed. !c&ra, .ill
<. http5OOtemp.onlinethics.orgOcasesOrobotOarticle6 <.htmO
REFERENCES