UNIT IV

SAFETY, RESPONSIBILITIES AND

RIGHTS
SAFETY, RESPONSIBILITIES AND
RIGHTS
 Safety and Risk
 Assessment of Safety and Risk
 Risk Benefit Analysis and Reducing Risk
 Respect for Authority
 Collective Bargaining
 Confidentiality
 Conflicts of Interest
 Occupational Crime
 Professional Rights
 Employee Rights
 Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
 Discrimination
Safety & Risk

 Safety was defined as the risk that is known

and judged as acceptable. But, risk is a
potential that
something unwanted and harmful may occur
 Probability of safety = 1 – Probability of risk
 Risk = Probability of occurrence ×
Consequence in magnitude
Drawbacks of Lawrence's Definition
 Under-Estimate Risk
 Misjudgment of person
 Example: Coil Type Water heater
 Over-Estimation of Risk
 Products Risks comparatively less risks
 But people thinks “Unsafe”
 Example: Chlorine in drinking water
 No estimation of Risk
 Person who does not judge about risks
 Example: LPG Car
A modified Definition by Lowrence

 “ A thing is safe ( to certain degree) with

respect to a given person or group at a given
time, it its risks were fully known, if those
risks would be judged acceptable (to certain
degree), in light of settled value principles”
 Here things means not only products but also
services, processes etc.,
Relatively Safety (fairly safety)

 Safety is expressed in terms of degree and

comparisons.
 It means safety of the thing in comparison
with safety of similar things
 Example
 Air travel> Car Travel > Bike Travel
4.3 Engineers and Safety
 Safety should be integral part of any
engineering design.
 In order to ensure safety following criteria
should meet
 Design follow legal standards
 Alternate designs that are potentially safer should
be explored.
 All possible misuse by the consumer should be
identified, and that is to be avoided
 Designed product should be tested using
prototypes
 Designing for safety
 Alan D.Wilcox has summarized the process of
incorporating safety into the engineering design
as follows
 1. Define the problem (issues of safety in the product
design)
 2. Generate alternate design solutions
 Analyze each design solutions
 Test the solutions
 Select the best ones
 Implement the chosen solution
4.4 Risk
 Risk increases because engineers are constantly
involved in innovation.
 New machines are created and new compounds

synthesized always without full knowledge of their

long-term effects on humans or the environment.
Risk
 Risk Definition in dictionary “ possibility of
suffering harm or loss”
 Risk in technology could include dangers of
 bodily harm

 economic loss

 environmental degradation

 Engineers risk affects mostly the physical and

economical well being
 Example: Faulty design of chemical plant
 Causes of risk: Delayed job completion,
faulty products or systems
Risk - Definition
Natural Hazards and Disasters

 Natural hazards such as floods, earthquake,

volcanoes etc greatly threatens and damages
the long life of human populations
 A Disaster is a “ Serious disruptive event
agrees with a state of insufficient
preparations”
Factors influencing Risk

 1. Voluntary Vs In voluntary Risk

 If a person knowingly takes any risks, then he
feels it safe
 voluntary Risks are consider as safe (even if risks
are really Unsafe)
 Involuntary Risks are consider as unsafe (even if
risks are really Safe)
Factors influencing Risk

 2.Short term vs Long term consequences

 If a thing will causes a short-lived illness or
disability is safer than the thing that will result in
permanent disability

 3. Delayed vs immediate Risk

 An activity whose harm us delayed for many
years will seem less risky than something with an
immediate effect
Factors influencing Risk

 4. Expected probability
 A relatively slight harm having more probability of
occurring seems to be greater / unacceptable risk
than a relatively a severe harm having lesser
probability of occurring
 Example : 600 people unsafe –
 Choose option 50% safe not probability
Factors influencing Risk

 5. Reversible Effects
 Something will seem less risky if the bad effects
are ultimately reversible
 6. Threshold levels of Risks
 Something that is risky only at fairly high
exposures will seem safer than something with
uniform exposure to risk
SAFETY AND RISK

Imagine you are a fresh graduate.

 You get a job as an engineer in a large atomic power plant.
 Would you take it or not?
 Under what conditions would you take it?
 Under what conditions would you not?
 Why?

People as Consumers:
 Active Consumers: directly involve themselves e.g., mowing the
lawn, washing clothes or toasting bread.
 Passive Consumers: have less choice and less control e.g.,
Water, Electricity, Petrol,
 Bystanders: e.g., exposed to Pollution from unknown sources
4.5 Acceptability of Risk

 According to D.Rowe, “ A risk is acceptable

when those affected are generally no longer
apprehensive about it”
 Apprehensiveness- doubtfulness is mainly
depends on how the risk is perceived by
people
Elements of Risks
( Factors influencing the perception of
Risk)
1. Whether risk is influenced voluntarily

