*Engineering Ethics

* DEPARTMENT OF EEE
THE UNIVERSITY OF THI-QAR

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 Engineering Ethics
• Engineering Ethics is the set of rules and guidelines that
engineers adhere to as a moral obligation to their
profession and to the world. Engineering is a professional
career that impact lives. When ethics is not followed,
disaster often occurs; these disasters not only include huge
monetary costs and environmental impacts, but also often
result in the loss of human life. Engineering Ethics applies
to every engineer and is very important.

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 Engineering Ethics
The National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) decides
the overall standards and codes of ethics for all the
engineering professions. The Preamble of the NSPE Code of
Conduct for Engineers (2007) states:
“Engineers shall at all times recognize that their primary
obligation is to protect the safety, health, property, and
welfare of the public. If their professional judgment is
overruled under circumstances where the safety, health,
property, or welfare of the public are endangered, they shall
notify their employer or client and such other authority as
may be appropriate.”

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 Engineering Ethics
• This means that engineers should always be aware that their
safety and the safety of those around them comes before
anything, including any engineering projects they take on, no
matter how wonderful the end product might be. That being
said, engineering standards change from one professional
engineering society to the next because of the work that
different type of engineers do. For example, the work that a
civil engineer does (e.g. construct a bridge) will be different
from the work that a biomedical engineer does (e.g. making
an artificial heart). However, no matter what type of engineer
you are, Engineering Ethics is important because if you do not
follow it you can be putting yours and someone else’s life in
danger.
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 Engineering Ethics
• Why Study Engineering Ethics?
• To Understand the Standards Governing What is
Acceptable Behavior in the Practice of
Engineering
• Why Practice Engineering Ethically?
• Personal Injury/Property Damage
• Disciplinary Action
• Impact on Reputation, Employer, Clients,
Profession
• Possible Loss of Job, Business, etc.

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 Preventive Ethics
• Engineers must be PROACTIVE in their approach to
Engineering Ethics Core Elements
• Stimulating the Moral Imagination
• Recognizing Ethical Issues
• Developing Analytical Skills
• Eliciting a Sense of Responsibility
• Engineers must use technical expertise and experience to
look at design alternatives and evaluate consequences
Must only work on projects where they are technically
competent “Engineers shall undertake assignments only
when qualified by education or experience in the specific
field involved” Only by being technically competent can an
engineer stimulate their Moral Imagination

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 Electrical Engineering Ethics
• Electrical Engineering is a type of engineering
profession that deals with the creation of better
electronics. Since our society is heading towards an
era of technology, where all members of society will
be affected, it is especially important for electrical
engineers to follow a code of engineering ethics. For
electrical engineers, an important set of guidelines is
the Electrical Engineering Code of Ethics, published by
IEEE

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 Electrical Engineering Ethics
the major professional association for engineers working in
the fields of electrical, electronics, computer engineering, and
communications. The Code emphasizes above all else honesty
and avoidance of endangerment to the public or the
environment .

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Problem Solving in Engineering Ethics

• Every engineer will find himself in a conflicting position. For

example, consider the case of a biomedical engineer
engineering a potentially working artificial kidney. When he
was on the clinical trial phase, he needs to decide whether to
proceed with testing on humans. If he proceeds, and the
device fails, a human test subject could die. If he succeeds, he
will be saving the lives of the thousands of people who need
kidneys in the future. Although he is in a touch predicament,

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Problem Solving in Engineering Ethics
• he can make his decision better by using the steps of problem
solving in engineering ethics to help him make the best
decision. The steps of Problem Solving in Engineering Ethics
are (Johanssen, 2009):
• State the Problem: Clearly define what the ethical engineering
problem is.
• Get the Facts: Obtain all relevant facts to the matter (i.e.
the different moral viewpoints) and then analyze them all.

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Problem Solving in Engineering Ethics

• Identify and Defend Competing Moral Viewpoints: Analyze

the pro and cons of different moral viewpoints and pick the
best course of action.
• Come up with a Course of Action: Pick the best course of
actions, and answer all un-answered questions.
• Qualify the course of Action: Back up the course of action
with facts or statistics.

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 Problem Solving in Engineering Ethics
• in the scenario above, the biomedical engineer can first state
the problem, which is whether or not to proceed with testing
knowing that he could save the lives of thousands, or else kill
the test subjects. He can then gather all the facts about the
test subjects, the device he made, and the different moral
viewpoints from others. He can then make a pro and con list
of all the moral viewpoints. From this he must pick the best
action to take and be prepared to defend it..

