Engineering Ethics

Engineering​ is the process of developing an efficient mechanism which quickens and

eases the work using limited resources, with the help of technology. ​Ethics​ are the
principles accepted by the society, which also equate to the moral standards of human
beings. An engineer with ethics, can help the society in a better way.
Hence the study of ​Engineering ethics​, where such ethics are implemented in
engineering by the engineers, is necessary for the good of the society. Engineering Ethics
is the study of decisions, policies and values that are morally desirable in engineering
practice and research.
Ethics in Engineering
Ethics are principles followed depending upon the moral responsibility that a person feels.
The study of related questions about moral ideals, character, policies and relationships of
people and organizations involved in technological activity, can be termed as ​Engineering
ethics​.
An engineer whether he works individually or works for a company, has to go through
some ethical issues, mostly under the conditions such as, conceptualization of a product,
issues arising in design and testing departments, or may be on the issues involving the
manufacturing, sales and services. Questions related to morality also arise during
supervision and team works.
The ethical decisions and moral values of an engineer need to be considered because the
decisions of an engineer have an impact the products and services - how safe they are to
use, the company and its shareholders who believe in the goodwill of the company, the
public and the society who trusts the company regarding the benefits of the people, the
law which cares about how legislation affects the profession and industry, the job and his
moral responsibilities and about how the environment gets affected, etc.
Engineering Ethics — Case Study
Examples
Now that we’ve covered ​the need for ethical standards​, ​reviewed standards for ethical
conduct​, and ​applied those ethical standards to the Challenger disaster​, it’s time to bring
up some of the more common ethical conundrums engineers are likely to face and apply
our design process for working through those issues.

Remember our Ethical problem solving process:

1. Establish a system boundary for the problem — what is it that you are studying and
what are the key drivers/influences affecting the system.
2. List facts and assumptions — what are the knowns and unknowns for the problem
3. Establish precedence and intent — review the prior art
4. Apply applicable laws, codes, and standards
5. Develop a solution to render verdict and prevent such acts from reoccurring

Example 1: Cheating/Forgery of information

At a prior institution I had the opportunity to share office space with a Professional
Engineer (PE) who had an actual stamp from a former job where they worked at a
nuclear power plant. I was often in classes with this PE and noticed that they never missed
any points on homeworks or exams. One time the PE even drew and erased curves on an
exam several times, not changing the curvature or inflection points, just re-positioning the
line until it looked exactly like the solution. This was confusing because the PE could never
seem to explain why they chose their particular solution strategy. In an advanced course, I
noticed the PE’s solutions were always identical to the professor’s, even when multiple
solution strategies were valid. Eventually the professor made the same mistake on an
assignment that I had worked for days to point out as wrong to the PE.
Clearly something unethical is going on here. Am I bound by a Code of Ethics to report this
suspicious behavior as this person is a full PE? How would you handle this?

My solution: Don’t accuse! Gather more information. I went to the professor of the class,
who was a very meticulous, wrote all of his own problems, and was a well respected
person of the department. I informed the professor that some weird behavior was
occurring on exams and tests in his classes, one person reliably made the same mistakes
as the solutions. The Professor’s response was, “Wow, that is a coincidence.” Not
satisfied, I simply asked if he had the solution material stored or backed up in a place that
could be accessed. He paused, and said, “Now that you mention it, I back up all of my
assignments and exams on the shared lab drive.” I asked him to stop backing up those
assignments for the remaining few classes of the semester. The change was apparent.
The PE’s homework and exam scores, which had been flawless, immediately plummeted
and he desperately worked through the assignments with the rest of us, but was way
behind in understanding. The change was apparent to the professor too. Although the PE
was never publicly confronted about the change, it would have been extremely difficult for
the professor to bring this proof to the Insitutional boards for such matters, and moreover
the PE was in the same lab as the professor. One day the PE got into the elevator and the
doors shut right as the professor walked in, a conversation was exchanged, and the PE
ended up leaving for another institution.

Example 2: Reporting of Safety Violations

I once knew a Professional Engineer (PE) who still conducted research in their lab. One
day, a researcher accidentally mixed two substances in the fume hood, leading to an
explosion that destroyed the hood. The PE, under pressure to reduce accidents in their
unit, did not report the incident to others as they were the only required chain of reporting.
Months later, a another researcher in their unit, who was un-informed of the first incident,
had a similar incident that destroyed another fume hood. A year later, a similar accident
sent 16 people to the hospital at another organization. The PE eventually moved to make
safety incidents, and failure to report these safety incidents, part of performance
evaluations for their unit.

Since this person is a PE, am I required to report this behavior to the Board of Ethical
review? Did unethical behavior occur?

My Solution: In this case the PE clearly made bad decisions not to lead by example or be
transparent with information that led to further damage to equipment. However, the PE
made corrections to try to prevent the incident from occurring again in their group, which is
clearly ethical. Moreover, at the time they were not required to report this information to
their subordinates within their organization. Although the Licensee’s Obligation to Society
specifies, “3. Licensees shall notify their employer or client and such other authority as
may be appropriate when their professional judgement is overruled under circumstances
where the life, health, property, or welfare of the public is endangered.” the Licensee’s
Obligation to Other Licensee’s states, “3. Licensees shall not attempt to inure, maliciously
or falsely, directly or indirectly, the professional reputation, prospects, practice, or
employment of other licensees, nor indiscriminately criticize other licensees’ work.” In this
case, growing criticism from their peers prompted the PE to seek employment elsewhere
before official measures needed to be taken.

Example 3: Accepting Gifts

A self proclaimed “Vigilante Millionaire” (VM) for clean energy announced they would visit
my research laboratory with an interest in developing a new collaboration. The VM did not
need official ties to a company or organization due to their wealth and preferred to operate
“quietly” as this allowed more freedom to operate and not register as a lobbyist. The VM
was very well connected with other researchers and program managers, however none of
them could decisively vouch for the VM’s credibility. Other concerns emerged when the
VM was unable to pay for certain items and claimed “that’s the first time that’s happened”
despite my direct experience to the contrary. Eventually the VM revealed their intent to
start a business in this area, partner with me, and that their ostensible goals of building
and furthering the community were not entirely selfless. After my frustration with this
revelation, the VM tried to use contacts to upgrade some airline seats I had to first class
and offered tickets to get into high-level political events.

Is the VM trying to get me engaged in unethical behavior? The VM is not an Engineer. Can
I accept the gifts?

My solution: I had to gather more information. I had introduced this VM to some of my

professional colleagues. I called them and expressed my resentment at having made the
introduction and said that I had reasons to no longer associate with the VM. After
explaining this, some of my other contacts revealed that the VM had received large
government awards but had difficulty finishing them well with large portions of the project
not finished, but the money was gone. A friend referred me to the movie “Leverage” and
what is known as the Long Con:

There are three key players in any long con: a victim, a con artist, and one or more
associates.

The Mark​: The intended victim of the Con.

The Grifter​: A practitioner of confidence tricks, or more informally, a con artist. A
grifter may play many roles, and often creates multiple personas over their career.
The Shill​: An accomplice to the grifter, who has no apparent connection to the con.
Shills are put in place to encourage the mark to act in the desired way.

In this case I clearly wasn’t the mark. But as an engineer, my primary resource/asset is my
credibility. Having written the world standard for hydrogen property estimation and running
the leading cryogenic hydrogen lab in the US makes me a target to become a Shill.

After seeing this potential for a substantial conflict of interest and unethical activity I broke
off connections with the VM and certainly did not accept the gifts.