2. The effect of knowledge on how the

probabilities of harm are perceived
3. Job related or other pressures that cause
people to be aware of risks
4. Whether the effects of risky activity or
situation are immediately noticeable
5. Whether the potential victims are identifiable
earlier
Acceptability of Risk
(Effect of Risk Assessment)
1.Voluntarism & Control
Voluntary Risk : If people take risk knowingly, then their
involvement of risk is known as voluntary risk
 Many people consider safer if they knowingly take on the risk.
Also the people believe that they have “Full Control” over their
actions
 Example:
 Buying a Flat near chemical plant
 Participating in adventurous sports like bike race
 Controlled Risk: If the Risk taken within control limit
 Example: horseback riding hill climbing
Acceptability of Risk
(Effect of Risk Assessment)
2 Effect of Information on Risk Assessment:
 The information about the danger should be in

systematic and appropriate manner

 Many case studies have proved inappropriate manner

lead to danger
 Threshold limit varies person to person

 From many experiments drawn 2 conclusions

 Options perceived as yielding company gain will lead to preferred
over those from which gains are perceived as risky as convenient
 People tend to be more willing to take risk in order to perceived
company losses than they are to win only possible gains
Acceptability of Risk
(Effect of Risk Assessment)
3.Job Related Risk:
 The Exposure of Risk depends on the person’s job and

his work place

 The nature of the job, and the working environment will

determine the risk level of a person

 Example:
 People working in coalmines, oil mines chemical plants have probability of
high risk
 Because of competition of survival
 The union and occupational safety regulations should regulate
and enforce the employers to facilitate the standard working
environment
Acceptability of Risk
(Effect of Risk Assessment)
4. Magnitude and proximity:
 Our reaction to risk is affected by magnification and the

personal identification and relationship we have with the

victims
 For instance, We feel very bad if one of our close friends

are subjected to great harm

 Magnitude of risk and proximity with victims greatly

influence the degree of reaction of the risk

4.6 Lessons for the engineers
 Engineers have the challenge to face the following two
different public conceptions of safety
 Positive or optimistic Attitude
 Some people assume that things that are familiar, that have not
hurt them on which they have some control present to real risk
 Negative or pessimistic Attitude
 Some people feel feared when an accident kills or harms in large
numbers or affects their relations, they consider those risk as
high risks
 Education will not quickly change under/over estimation
 The continuous & proper information about the dangers
are necessary to educate the people
 The risk communication and risk management efforts are
structured as two way process
4.7 Risk-Benefit Value Function
 The risk and benefits are based on probable
gain and probable loss
4.8 Types of accident
 Procedural Accidents
 Result of someone making bad choice or not following
established rules
 Example: - Road accidents
 Engineered Accidents
 Caused by errors in design
 Example: minor casting defects in aircrafts turbine blade
 Systematic Accidents
 They are difficult to understand & difficult to control
 Complex organization that are required to operate them
 Example: US Space Shuttle
4.9 Assessment of Safety & Risk
Assessment of Safety & Risk
 Primary Cost:
 Production cost & Cost of Safety
 Secondary Cost
 Cost associated with warranty expense, lost of
customer good will
4.10 Determination of RISK
 In order to determine the risk one should
have knowledge about the following criterions
 1. Knowledge of Risk
 To assess risk, an engineer must identify risk, for
that he must first know the information about the
safety of standard products
 The past experience and historical data provide
good information
 But historical data is inadequate
 The information is not freely shared among firms
Determination of RISK
 2. Uncertainties in Design
 While designing a product, the design engineers
must deal with uncertainties
 The uncertainties are in the form of product,
materials used, economic conditions, temperature
etc.,
 The ‘Factor of safety’ is proposed to account for
unpredictably high loads . It must follow
 A product is said to be safe if its capability
exceeds its duty
Determination of RISK
3.Testing For Safety
 Once the product is designed, both
prototypes and finished devices must be
thoroughly tested
 It is essential that in engineering design, all

the safety systems to be tested

Determination of RISK
Different Approaches in testing
 Scenario Analysis
 The test starts from the given event, then studies the different
moments that might develop from it
 Failure Modes & Effective Analysis
 It systematically examines each and every components without
focusing on relationship among the elements of complex system
 Fault Tree Analysis(***)
 This approach propose system failure and then traces the events
back to possible causes at component level
 Event Free Analysis
 This is the reverse of the fault free analysis.
 Mathematical oriented version of Testing
 This analysis is very useful in identifying a potentially hazardous
situation a plant
4.11 Risk Benefit Analysis
 It is technique, used to analyze the risk in
project and to determine whether the project
should be carried out or not
 It answers the following questions
 What are the benefits of product/project?
 Is the project is worth for the risk?
 Do benefits balance the risk?
 Everyone is ready to accept certain level
of risks
Conceptual difficulties in Risk-Benefit
Analysis
 Both risks and benefits very difficult to
calculate because lie in future
(uncertainties)
 Ensure who takes risk are to be enjoy
benefit
 It is difficult to express both risk and
benefits is a common set of units.
Ethical implications on Risk- Benefit
Analysis
 While performing Risk –benefit analysis, one should
keep in mind the following ethical questions:
 Under what condition, someone in society is entitled to impose a
risk in someone else on behalf of supposed benefit to others?
 How can we consider the worst case scenarios of persons
exposed to maximum risks while they are obtaining only
minimum benefits?
 Are their rights violated?
 Are they provided safer alternatives?
Personal Risk
 If sufficient information is given to a person,
he can able to decide whether to participate
in a risky activity or not.
 Many experiments concluded- individuals are
willing to face voluntary risks than involuntary
risks
 They are difficult to assess
 Examples:
 A person living near chemical plant
 A Person working in nuclear plant
Assessing personal risk