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Professional Code of Ethics: Definition and
Examples
• A professional code of ethics provides your employees with a
set of guidelines they can use to make good decisions in the
workplace. It allows you to set a baseline expectation for what
is socially acceptable and how professionals should approach
problems. Though creating a professional code of ethics takes
some time, it can help your organization’s employees work
honestly and with integrity, which may create a more
harmonious work environment. In this article, we explain
what a professional code of ethics is, share examples of
different ethical codes and offer some tips for how you can
create your own.

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 What is a professional code of ethics?

• A professional code of ethics is a set of principles designed to

help professionals distinguish right from wrong to govern
their decision-making. Often referred to as an ethical code,
these principles outline the mission and values of an
organization, how the professionals within the organization
are supposed to approach problems and the standards to
which the employees are held.

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 Why is a code of ethics important?

• A professional code of ethics is designed to ensure employees

are behaving in a manner that is socially acceptable and
respectful of one another. It establishes the rules for behavior
and sends a message to every employee that universal
compliance is expected. It also provides the groundwork for a
preemptive warning if employees break the code. A code of
ethics can be valuable not just internally as a professional
guide but also externally as a statement of a company’s values
and commitments.

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 Examples of a professional code of
ethics
• Here are some examples of a professional code of ethics in
different professions:
• Lawyers
• Lawyers are bound to a professional code of ethics that exists
independently of their employment.
• For example, Rule 1.1 in the American Bar Association Model
Rules of Professional Conduct reads, “A lawyer shall provide
competent representation to a client. Competent
representation requires the legal knowledge, skill,
thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the
representation.”

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 Examples of a professional code of
ethics
• Physicians
• Like lawyers, physicians are held to a universal code of
conduct because of their chosen profession. The American
Medical Association addresses everything from patient care to
relationships with other staff members. For example:
• A physician shall provide competent medical care, with
compassion and respect for human dignity and rights.
• A physician shall uphold the standards of professionalism,
be honest in all professional interactions and strive to report
physicians deficient in character or competence, or engaging
in fraud or deception, to appropriate entities.

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 Examples of a professional code of
ethics
• Financial advisers
• Financial advisers are legally bound to a code of ethics known
as a fiduciary duty. This code requires them to act in the best
interest of their clients. Certified public accountants (CPAs)
are expected to follow similar ethical standards of
truthfulness, objectivity and integrity.
• Businesses
• Businesses often establish a professional code of ethics to
help employees decide if certain behaviors are acceptable.
Some examples of this are:

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 example
A. Confidentiality and privacy policies
• Companies may require employees to maintain confidentiality
when handling clients’ private information or when dealing
with the company’s own proprietary data.

A. Obeying the law

• Companies may specify guidelines that require employees to
abide by the law. For example, they may discuss profiting
from—or enabling others to profit from—inside information
regarding a company’s financial stability, performance or
internal problems.

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Reasons why Engineers Stray from the
Code of Ethics
There are two main reasons why Engineers often stray
from their code of ethics.
• The first reason is because they are overconfident in
their work, which in turn causes them to neglect things
that might be wrong with it. They may overlook small
mistakes or remain stubborn about their beliefs because
they think highly of their education level.
• Another reason why Engineers stray is that they are
impatient. They are excited about their work and want
to see it in action in the world, so they send it out
before it’s ready. Sometimes it is not even their fault,
but the fault of their authority figures (i.e. boss or
managers).
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• it is recommended that engineers check their work at least
twice and even have others check their work no matter how
little time they have left or no matter how excited they are
about submitting the project. If they know they have a short
deadline, they can either manage their time better to have
room for several revisions or ask their boss for an extension.
Engineers should also try to be open to other ideas and admit
that they could be wrong.

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Applications of Engineering Ethics
1- Engineering Ethics in College/Education

The main engineering ethics problem that college students

are face with is academic integrity. Academic integrity can
show itself in the form of cheating by copying someone’s
work, intentional cheating, plagiarism, and/or self-
plagiarism.

