KMH 432 - Estuzem - Week 12 - Engineering Ethics

KMH432 Chemical Engineering Design II
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Esin APAYDIN VAROL
Week 12
Text book:
Dear Students,
Please follow our text book –B2- during this
chapter.
TEXT BOOK:
B1. Sinnott, R. K., Chemical Engineering
Design, Volume 6, 4th edn., Elsevier, 2005.
B2. Turton, R. et al., Analysis, Synthesis and
Design of Chemical Processes, 3rd edn.,
Prentice Hall International Series, 2009.
2
Ethics and Professionalism
Introduction
Engineering has rbeen described as “the strategy for causing the best change in a
poorly understood or uncertain situation within the available resources”.
The realm of ethics and professionalism entails very real, poorly understood
problems that are as challenging as any technical problems an engineer will
face.
The purpose of this chapter is to help develop strategies to make the best choice
when faced with an ethical problem. The set of strategies developed will be
different for each engineer.
For educational use in conjunction with Turton, R. et al., Analysis, Synthesis and Design of Chemical Processes, 3rd edn., Prentice Hall International Series, 2009 only. Do not copy. 3
Why Study Engineering Ethics?
● Because it is the right thing to do.

● Because it is required.
● Because it is part (a crucial part) of being a modern engineer or scientist
● Because it may save lives.
● Because it may keep you out of trouble.
● Because it may protect some tender parts of your body or soul from legal
assault.
Ethics
● Morals – differ from person to person – based on personal beliefs – often

religion and upbringing
● Legal – what behavior is legal and illegal
● Ethics – code of conduct (behavior) based on personal morals and

legalities
Ethics
● Moral Autonomy
 The ability to make one’s own ethical decisions, consistent with:
■ Moral principles
■ Codes of conduct
■ Obligations accepted
■ Law
■ Applicable codes of ethics
Ethics
● Moral Autonomy
But, most importantly, the right decision is one that the engineer can live
with. Of course, it is always possible that one person’s decision would
not be acceptable to another person.
 The ability to make one’s own ethical decisions is known as

moral autonomy.
Ethics-Rehearsal
Example 23.1
Jay’s boss is an acknowledged expert in the field of catalysis. Jay is the
leader of a group that has been charged with developing a new catalyst
system, and the search has narrowed to two possibilities, Catalyst A and
Catalyst B.
The boss is certain that the best choice is A, but directs that tests be run on
both, “just for the record.” Owing to inexperienced help, the tests take longer
than expected, and the results show that B is the
preferred material. The engineers question the validity of the tests, but,
because of the project’s timetable, there is no time to repeat the series. So
the boss directs Jay to work the math backward and come up with
phony data to substantiate the choice of Catalyst A, a choice that all the
engineers in the group, including Jay, fully agree with. Jay writes the report.
Ethics-Rehearsal
Example 23.1_Discussion
In this simple scenario, there is a great deal of stress. If Jay had never
thought about what to do in such a situation, it is highly unlikely that he would
make a decision that he could live with. It is much more likely that Jay would
look back on the event and wish he could go back and make a different
choice. Rehearsal gives us the opportunity to do just that. The first time we
see the situation, we would like to be in a lowrisk environment. If we make
the wrong decision, it does not matter. The second time, we can make the
better choice.
Ethics-Reflection in Action
One of the characteristics of successful professionals in a variety of fields is

frequent postmortem analysis. This self-imposed study of events that have
occurred in one’s professional life is called “reflection in action” [8].
After an engineering event has occurred in which ethical decisions were
made, one sits down (individually or in a small group) and reviews the case,
analyzing the facts, the missing information, the constraints, the unnecessary
perceived constraints, the options considered, the options not considered,
and the strategy used to arrive at the decision.
Ethics-Reflection in Action
Reasons why reflection in action is so powerful:
 It forces one to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of one’s own

strategy.
 • It provides continual opportunities and encouragement for rehearsal.
Ethics-Mobile Truth
It is quite natural for people to assume that groups to which they belong are
right, and other groups are wrong. This basic response gives rise to loyalty,
strong familial pride and duty, willful obedience, and leadership. The strength
of collective action depends on this response, which, in terms of ethical
decision making in engineering, manifests itself in mobile truth.
Ethics-Mobile Truth
Let us say that your AIChE student chapter and the IEEE student chapter are
playing volleyball. If the referee makes a difficult call, you are apt to find the
call right if it favors your team and wrong if it favors the other. You are not
being unethical, but you are perhaps being unreasonable. Similarly, when
you start to work for an organization, you begin to develop attitudes toward it
that are similar to the bonding that occurs within families, nationalities, and
schools. The faster these bonds develop, the faster you will be accepted.
The stronger these bonds are, the more loyal you will become.
Ethics-Mobile Truth
Example 23.3
If you work for Company A, which produces polyethylene, you know that
Type-A polyethylene is the best.
Because you are offered a promotion, higher pay, and desirable relocation,
you move to Company B. Almost immediately, Type-B polyethylene becomes
the best. It could be because you are such a great chemical engineer, but it
is probably because of mobile truth. The world did not change, but your
frame of reference and, especially, your loyalty, did.
When your affinity to a group clouds your ethical decision making, you are
being affected by mobile truth.
Ethics-Mobile Truth
Here are a few heuristics for avoiding being misled by mobile truth.
• Ask yourself whether your decision would be different if you worked for
another part of the company or for another company.
• Imagine that you live just outside the plant fence.
• Imagine that you work for the Environmental Protection Agency.
• Ask for the opinion of someone else in your organization. Explain the
situation, suggesting that the facts pertain to a different organization. The
response is likely to be less affected by mobile truth.
Ethics-Nonprofessional Responsibilities
Each chemical engineer has personal responsibilities: to family, to friends, to