 Answer following ethical questions

 How to access the money value of an individuals
life?
 On what basis, the compensation for a risk can be
decided?
 Is the compensation is justifiable?
 What will be the compensation if the tolerance
level is above the tolerance level?
Minimize the difficulties in personal
risk
 Life insurance
 Increased wages
Public Risk and public acceptance
 Public Risk can be easily determine than
personal Risk
 Assessment studies related to technological
safety can be conducted for public risk
 According to National Highways Traffic safety
Administration(NHTSA) has emphasized
following two points
 A value of human life can be estimated based on loss
of future income and other costs associated with an
accident
 A estimate of quantifiable losses in social welfare is
not based on maximum expenditure allocated to save
a life
Accounting publicly for Benefits and
Risks
 Public accountability for risk has been affected
by the following problems
 An expert or even group of experts cant be expected
to know everything
 The uncertainties produced by scientist and
regulators* also infects the risk regulation
 Since the origins of risk vary depending on how the
facts are presented, therefore special cause should be
given when starting probabilities if rare events
 (*regulator- who assure the public that there are no
risk, but they know that the answer are not at hand)
Becoming responsible engineers regarding risks
 Engineer can provide background material to prove the
faulty positions
 Engineers should actively participate in debates related
to safety and risks
 Engineers should always insist on meaningful numbers
and figures when assessing safety and risk
 Engineers should also recognize previously mentioned
difficulties with measuring risk and benefits
 Engineers should not be influenced by any influential
lobby or trade organization
 Engineers need to sensitive to various quantitative value
judgement related with human and ethical values
 Engineers should be aware at the legal liabilities
regarding risk.
Reducing Risk
 It is impossible to design and manufacture
anything to be completely risk free
 Engineers responsibility to explore all the
possible ways to reduce the risk under the
given financial and time constraint
 Risk Management: Eradication or minimization
of the adverse effects of the pure risks to which
an organization is exposed
 Elements of Risk management Programme:
 Risk identification
 Risk Evaluation( Risk measurement)
 Risk Control
 Elements of Risk Management
 Risk Identification
 Risk can be identified by various techniques such as

physical inspection, safety audit, job-safety analysis,

management and worker discussions,& historical data
analysis
 Risk Evaluation
 Risk can be evaluated on the basis of economic, social

or legal considerations
 Economic and social considerations include financial

aspects, uninsured cost of accidents, insurance

premium, overall effect of profitability, possible loss of
production
 Legal considerations include possible health and safety

law, code of practice, guidance notes & accepted

standards, fire prevention, pollution and product liability
 Elements of Risk Management
Risk Control
 Risk control consists of 4 areas
1. Risk Avoidance
 It refers to the conscious decision by the management
to avoid completely a particular risk by discontinuing
the operation producing risk
2. Risk retention
 Retaining a particular risk for which any consequent
loss is financed by organization
3. Risk transfer
 Legal assignment of cost of certain potential losses
from one party to another (insurance)
4. Risk reduction
 Reduction or elimination of all aspect of accidental loss
lead to wastage of an organizations assets.
Three approaches to acceptable risk

 The Experts Approach

 The Layperson’s Approach

 The Government Regulator’s Approach

Experts Approach to Acceptable Risk

 Identifying risk:
 Utilitarianism and acceptable risk

 Risk as maximizing benefit

Identifying risk

 concept of risk involves adverse effect or harm.

Harm is a limitation of a persons freedom or well
being. (physical well being, psychological well being,
economical well being)
 Risk can be defined as: “a compound measure of the

probability and magnitude of adverse effect”

(William W. Lowrance)
 We can add : “probability of death or injury”
Utilitarianism and Acceptable risk
 The experts approach to risk is usually utilitarian. That
the answer to any moral question is to be found by
determining the course of action that maximizes well
being.
 Cost/benefit technique is often called risk/benefit
analysis. Cost is measured in terms of risk of deaths,
injuries, or other harms associated with a given course
of action.
* Utilitarian - Practical
 Risk as maximizing benefit
 An acceptable risk is one of where , given the options available,
the risk of harm is at least equaled by the probability of producing
benefit.
Limitations: (that will yield the cost/benefit approach
inconclusive)
 It might not be possible to anticipate all of the costs and benefits
associated with each option
 It is not always possible to translate all of the risks and benefits
into monetary terms. What is the monetary value of human life?
 The method makes no allowances for the distributions of costs
and benefits.
 The method gives no place for informed consent to the risk
imposed by technology.
The Laypersons Approach to Acceptable
Risk
 Expert and Layperson
Public is sometimes mistaken in estimating the probability
of death and injury from various activities of technology.
Experts and lay person understand risk differently.
 Informed consent and justice: lay person approach follows

more closely the ethics of respect of persons than

utilitarianism.
Free and informed consent and compensation
Three necessities to give free and informed consent
to the risks imposed by technology:
 A person must not be forced

 A person must have the relative information

 A person must be rational and competent enough

to evaluate the information.

