Prepared by: Syahrul Azwan bin Sundi @ Suandi

CHAPTER 3
ENGINEERING ETHICS & OSHE
BMMU4053
Prof Ts Dr Effendi Mohamad
effendi@utem.edu.my
 Framing The Problems

❖ Understanding Ethical Problems

❖ Ethical Problem- solving techniques

 Understanding Ethical Problems

• Ethical theories helps us to understand and solve ethical

problems.

• Ethical theory is a comprehensive perspective on morality

that clarifies, organizes and guide moral reflection. It also
provides a framework for making moral choices and
resolving moral dilemmas.

• There is a large number of ethical theories. This doesn't

indicate a weakness in theoretical understanding of ethics
or a fuzziness of ethical thinking. Rather, it reflects the
complexity of ethical problems and the diversity of
approaches to ethical problem solving.
 Understanding Ethical Problems

Five ethical theories :-

1. UTILITARIANISM
2. RIGHT ETHICS
3. DUTY/ DEONTOLOGY ETHICS
4. VIRTUE ETHICS
5. SELF-REALIZATION ETHICS
 Understanding Ethical Problems

1. UTILITARIANISM
= maximize the overall good, taking into equal account all those
affected by our actions

eg. building of dams

provide drinking water , electricity, flood controls, recreational

opportunities

BUT benefits come at the expenses of people (and animals) living

in the areas where it will be flooded. Animals which are probably
endangered species.

This theory tries to balance the needs of society with the needs of
the individual, with an emphasis on the most beneficial to the
most people.
 Understanding Ethical Problems

1.UTILITARIANISM
Example 1:
Act-utilitarianism apparently permits some actions that we know are
patently immoral. Suppose that stealing a computer form my employer,
an old one scheduled for replacement anyway, benefits me significantly
and causes only miniscule harm to the employer and others. We know
that theft is unethical, and hence act-utilitarianism seems to justify
wrongdoing. Rule-utilitarianism express this moral knowledge by
demonstrating the overall goods is promoted when engineers heed the
principle, “Act as faithful agents or trustees of employers”.

Example 2:
Suppose company morale would greatly improved if several disliked
engineers are being fired after being blamed for mistakes they did not
make. Doing so is unfair, but the overall good is promoted.
 Understanding Ethical Problems
2. RIGHT ETHICS
= respect human rights

❑ Human rights;
❑ life
❑ privacy
❑ not to be injured
❑ receiving benefits through fair and honest exchange
❑ be informed about the risks and safety of one's
surrounding environment or products etc
❑ liberty
❑ livable environment
❑ pursuit of happiness
❑ decent human life
❑ etc
 Understanding Ethical Problems
2. RIGHT ETHICS

there are also special moral right, rights held by particular

individuals rather than by every human being.

For example, engineers and their employers have special

moral rights that arise from their respective roles and the
contracts they make with each other. Thus, contracts and
other types of promises create special rights.

Another example is, when the public purchases products,

there is an implicit (understood/unspoken) contract that
the products will be safe and useful.
 Understanding Ethical Problems
2. RIGHT ETHICS
Some rights are absolute, in the sense of being unlimited
and having no justifiable exceptions. For instance, if
people purchase hang gliders and then injure themselves
by flying them carelessly or under bad weather
conditions, their rights have not been violated—assuming
that advertisements about the joys of hang gliding did
not contain misleading information.

But human rights does imply when people are injured or

killed by products whose dangers are not obvious or are
deliberately hidden.
 Understanding Ethical Problems
3. DUTY ETHICS
= respect individual's autonomy

• People deserve respect because they are capable of

recognizing and voluntarily responding to moral duty.
• Autonomy = moral self-determination or self-governance,
means having the capacity to govern one’s life in accordance
to moral duties.
• Immorality occurs when we “merely use” others, reducing
them to mere means to our ends, treating them as mere
objects to gratify our needs. Violent acts such as murder, rape
and torture are obvious ways of treating people are mere
object serving our purposes.
 Understanding Ethical Problems
3. DUTY ETHICS

• We also fail to respect persons if we fail to provide

support when they are in desperate need and we can help
at little inconvenience to ourselves.
• Of course we need to “use” others : business partners,
managers and engineer, faculty and students, to obtain
personal and professional ends. Immorality involves
treating persons as mere means to our goals, rather than
as autonomous agents who have their own goals.
 Understanding Ethical Problems
3. DUTY ETHICS

• It is a moral duty to do what is right because it is right,

unconditionally and without special incentives attached.
For example, we should be honest because honesty is
required by duty; it is required by our basic duty to
respect the autonomy of others, rather than to deceive
and exploit them.
• Golden Rule : Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you; or, Do not do unto others what you would not
want them do to you.
 Understanding Ethical Problems
4.VIRTUE ETHICS
=good character (kebaikan) is central to morality

Virtue ethics emphasizes character more than rights and rules. Example of
virtue; competence, honesty, courage fairness, loyalty, humility.
In engineering, the most comprehensive virtue is responsible
professionalism. This implies four categories of virtue:

1. Public-spirited virtues
▪ Engineering codes of professional conduct call for beneficence,
which is preventing or removing harm to others and promoting
public safety, health and welfare.
▪ Sacrificing time, talent and money to their professional societies
or local communities.
 Understanding Ethical Problems
4.VIRTUE ETHICS
2. Proficiency virtues
▪ Mastery of one’s profession, being well-prepared
▪ Diligence: alertness to dangers and careful attention to details
▪ Creativity