oneself. These responsibilities, like professional responsibilities, will change
dramatically throughout one’s life. The obvious example is one’s family
situation, which is likely to grow and change over a 40-year career. In
general, it is easier to make ethical choices when they affect only oneself.
Choices that affect one’s family are especially difficult.
Example 23.4
Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (U.S. Public Law 94-469), all
chemicals in general use, or that had been in use, were required to be placed
on an inventory list in 1979. Some chemicals were omitted from the initial list
through oversight. To produce a chemical not on the list, or a new chemical,
a manufacturer must submit a premanufacturing marketing notification to the
EPA.
(The purpose of notification is to allow EPA 90 days to review a chemical, to
ensure that its production, distribution, and use will not be detrimental to
human health and the environment. The agency has the authority to place
controls as necessary. Heavy penalties can be, and have been, assessed
against violators of this regulation.)
Example 23.4
Chris supervises a unit that has begun making a “new” chemical (one not on
the list) and becomes aware that a premanufacturing notification has not
been filed.
If Chris blows the whistle, Chris’s career with the company could be over,
despite laws to protect whistle-blowers.
If Chris does nothing, workers may be exposed to the chemical without
safeguards, and be harmed by it. And, if the company is caught, Chris’s
professional reputation could be stained, especially if it could be shown that
the inaction resulted in harm to workers.
Should Chris discuss this ethical problem with her family?
What financial or other hardships might result if she reports the situation?
What obligations does she have to her family in this regard?
What obligations does she have to the community?
What obligations does she have to her employer?
Example 23.4
Chris supervises a unit that has begun making a “new” chemical (one not on
the list) and becomes aware that a premanufacturing notification has not
been filed.
If Chris blows the whistle, Chris’s career with the company could be over,
despite laws to protect whistle-blowers.
If Chris does nothing, workers may be exposed to the chemical without
safeguards, and be harmed by it. And, if the company is caught, Chris’s
professional reputation could be stained, especially if it could be shown that
the inaction resulted in harm to workers.
Should Chris discuss this ethical problem with her family?
What financial or other hardships might result if she reports the situation?
What obligations does she have to her family in this regard?
What obligations does she have to the community?
What obligations does she have to her employer?
Ethical Priority
● For engineers, the public's

welfare has priority
Codes of Ethics
Codes of ethics are formal obligations that persons accept when they join
organizations or when they are allowed to enter a profession. In chemical
engineering, there are three main types of codes of ethics:
• employer,
• technical society,
• government.
The most important technical society code for U.S. chemical engineers is the
“Code of Ethics’ of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Codes of Ethics
● AIChE
● NSPE
● Engineer’s Creed
Codes of Ethics
Codes of Ethics- AICHE
The code can be divided into three parts.

 The first part identifies to whom the code applies (members of
AIChE) and the purpose of the code (to uphold and advance the integrity, honor,
and dignity of the engineering profession).
 The second part is the list of three goals that identify the duties that chemical
engineers have (being honest, impartial, loyal), to whom (employers, clients, the
public, the profession), and why (enhancement of human welfare).
 The third part of the code of ethics concerns 11 relatively specific

responsibilities that chemical engineers have.
Codes of Ethics- Engineers’ Creed
“Engineers’ Creed”:
As a professional engineer, I dedicate my professional knowledge and skill to the

advancement and betterment of human welfare. I pledge to give the utmost of
performance, to participate in none but honest enterprise, to live and work
according to the laws of man and the highest standards of professional conduct, to
place service before profit, honor and standing of the profession before personal
advantage, and the public welfare above all other considerations. In humility and
with need for divine guidance, I make this pledge.
Codes of Ethics- NSPE Code of Ethics
This code is more detailed and more specific than is the AIChE “Code of Ethics.” It
not only includes the canons and principles that are the total of the AIChE Code,
but it also prescribes rather specific actions to take in specific circumstances. The
NSPE code applies to those who join the organization and to those licensed to
practice engineering in states where this code is included in the professional
engineers’ code.
Whistle-Blowing
● Rarely the best decision