Lay criterion of acceptable risk:

An acceptable risk is one in which risk is freely

assumed by free and informed consent, or properly
compensated, and which is justly distributed.
The Government Regulator’s Approach to
Risk

 An acceptable risk is one in which protecting the

public from harm has been weighted more heavily
than benefiting the public.
Three approaches to acceptable risk

 Risk Expert: wants to balance risk and benefit in a way

that optimizes overall public well-being.
 Layperson: wants to protect himself or herself from risk.

 The government regulator: wants as much assurance as

possible that the public is not being exposed to unexpected

harm.
Becoming a Responsible Engineer Regarding Risk
Includes to be aware
 that risk is often difficult to estimate
 that there are different approaches to the
determination of acceptable risk
 of the legal liabilities regarding risk.
(A more general) Principle of Acceptable Risk

 People should be protected from the harmful effects of

technology, especially when the harms are not consented to or
when they are unjustly distributed, accept that this protection
must sometimes be balanced against (1) the need to preserve
great and irreplaceable benefits and (2) the limitations on our
ability to obtain informed consent.
Bhopal Gas Tragedy

 On December 3, 1984, Union Carbide's pesticide-

manufacturing plant in Bhopal, India leaked 40 tons
of the deadly gas, methyl isocyanate into a sleeping,
impoverished community - killing 2,500 within a few
days, 10000 permanently disabled and injuring
100,000 people. Ten years later, it increased to 4000
to 7000 deaths and injuries to 600,000.
Risks taken:
 Storage tank of Methyl Isocyanate gas was filled to
more than 75% capacity as against Union Carbide‟s
spec. that it should never be more than 60% full.
 The company‟s West Virginia plant was controlling
the safety systems and detected leakages thro‟
computers but the Bhopal plant only used manual
labour for control and leak detection.
 The Methyl Isocyanate gas, being highly
concentrated, burns parts of body with which it
comes into contact, even blinding eyes and destroying
lungs.
Causal Factors:
 Three protective systems out of service

 Plant was understaffed due to costs.

 Very high inventory of MIC, an extremely toxic

material.
 The accident occurred in the early morning.

 Most of the people killed lived in a shanty (poorly

built) town located very close to the plant fence.

 Responsibilities of Engineers

Internal Responsibilities:
Responsibilities of an engineer towards an employer, that the Responsibilities
within an organization
External Responsibilities :
Responsibilities of an engineer towards outside world, that the Responsibilities
outside organization
Collegiality
 It is the tendency to support and cooperate
with the colleagues
 According to NSPE , the collegiality should
include following characteristics
1. Engineers should not attempt to injure, unkindly
or falsely directly or indirectly, the professional
reputation, prospects, practice or employment of
other engineers
2. Engineers should not untruthfully criticize other
engineer’s work.
3. Engineers should bring unethical or illegal
practice of other engineers to the proper
Collegiality

 According to Craig Ihara – “A kind of

connectedness grounded in respect for
professional expertise and in commitment to
the goals and values of the profession
 Elements of Collegiality
 Respect
 Commitment
 Connectedness
Elements of Collegiality
 Respect:
 In general Means valuing one’s colleague for their
professional skill and their devotion to the social
goods promoted by the profession
 For engineering : It means affirming the worth of
other engineers engaged in producing socially
useful and safe products
 Collegial respect Vs Friendship:
 Collegial respect is Reciprocal like friendship
 But not necessarily develops personal affection like
friendship
Elements of Collegiality
 Commitment:
 Sharing devotion to the moral ideals essential in
the practice of engineering
 Even when there is cut-throat competition b/w
engineers, there should be a feeling that all
engineers share a concern for overall good to the
society
Elements of Collegiality

 Connectedness:
 Awareness of being part of a cooperative
undertaking created by sharing commitments and
skill
 It means the sense of utility among engineers that
includes cooperation and mutual support
Why is collegiality a virtue
 Collegiality should be encouraged among
engineers and other professionals because
 From the point of view of society, collegiality is the
influential value to promote the aims of
professions.
 It supports personal efforts act responsibly in
concert with colleagues
 It strengthen ones motivation to live up to
professional standards
 From the point of professionals, collegiality is
more valuable as many individuals jointly working
for the goodness of the public and society
Negative aspects of collegiality
 Collegiality may be misused and distorted.
 Ex: colleagues appeal to be silent about corporate
corruption
 It may degenerate more group of self-
interest, rather than shared devotion to the
public
 Because of heavy competitions among
engineers, collegiality may focus on the
corporate goal of maximizing profit at the
expense of public good
Loyality

