Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The statement is the result of wide consultation, both within the engineering
profession and with other professionals specialising in applied ethics. It
contains four fundamental principles and is designed to form the core of the
codes of conduct published by the professional engineering institutions. All
registered engineers and technicians have committed to working in an
ethical and socially responsible manner in accordance with their institution's
code of conduct.
Engineering professionals have a duty to uphold the highest standards of professional conduct including openness, fairness, honesty
and integrity.
They should:
Engineering professionals have a duty to obey all applicable laws and regulations and give due weight to facts, published standards
and guidance and the wider public interest.
They should:
hold paramount the health and safety of others and draw attention to hazards
ensure their work is lawful and justified
recognise the importance of physical and cyber security and data protection
respect and protect personal information and intellectual property
protect, and where possible improve, the quality of built and natural environments
maximise the public good and minimise both actual and potential adverse effects for their own and succeeding generations
take due account of the limited availability of natural resources
uphold the reputation and standing of the profession
Engineering professionals have a duty to acquire and use wisely the understanding, knowledge and skills needed to perform their role.
They should:
Engineering professionals have a duty to abide by and promote high standards of leadership and communication.
They should:
be aware of the issues that engineering and technology raise for society, and listen to the aspirations and concerns of others
promote equality, diversity and inclusion
promote public awareness and understanding of the impact and benefits of engineering achievements
be objective and truthful in any statement made in their professional capacity
challenge statements or policies that cause them professional concern
The guidance document and a handy wallet card listing the four principles of ethics can be downloaded from the links below. This
guidance should be read alongside ethics related information from your institution, such as codes, policy statements and technical
guidance.
Operating at a strategic level, the group’s overarching objective is to provide advice and a steer to the profession about embedding a
culture of ethical behaviour in the profession.
Comprising members from both host organisations and from outside the immediate engineering community, the group reports to the
Engineering Council’s Board and the RAEng’s Education and Skills Committee. During Spring 2020, both fora endorsed the group’s
baseline Status Report as a reference point for development of strategic priorities and activities, likely to be available in late 2020.
EERG published its report, 'Engineering Ethics: Maintaining society’s trust in the engineering profession' in February 2022. The
report was launched at an online event chaired by Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE, RAEng Chief Executive, with panellists Professor David
Bogle CEng FIChemE FREng, Chi Onwurah MP, Engineering Council Chairman Professor Chris Atkin CEng FRAeS FREng, Dr Ollie
Folayan CEng FIChemE, co-founder of AFBE-UK and Maitheya Riva, early career representative from IOM3. The event is now
available to watch on demand.
Ethics audit
One of the actions in the report is 'Understanding ethical culture in the engineering profession, benchmarking against, and learning
from other professions and setting targets for future improvements'. If you work in engineering in the UK, we want to hear your views
on ethical engineering practice.
Twelve initial case studies have been produced by the Engineering Professors’ Council (EPC) for the RAEng. The case studies'
creation was one of the actions from the 'Engineering Ethics' report, ("Create ethics toolkits and case studies to support educational
programmes and CPD".)
These case studies, and other resources that form the EPC’s Engineering Ethics toolkit, are available on the EPC website.
Useful Links −
Useful Documents −
©Engineering Council 2022. Registered Charity No. 286142. Privacy Policy | Quality | Disclaimer