3. Teamwork virtues
• Important in enabling professionals to work successfully with
other people.
• Teamwork virtues include collegiality, cooperativeness, loyalty
and respect for legitimate authority.
• Leadership qualities is an important key role within authority-
structured corporations, such as responsible exercise of
authority and ability to motivate others.
 Understanding Ethical Problems
4.VIRTUE ETHICS
4. Self-governance (tadbir urus) virtues
▪ Necessary in exercising moral
responsibility, for example self-
understanding and good moral judgment-
what Aristotle called practical wisdom.
▪ Also commitment and on putting
understanding into action for example,
courage, self-discipline, perseverance,
fidelity to commitments, self-respect and
integrity.
 Understanding Ethical Problems
5.SELF - REALIZATION ETHICS
= moral significance of self-fulfillment

▪ seeking self-fulfillment
▪ self identity and meaning are linked to the communities in
which we participate
▪ self-realization ethics points to the particular commitments
that individuals make in their work, as well as in their
professional lives. It is a central theme of how personal
commitments motivate, guide and give meaning to the work
of engineers and other professionals.
▪ Personal commitments are relevant in many ways to
professional life, they create meaning; thereby they motivate
professionalism throughout long careers.
 Ethical Problem- solving techniques
Example Case
• Ben is assigned by his employer, Cartex to work on an
improvement to an ultrasonic range-finding device.
This device is find very useful to the development of
new medical technology.
• While working on the improvement, he gets an idea
for a modification of the equipment that might cause
of Benzene Exposure in the work place.
• However, Ben has signed an agreement that all
inventions he produces on the job are the property of
the company, but does not believe the agreement
applies his situation.
 Ethical Problem- solving techniques

How should we resolve controversial issues related to

engineering ethics?

❖ Some kind of methodical approach is needed.

❖ 1974: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) temporary
regulation for limiting benzene amount in any working place (1ppm).
❖ 1980: U.S. Supreme Court relaxed the OSHA limitation (10 ppm,
indicating that OSHA should come up with substantial
“These observations point out the important
fact that usually experience moral
disagreement and controversy within a
context of agreement”
 Case of benzene Exposure
in the workplace
How to formulate our moral beliefs?

Common features of human life include :

• Vulnerability (terdedah) - Humans are susceptible to pain, suffering,

unhappinesness, disability, and untimely death

• Autonomy - Humans to some degree are capable of thinking and

making our own decisions

• Interdependency (saling bergantung) - Depend on each other to

achieve what we want, through cooperative endeavor and division of
labor Others refraining from harming each other

• Shared expectations and goals - Shared vision and goas, UN and WHO

• Common moral traits - Fair-mindedness, self-respect, compassion

 Case of benzene Exposure in the
workplace

How to formulate our moral beliefs?

• So moral beliefs should include general principles such as not harming
others, not to cheat, keep promises, respect for others, not to interfere
with the freedom of others, etc.

• But of course, with specific exceptions:

✓ Telling a lie is bad, but might be acceptable for a certain situation.
✓ One should be able to provide proper justification or a good cause
to do so.

• Many engineering codes reflect these values underlined by common

morality.
 Justification of basing professional ethics
issues on common morality

• Attempting to make judgments based on common moral values

shared by everyone.

• This would eliminate possible bias (some moral values are important
only by people having faith in a certain religion or belief).

• Universalizability and Reversibility

❖ Universalizability: Whatever is right (or wrong) in one situation is right (or

wrong) in any relevantly similar situation. (it requires us to be consistent in
our thinking)

❖ Reversibility: Treat others as you would have them treat you (Golden Rule).
 Ethical Problem- solving techniques

Analyzing a Case :

• To analyze anything, we must gather information relevant

to the solution of the ethical problem.
• We first ask :
- What are the ethical questions?
- What are the facts?

• The facts should be relevant to the specific ethical

questions. Do the facts support the ethical questions?

• What are the resources we might use in framing the

ethical considerations? Moral Belief…. Professional
Code..etc..?
 Ethical Problem- solving techniques

Factual issues involve what is actually known about a case;

what are the facts.
Facts are usually clear-cut, but sometimes facts can be blurry
and may be controversial

Example :
• abortion-at what point life starts
• global warming-what is the process and how does
greenhouse gasses affect the atmosphere

Factual issues can often be resolved through research to help

establish the "true" facts, hence clarifying the situation
 Ethical Problem- solving techniques

Conceptual issues have to do with the meaning or applicability of an

idea
Example : defining what constitutes a bribe as opposed to an
acceptable gift.

The value of the gift is a probably a well-known fact.

BUT, conceptually is the gift meant to influence your decision or it is
merely a nice gesture between friends.

Conceptual issues are resolved by agreeing on the meaning of terms

and concepts.

Application issues are resolved by agreement as to which moral

principles are pertinent (relevant) and how they should be applied.
 Ethical Problem- solving techniques

How to resolve Problems :

• What is the Case Statement?

• Define the Relevant Facts
• Define Factual Issues if any
• Define Conceptual and Application Issues
• Define Moral Issues
• Analyze the case based on the information
you’ve developed
• Can a “Line Drawing” help resolve the issue?
Thank You