 The quality of being true and faithful in one’s

support
 It is more a function of attitudes, emotions
and a sense of identity
 Senses of loyalty
 Agency Loyalty
 Identification Loyalty
Agency Loyalty
 It is fulfill one’s prescribed duties to an employer
 The contractual duties may include particular task for
which one is paid, general activities of cooperating with
colleagues, and following lawful authority with the
organization
 It concerns with the matter of actions, whatever it
motives. It is motivated by identification with the group to
which one is loyal.
 Example:
 People may not like the job they do hate their employer, but still
they would perform their duty as long as they are employees.
This sense of loyalty is agency loyalty
Identification loyalty
 It is much concerned with attitudes, emotions,
and a sense of personal identity as it does
with action
 Employee should meet his moral duties to the
organization willingly with personal
attachment and affirmation.
 Some of the duties of loyal employees are,
 To avoid conflicts of interest
 To protect confidential information
 To be honest in making estimates
 To admit one’s error
Is loyalty obligatory(responsibility)
 Agency loyalty to employers is an obligation
within proper limits
 According to john H.Fielder, identification of
loyalty is obligatory, only when the two
conditions are meet.
 Employees must be treated fairly, they should be
given their share of benefits and burdens
 Employees must see that their goals are achieved by
and through a group in which they participate
 Identification loyalty is reciprocal in nature. That is
employees can be expected to be loyal to employers
only when employers show strong commitments to
them
Professionalism and Loyalty

 Acting on professional commitments to the

public is more effective to serve a company
than just following company orders.
 Loyalty to employers may not mean obeying
one’s immediate supervisor.
 Professional obligations to both an employer
and to the public might strengthen rather than
contradict each other.
Respect for Authority
 It is right to make decisions, the right to direct
the work, and the right to give orders.
 It is crucial factor in organization, since
engineers and employees must be authorized to
carryout the jobs assigned to them.
 Authority can be defined as the legal right to
command action by others to enforce
compliance
 Clear lines of authority identifies areas of personal
responsibility and accountability.
Sources of authority
 Authority derives from the several sources. They
are the persons position or rank, and personal
attitudes such as charisma, knowledge and
expertise
Institutional authority
 It can be defined as the institutional right given to a
person to exercise power based on the resource of
institution
 It is an authority given by institution to the qualified
individuals to meet their industries objectives
 This authority is exercised by making policy, allocating
resources, issuing orders, carrying out actions, giving
recommendations etc..
 Limitations:
 It is given by owners. In practice sometime, it is given to
ineffective persons. They are unable to exercise their
authorities effectively in order to meet company’s objectives.
Experts Authority
 It is the possession of special knowledge skill,
competencies to perform some task or to give
sound advice.
 It proved that leaders with expertise can be
more effectively guide and motivate others than
the conventional leaders. This concept is
referred as “authority of leadership”
 In todays organization, the staff engineers,
advisors, and consultants are given expert
authority, while the institutional authority is
assigned to the line managers
Authority Vs Power
Sl. Authority Power
no
1 It is the legal rights to superior, It is the ability of the person to
which compel his subordinates to influence others to perform an act.
perform certain acts It may not have legal sanction
2 It is delegated to an individual by his It is earned by an individual through
supervisor his own efforts
3 It is mostly well defined and finite It is undefined and infinite

4 It lies in the position held and the It resets in the individual. Even
authority change in position when the position has changed, his
power remains with him
Morally Justified authority
 the institutional authority assigned to
employee may ensure in achieving the
institutional objectives. But those institutional
rights should necessarily be morally justified
institutional rights and duties
 The institutional authority is said to be
morally justified when:
 The goals of the institution are morally permissible
or morally desirable
 The way of implementation should not violate
basic moral duties.
Accepting authority
 Employees accept their employers authority by
accepting the guidance and obeying the directives
issued by the employer.
 According to Herbert Simon, “ a subordinate is said to
accept authority whenever he permits his behavior to be
guided by the decision of superior, without independently
examining the merits of that decision”
 All he employers have the limits on ‘zone of acceptance’
in which they are willing to accept the authority
 Generally employees are not interested to make an
issue of every incident of questionable morality, because
of fear of losing their job.
 Therfore the ‘zone of acceptance’ can be used as a
measure of the lack of individual moral integrity
Paramount Obligations
 The engineers paramount obligation is to protect
the public health, safety, and welfare, rather than
the obligations of loyalty and faithful service to
employers
 The engineers have obligations to accept their
employers institutional authority. But it does not
mean that they have to obey obligations blindly.
 Engineers must weigh their obligations to the
public, their employers, their colleagues, and
others.
 *Obligation – responsibility
 Paramount- supreme
Collective bargaining.
 International Labor Organization (ILO) define
it as : Negotiation about working conditions
and terms of employment between employer
and one or more representative employee’s
with a view to reaching the agreement
 The term bargaining refers to evolving
agreement using methods like negotiation,
discussion, exchange of facts and ideas
rather than confrontation.
 * confrontation- battle.
Process of collective bargaining