● Questions to ask
 What can be done to solve without whistleblowing?
 Can it be solved without whistleblowing?
 What actions should be taken?
 What are personal consequences?
Whistle-Blowing
Example 23.5
One day, Lee, a process engineer in an acrylonitrile plant, runs into a former
classmate at a technical society luncheon. The friend has recently taken a
job as a regional compliance officer for OSHA and reveals, after several
drinks, that there will be an unannounced inspection of Lee’s plant. In a
telephone conversation a few days later, the friend mentions that the
inspection will occur on the following Tuesday.
Lee believes that unsafe practices are too often tolerated in the plant,
especially in the way that toxic chemicals are handled. However, although
there have been many small spills, no serious accidents have occurred in the
plant during the past few years.
What should Lee do?
Whistle-Blowing
Example 23.5-Discussion
1. Define: Determine what the problem is and what the ethically desired final
outcome should be. Reread the relevant codes of ethics. What are Lee’s
obligations according to the AIChE code of ethics? According to the NSPE
code of ethics? Are there conflicting obligations?
2. Explore: Brainstorm for solutions in a small group.
3. Plan: Rank the possible actions according to their likelihood to bring about
the ethically desired result. Determine the most effective order for these
actions. Which should be done first? Under what circumstances should you
go to the next step? When would you involve your family and others?
4. Do It: Imagine that you followed through with your plan.
5. Look Back: Consider the consequences of the proposed actions. Do the
likely consequences of the actions change the ranking or the ordering?
Predict the final outcome of the action plan. Evaluate the outcome based on
your moral, ethical, and legal responsibilities.
Ethical Dilemmas
Some ethical problems can be solved easily. In fact, one does this
every day. The goal of this chapter is to help the reader to prepare for
the difficult choices, the answers to the ethical dilemmas.
Ethical Dilemmas
Example 23.6
Robin is a senior seeking employment. In January, Robin is offered a job by

Company X for $4000/month and given 10 days to accept the offer. Robin
accepts this offer. Two weeks later, Robin receives an offer of $4500/month
and a more exciting position from Company Y.
What should Robin do?
Ethical Dilemmas
At first many may think the answer is obvious. Some will wonder whether this
example is even an ethical dilemma. Yet if you ask five people what their
responses would be, you are likely to get more than one answer. What are
the student’s obligations to Company X after accepting employment but
before becoming an employee? Some companies have rescinded job offers
after they have been accepted. Does this fact change Robin’s obligations?
Should Robin’s family responsibilities affect the solution?
Ethical Dilemmas
At first many may think the answer is obvious. Some will wonder whether this
example is even an ethical dilemma. Yet if you ask five people what their
responses would be, you are likely to get more than one answer. What are
the student’s obligations to Company X after accepting employment but
before becoming an employee? Some companies have rescinded job offers
after they have been accepted. Does this fact change Robin’s obligations?
Should Robin’s family responsibilities affect the solution?
Profession
Profession
○ 1) An occupation or vocation requiring advanced study in a
specialized field.
○ 2) qualified persons of one specific field.
● Professionals declare themselves to the public as experts in a field of

study, such as law, medicine, accounting, computer science and
engineering
Profession
Engineers and other Professionals have:

● a special responsibility to the public
● to use their skills and knowledge
● to insure safety and increase the public “good”.
Professionalism is the performance of that responsibility in a manner that

the public can trust and rely on.
Profession
Professionals
Use Ethics to Define

How To Protect
The Public Good

Conclusions
In this lecture, we have learned the engineering ethics and basics of codes of
ethic.
Please study the problems at the end of this chapter.
● Text book:
● Turton R., Bailie R. C., Whiting W. B. & Shaeiwitz J. A., (2003), Analysis, Synthesis, and Design of
Chemical Processes, Prentice Hall.
● Sinnott, R. K., (2005), Chemical Engieering Design, Coulson & Richardson’s Chemical Engineering,
Volume 6, Fourth edition, Elsevier
● Additional readings:
● Peters, M. S., Timmerhaus, K. D. & West R. E., (2003), Plant Design and Economics for Chemical
Engineers, Mc Graw Hill.

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KMH432 Chemical Engineering Design II

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Esin APAYDIN VAROL

● Because it is the right thing to do.

● Morals – differ from person to person – based on personal beliefs – often

● Legal – what behavior is legal and illegal

● Ethics – code of conduct (behavior) based on personal morals and

 The ability to make one’s own ethical decisions, consistent with:

■ Applicable codes of ethics

 The ability to make one’s own ethical decisions is known as

One of the characteristics of successful professionals in a variety of fields is

Reasons why reflection in action is so powerful:

 It forces one to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of one’s own

 • It provides continual opportunities and encouragement for rehearsal.

Each chemical engineer has personal responsibilities: to family, to friends, to

● For engineers, the public's

The code can be divided into three parts.

 The third part of the code of ethics concerns 11 relatively specific

As a professional engineer, I dedicate my professional knowledge and skill to the

● Rarely the best decision

Robin is a senior seeking employment. In January, Robin is offered a job by

What should Robin do?

○ 2) qualified persons of one specific field.

● Professionals declare themselves to the public as experts in a field of

Engineers and other Professionals have:

Professionalism is the performance of that responsibility in a manner that

Use Ethics to Define

The Public Good

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