However, professional ethics is something that can be

learned even when it conflicts with personal ethics, as for
example, a situation where you are personally okay with
building a product that can harm the environment, yet
save lives.
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You can learn professional ethics and realize that something
that is harmful to the environment is not okay. Ethics codes
can even help you see the bigger picture. For example, in the
previous scenario, these codes can help you re-evaluate your
ethics and realize that something that is harmful to the
environment will eventually be harmful to the people around
you and yourself.
Thus, there are many ethics classes in universities across the
world. Some universities even require engineers to take
classes on ethics. For example, Cohen et al. (2005) developed
a model called the Air Model (AIR)SM to help students reflect
and develop their personal code of ethics. AIR stands for
Awareness (of ethical issues), Investigation (of those issues),
and Responding (to those issues).
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2-Engineering Ethics in the Professional World

In the professional world, ethical engineering problems come up

in many cases. One of these includes the case of a professional
using someone else’s work that is published in the widespread
market of publication. Another is the case of a professional using
someone else’s work that is not published yet and stealing their
idea. Engineers who have good engineering ethics often have a
good sense of the value of life. They don’t hesitate to admit that
they made a mistake because they know that the cost of not
owning up to your mistakes can have disastrous consequences. It
might even cost a human life.

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3- Engineering Ethics in Companies

Not only do individual engineers have to be conscious of

engineering ethics, but also companies. Companies have to be
aware of their Corporate Social Responsibility and
Environmental Responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility
is a company’s responsibility to give back to the community
that they profit from and to behave ethically so that both they
and their community can benefit. Environmental
Responsibility is a business’s initiative to leave the
environment (where it is taking its resources from) the same,
if not better, that it is found it.

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 Hierarchy of Ethical Obligations
• Primary: Ethical Obligations to the Public
• Secondary: Ethical Obligations to Employer or
Client
• Tertiary: Ethical Obligations to Other
Professionals and Other Parties

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 Ethical Obligations
• three Basic Ethical Obligations :
(1) Public.
(2) Employer/Client
(3) Other Professionals...
• –Never Mutually Exclusive -Reciprocal
• –Not A “Zero Sum Game”
• –All Need To Be Considered At All Times
• –Should Be Complementary to be Integrated
With One Another To The Fullest Extent Possible
• –Ethical Integration = Professional Integrity
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 Principles Impacting Each Obligation
• Seven Principles Impacting Each Obligation
• 1.Protecting The Public Health, Safety and
Welfare
• 2.Demonstrating Professional Competence
• 3.Maintaining Objectivity/Truthfulness
• 4.Addressing Conflict of Interest
• 5.Preserving Confidentiality
• 6.Receiving and Providing Valuable Consideration
• 7.Emerging Areas/Emerging Challenges
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 1. Protecting The Public Health, Safety and Welfare

• -Conformance with Applicable Standards

• -Approval/Signing and Sealing of Engineering
• Drawings
• -Responsible Charge/Responsible Control
• -Judgment Overruled
• -Awareness of Safety Violations
• -Awareness of Illegal Practice

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 2. Demonstrating Professional Competence

• -Education, Experience, Qualifications

• -Acceptance of Assignment
• -Signing and Sealing of Work
• -Coordination of Work
• -Scope of Practice

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 3. Maintaining Objectivity/Truthfulness/Non-
Deception

• -Inclusion of All Relevant Information

• -Issuance of Public Statements
• -Disclosure to Interested Parties
• -Expression of Technical Opinions
• -Reviewing Work of Another
• -Sales and Marketing Practice

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 4. Addressing Conflicts of Interest

• -Faithful Agent and Trustee

• -Avoid vs. Disclosure
• -“Appearances”
• -Acceptance of Compensation from More Than One
Party
• -Serving on Public Bodies
• -Accepting Contracts from Government Bodies
• -Part-Time Engineering Work
• -Contingent Fee Arrangements
• -Representing Adversary Interests
• -Consent
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 5. Preserving Confidentiality

• -Business or Technical Affairs of

• Employers/Clients
• -Proprietary Information/Files
• -Arranging for New Employment or Business
Opportunities
• -Consent

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 6. Receiving and Providing Gifts and Other Valuable
Consideration

• -Accepting Consideration from Suppliers for

Specifying Product
• -Accepting Commissions/Allowances Directly
from
• Contractors
• -Political Contributions
• -Bribery

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 7. Emerging Areas/Emerging Challenges

• -Technology
• -Use of Internet and Electronic Practice
• -Sustainable Design/Development
• -Environmental Considerations
• -Alternative Project Delivery
• -Integrated Project Delivery
• -Building Information Modeling
• -Design/Build

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 Moral Problem
• means that there is disagreement or
uncertainty about the moral evaluation of the
person or action!