 Presenting character of demands by the

union on behalf of constituent elements
 Compromise at bargaining table
 Reaching the agreement
Unionism & Professionalism
 Legally, any organization employing more than 20
employees could have a union. In a organization more
than one union is permitted
 They employers from unions to safeguard the interests
of employees and to prevent exploitation of employees
 According to john kemper, the unionism and
professionalism are conflicting with each other.
Professionalism offers Paramount importance to the
importance to the interest of society and their employers.
But unions are collective bargaining agents.
 Many professional societies indirectly instruct the
engineers should not become members of the unions.
 Collective bargaining is ethical or unethical only on the
basis of the given situation
Arguments over Unions
 Arguments in favor of unions
 It play vital role in achieving high salaries and
improved standard of living organization
 Employees get greater sense of participation in
organization decision
 Ensure job security
 Unions maintain stability by providing an effective
grievance procedure for employee complaints
 Unions can act as counterforce to any political
movement that exploits the employees
Arguments over Unions
 Arguments against unions
 Unions destroys the economy of a country
 Unions remove person to person negotiation
between employers and employees
 Unions encourage conflict and stressed relations
between employees and employee
 Unions prevents employer from rewarding
individuals for their personal achievements
External Responsibilities

 Responsibilities of an engineer towards

outside world, that the Responsibilities
outside organization
 It include
 Confidentiality
 Conflict of interest
 Occupational crimes
 Types Of Crime
Domestic crime
Non-accidental crime committed by members of the family

Professional Crime
When crime is pursued as a profession or day to day occupation
Blue collar crime (or) Street crime
Crime against person, property (theft, assault on a person, rape)

Victimless crime
Person who commits the crime is the victim of the crime. E.g.
Drug addiction

Hate crime
Crime done on the banner of religion,
community, linguistics
Occupational crimes
 Occupational crimes are illegal acts made possible through
one’s lawful employment.
 It is the secretive violation of laws regulating work activities.
 When committed by office workers or professionals,
occupational crime is called “white collar crime “
 Most of occupational crimes are special instances of conflicts
of interests.
 These crimes are motivated by personal greed, corporate
ambition, misguided company loyalty
 Examples:
 Price Fixing

 Endangering lives

 Industrial espionage
Occupational crime of price fixing

 While fixing price for any product or service

sometimes all competitors come together and
jointly set up the price to be charged. These
are called pricing cartels.
 This is unfair and unethical practice
 Example: 1983, Washington power bids
 Laws are enforced which forbids companies
from jointly fixing
Endangering lives

 Some companies employ workers without

disclosing them harmful health effects and
safety hazards about the working
environment
 This is kind of occupational crimes
Industrial Espionage(spying)

 Industrial spying
 Espionage refers secret gathering of information
in order to influence relationships between two
entities
 The vital information's are secretly gatherd
through espionage agents for economic gains
Conflicts of Interest

 In general conflicts of interest means individuals

as two or more desires that all interests cannot
be satisfied given circumstance.
 Professional conflicts of interest are situations
where professionals have an interest, if
pursued , could keep from meeting one of their
obligations to their employers
 Example:
 Employee working in a company serving as a
consultant for a competitor’s company
Types of conflicts of interest

 Actual conflicts of interests

 Potential conflicts of interests
 Apparent conflicts of interests
Confidentiality or confidential
information

 Information considered desirable to be kept secret.

 Any information that the employer or client would like to have
kept secret in order to compete effectively against business
rivals.
 This information includes how business is run, its products,
and suppliers, which directly affects the ability of the
company to compete in the market place
Privileged information:
 Information available only on the basis of special privilege‟
such as granted to an employee working on a special
assignment.

Proprietary information:
 Information that a company owns or is the proprietor of.
 This is primarily used in legal sense.
 Also called Trade Secret. A trade secret can be virtually any
type of information that has not become public and which an
employer has taken steps to keep secret.
Patents

 Differ from trade secrets.

 Legally protect specific products from being manufactured and
sold by competitors without the express permission of the
patent holder.
 They have the drawback of being public and competitors may
easily work around them by creating alternate designs
Obligation of Confidentiality

Based on ordinary moral considerations:

I. Respect for autonomy:

 Recognizing the legitimate control over private information

(individuals or corporations).
 This control is required to maintain their privacy and protect

their self-interest.
 Respect for Promise
 Respecting promises in terms of employment contracts not to
divulge certain information considered sensitive by the
employer

Regard for public well being

 Only when there is a confidence that the physician will not
reveal information, the patient will have the trust to confide in
him.
 Similarly only when companies maintain some degree of
confidentiality concerning their products, the benefits of
competitiveness within a free market are promoted.
Effect of Change of Job on
Confidentiality

 Employees are obliged to protect confidential

information regarding former employment, after a
change of job.
 The confidentiality trust between employer and
employee continues beyond the period of
employment.
Conflict of Interest

Conflict of Interest arises when two conditions are met

 The professional is in a relationship or a role that requires
exercising good judgment on behalf of the interests of an
employer or client and

 The professional has some additional or side interest that

could threaten good judgment in serving the interests of the
employee or client. E.g. When an engineer is paid based on a
percentage of the cost of the design and there is no incentive
for him to cut costs- The distrust caused by this situation
compromises the engineer’s ability to cut costs and calls into
question his judgment.
Conflict of Interest created by Interest
in other companies
 When one works actually for the competitor or subcontractor
as an employee or consultant.
 Having partial ownership or substantial stock holdings in the
competitor’s business.
 It may not arise by merely having a spouse working for sub-
contractor to one’s company, but it will arise if one’s job also
includes granting contracts to that subcontractor
Conflicts of Interest created by Insider
information
 Using inside information to set-up a business
opportunity for oneself or family or friends.
 Buying stock in the company for which one works is
not objectionable but it should be based on the same
information available to the public.
Avoiding Conflicts Of Interests

 Taking guidance from Company Policy

 In the absence of such a policy taking a second
opinion from a coworker or manager. This gives an
impression that there no intension on the part of the
engineer to hide anything
People Committing Occupational Crimes
 Usually have high standard of education
 From a non-criminal family background
 Middle class male around 27 years of age (70% of
the time) with no previous history
 No involvement in drug or alcohol abuse
 Those who had troublesome life experience in the
childhood (Blum)
Rights of Engineers

 Types of Rights
 Human Rights
 Employee Rights
 Contractual Rights
 Non-Contractual Rights
 Professional Rights
Human Rights
 Rights possessed by virtue of being people or moral
agents
 Rights to Life
 Rights to Liberty
 Rights to security of person
 Rights not to be held in slavery
 Rights not to be tortured
 Rights to recognition before law
 Rights to impartial trial and protection from arbitrary
arrest
 Rights to freedom of movement
 Rights to marriage
 Rights not to marry without free consent
 Rights to property ownership
 Rights to freedom of thought
Employee Rights
 Rights that apply or refer to the status or position of
employee
 Types:
 Contractual Rights
 Non-Contractual Rights
 Contractual Rights
 Rights that are institutional rights that arise due to specific
agreement in employment contract
 Ex: right to receive salary, right to receive other benefit like
bonus, increment etc.,
 Non-Contractual Rights
 Rights existing if not formally recognized in the specific contracts
or company policies
 Ex: Right to choose outside activities, Right to privacy and
employer confidentiality
Professional rights
 Rights possessed by virtue of being
professionals having special responsibilities
 Example:
 The right to form and express one’s professional
judgment freely
 The right to refuse to carry out illegal and unethical
activity
 The right to talk publicly about one’s work within
bounds set by confidentiality obligation
 The right to engage in the activities of professional
societies
 The right to protect the clients and the public from the
dangers that might arise from one’s work
 The right to professional recognition of one’s services.
Right of Professional Conscience

 There is one basic and generic professional

right of engineers, the moral right to exercise
responsible professional judgment in pursuing
professional responsibilities.
 Pursuing these responsibilities involves
exercising both technical judgment and
reasoned moral convictions.
 Two important specific rights are:
 Right of Conscientious Refusal
 Right of recognitation
Right of Conscientious Refusal
 The right of Conscientious refusal is the right
to refuse to engage in unethical behavior and
to refuse to do so solely because one views it
as unethical
 Arises under 2 situations
 Where there is widely shared agreement in
profession as to whether an act is unethical
 Here, professionals have a moral right to refuse to
participate in such activities.
 Where there is room for disagreement among
reasonable people over whether an act is
unethical.
Right to Recognition

 Extrinsic reward
 Cash bonus
 Increased Salary
 Intrinsic Reward
 Appreciation letter, certificates
Professional Rights & Ethical Theories
Rights Ethics
 Right Ethics Emphasizes that all should have human moral rights,

and any action that violates these rights is unethical.

 The most basic human right, which needs no justification, as per

A.I.Meldon, is to pursue one’s legitimate (those that do not violate

others rights) interests.
 The right to pursue legitimate interests gives a person right to

pursue professional moral obligations.

 o This may be viewed as a human right of conscience directly

derived from the basic human right.

Duty Ethics
 Perform duties without consider much more about moral rights

 I have a right to something only because others have duties or

obligations to allow me (and not interfere) to do so.