• Now we are going to focus more directly on

these kinds of moral problems and consider
some techniques for resolving them.

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 Two common Techniques:
• Line-drawing
• Seeking a creative middle way.

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 Line Drawing
• Line Drawing involves viewing a moral
problem on a spectrum.

• Where we have:
• Action on one end Action on the other
• Being clearly right end being clearly wrong
• (positive Paradigm) (negative paradigm)

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 Example 1
• Suppose Amanda signs an agreement with Company A
(with no time limit) that obligates her not to reveal its
trade secrets. Amanda later moves to Company B,
where she finds a use for some ideas that she
conceived while at Company A. She never developed
the ideas into an industrial process at company A, and
Company B is not in competition with Company A; but
she still wonders, whether using those ideas at
Company B is a violation of the agreement she had
with Company A. She has an uneasy feeling that she is
in a gray area and wonders where to draw the line
between the legitimate and illegitimate use of
knowledge. How should she proceed?”

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Example 1

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 Conflicting Values:
Creative Middle Way Solutions
• There are situations when two or more moral
rules or duties seem to apply and when they
appear to imply different and incompatible moral
judgments.

• This situation arises in engineering ethics.

Sometimes when we take a closer look at these
situations we may find that one value clearly has
a higher priority than the other THEN WE HAVE
AN EASY CHOICE.
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 Example 2
• Brad is in the second year of his first full time job after
graduating from Engineering Tech. He enjoys design, but he
is becoming increasingly concerned that his work is not
being adequately checked by more experienced engineers.
He has been assigned to assist in the design of a number of
projects that involve issues of public safety, such as schools
and overhead walkways between buildings. He has already
spoken to his supervisor, whose engineering competence
he respects, and he has been told that more experienced
engineers check his work. Later, he discovers that his work
is often not adequately checked. Instead, his drawings are
stamped and passed on to the contractor. Sometimes the
smaller projects he designs are under construction within a
few weeks after the designs are complete.

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 Example 2
• At this point Brad calls one of his former
professors at Engineering Tech for advice. “I am
really scared that I’m going to kill someone”, Brad
says. “I try to over-design, but the projects I’m
being assigned to are becoming increasingly
difficult. What should I do?” Brad’s professor tells
him that he cannot ethically continue on his
present course, for he is engaging in engineering
work that surpasses his qualifications and may
endanger the public.

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 Example 2
• Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties,
shall:

• Canon 1: Hold, paramount the safety, health and welfare of

the public in performance of their professional duties.

• Canon 4: Act in professional matters for each employer or

client as faithful agents or trustees.

• (Brad’s obligation to his employer conflict with obligations

to public)

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 Example 2
• looking for a way to resolve conflicting values
that comes as close as possible to satisfying all
relevant obligations.
• Judgment and creativity are at a premium in
this kind of activity.

• Note that: THERE ARE NO EASY FORMULAE

FOR RESOLVING PROBLEMS USING THESE
TECHNIQUES! (line drawing and middle way
solutions)
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Procedure for dealing with conflicting
ethical concerns

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Cited References

• Bowen, W. Richard. (2009). Engineering Ethics. United

Kingdom: Springer, 2009. OCLC WorldCat Permalink:
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/262720358
• Cohen, P., McDaniels, M., & Qualters, D. M. (2005). Air
Model: A Teaching Tool For Cultivating Reflective Ethical
Inquiry. College Teaching, 53(3), 120–127. DOI:
10.3200/CTCH.53.3.120-127
• IEEE. (n.d.) IEEE Code of Ethics. Retrieved from
http://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/governance/p7-
8.html
•

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Jonassen, D. H., Shen, D., Marra, R. M.,…Lohani, V. K. (2009). Engaging and Supporting
Problem Solving in Engineering Ethics. Journal of Engineering Education, 98(3), 235–
254. DOI: 10.1002/j.2168-9830.2009.tb01022.x
Martin, M. W., & Schinzinger, R. (2005). Ethics in engineering. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
OCLC WorldCat Permalink: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/54029368 NSPE. (2007).
NSPE Code of Conduct. Retrieved from
http://www.nspe.org/Ethics/CodeofEthics/index.html
Uff, J. (2002). Engineering Ethics: Do Engineers Owe Duties to the Public? Royal
Academy of Engineering. Retrieved from
http://www.raeng.org.uk/news/publications/list/lectures/engineering_ethics_lecture.
pd

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