 If we derive the meaning of „others‟ as employers, then the basic

professional right is justified by reference to others‟ duties to

Utilitarianism:
 Public good can be served by allowing professionals
to meet their responsibilities to the public.
 These responsibilities arise due to the professional’s
role in promoting public good.
Whistle-blowing and Its Features

 Whistle blowing is an act of conveying information

about a significant moral problem by a present or
former employee, outside approved channels (or
against strong pressure) to someone, in a position to
take action on the problem.
 Definition:
 It occurs when an employee or former employee conveys
information about a significant moral problem outside
approved organization channels to someone in a position to
take action on the problem
The features of Whistle blowing are:
 Act of Disclosure: Intentionally conveying
information outside approved organizational channels
when the person is under pressure not to do so from
higher-ups.
 Topic: The information is believed to concern a
significant moral problem for the organization.
 Agent: The person disclosing the information is an
employee or former employee.
 Recipient: The information is conveyed to a person or
organization who can act on it.
Types of Whistle Blowing
 External Whistle blowing: The act of passing on information
outside the organization.
 Internal Whistle blowing: The act of passing on information to
someone within the organization but outside the approved
channels.
 Either type is likely to be considered as disloyalty, but the
second one is often seen as less serious than the latter. From
corporations‟ point of view both are serious because it leads to
distrust, disharmony, and inability of the employees to work
together.
 Open Whistle blowing: Individuals openly revealing their
identity as they convey the information.
 Anonymous Whistle blowing: Individual conveying the
information conceals his/her identity.
Procedures to be followed before
Whistle Blowing
 Except for extreme emergencies, always try working through
normal organizational channels.
 Be prompt in expressing objections.
 Proceed in a tactful manner with due consideration to the
feelings of others involved.
 As much as possible, keep supervisors informed of your
actions, both informally and formally.
 Be accurate in observations and claims and keep all formal
records documenting relevant events.
 Consult colleagues for advice and also to avoid isolation.
 Consult the ethics committee of your professional society
before going outside the organization.
 Consult a lawyer regarding potential legal liabilities
Conditions to be satisfied before
Whistle Blowing
Richard T. De George suggests the following:
 The harm that will be done by the product to the public is
serious and considerable.

 The individual makes his/her concern known to his/her

superiors
 If one does not get any proper response from immediate
superiors, then one should exhaust the channels that are
available within the organization including the board of
directors.

 One must have documented evidence that would convince a

reasonable and impartial observer that one’s view of the
situation is correct and the company policy is wrong.
 Prevention of Whistle Blowing
The following actions will prevent/reduce whistle blowing:
 Giving direct access to higher levels of management
by announcing “open door” policies with guarantee
that there won’t be retaliation. Instead such
employees should be rewarded for fostering ethical
behavior in the company.
 This gives greater freedom and promotes open
communication within the organization.
 Creation of an Ethics Review Committee with
freedom to investigate complaints and make
independent recommendations to top management.
 Top priority should be given to promote ethical
conduct in the organization by top management.
Employee Rights
Employee rights are any rights, moral or legal, that
involve the status of being an employee. Employee
rights are:
 There should be no discrimination against an
employee for criticizing ethical, moral or legal
policies and practices of the organization.
 The organization will not also discriminate against an
employee for engaging in outside activities or for
objecting to an organization directive that violates
common norms of morality.
 Rights to outside activities
 Right to privacy
 Rights to due process
Discrimination

 Unequal treatment of individual intentionally or

unintentionally
 Discrimination generally means preference on the
grounds of sex, race, skin color, age or religious
outlook.
 In everyday speech, it has come to mean morally
unjustified treatment of people on arbitrary or
irrelevant grounds.
 Therefore to call something Discrimination is to
condemn it.
 But when the question of justification arises, we will
call it Preferential Treatment
 Weak Preferential Treatment
 Strong Preferential Treatment
Intellectual Property Rights

Intellectual Property is a product of the human

intellect that has commercial value
 Many of the rights of the ownership common to real
and personal property are also common to Intellectual
Property
 Intellectual Property can be bought, sold, and
licensed
 Similarly it can be protected against theft and
infringement by others
 Patent, Design & Trademark together with
Copyright form TOTAL INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY
Patent
 Derived from the Latin word „LITTERAE

PATENTES‟ which means „Open Letters‟ or „Open

Documents‟ to confer rights and privileges.
 A contract between an Inventor and the Government
DESIGN

 Meant for beautifying an industrial product to

attract the consumer public
 Shaping, Configuration or Ornamentation of
a vendible Industrial product
TRADE MARK
 Trade Mark is a name or symbol adopted for

identifying goods
 Public can identify from the Trade Mark from

whom the product is emanating

 Trade Marks protection is given for an

industrial product by the Government.

COPY RIGHTS
The right to original literary and artistic works

 Literary, written material

 Dramatic, musical or artistic works
 Films and audio-visual materials
 Sound recordings
 Computer Programmes/software
Need For A Patent System
 Encourages an inventor to disclose his invention
 Encourages R & D activities as the industries can
make use of the technology, & avoids redundant
research
 Provides reasonable assurance for
commercialization.
 Provides an inducement to invest capital in the new
lines of production and thus , help for technical
development and up gradation.
 One may get a very good return of income through
Patent Right on the investment made in R & D.
Effect of Patent
 A patentee gets the exclusive monopoly right

against the public at large to use, sell or

manufacture his patented device.
 A patentee can enforce his monopoly right

against any infringement in the court of law

for suitable damages or profit of account.