FAKULTI TEKNOLOGI DAN

KEJURUTERAAN INDUSTRI DAN

PEMBUATAN
UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA
JABATAN TEKNOLOGI KEJURUTERAAN PEMBUATAN
ENGINEERING ETHICS & OSHE
BMMU4053 TUTORIAL 3 2023/2024

Answer all the questions

TOPIC : Framing the problem

1. Ethical Theories helps us to understand and solve ethical problems. Briefly

describe each FIVE of the ethical theories.
Answer :

i) Utilitarianism
• Maximize the overall good
• Taking into equal account all those affected by our actions
• Tries to balance the need of society with the needs of the
individual
• Act Utilitarianism – judgment based on the most good produced
even if moral rules should be broken.
• Rule Utilitarianism – moral rules must be adhered at all times –
develop to overcome several problems with act utilitarianism

ii) Right Ethics

• Respect for human right i.e life, privacy, not be injured
• Liberty
• Livable environment, pursuit of happiness decent human life

iii) Duty Ethics

• Respect individual autonomy
• Mirror image to right ethics
• Problem duty and right ethic
• one person or group may conflict with the basic right of
another group
• Don’t always account for the overall good for society very
well

iv) Virtue theories

• Good character is central to morality
• Focuses on attitudes, disposition or character trait that enable
us to be an to act in ways that develop human potential
• i.e honesty, courage, faithfulness, integrity, trustworthiness
 • In engineering- responsible professionalism → public spirited
virtues, proficiency virtues, team work virtue, self governance
virtues.

v) Self Realizations ethics

• Emphasizes the moral significance of self fulfillment
• Give greater prominence to self interest and personal
commitment that individual develop
• 2 version – the self to be realized and ethical egoism (right action
consists in always promoting what is good for oneself

2. “ Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, Mexico. WIPP is designed
to be a permanent repository for nuclear waste generated in Unites States. It
consists of a system of tunnels bored into underground salt formations. These
salt beds are considered by geologists to be extremely stable, especially to
incursion of water which colud lead to seepage of the nuclear wastes into
ground water. However, there are many who oppose this
facility, principally on the grounds that transportation of these wastes across
highways has the potential for accidents that might cause health problems for
people living near these routes.”

Use the below ethical theories to analyze the above mentioned caes.
(a) Utilitarianism/ utilitarian thinking
Answer :
Utilitarian might indicate that the disposal of nuclear wastes is a major
problem hindering the implementation of many useful technologies,
including medical and nuclear generation of electricity. Solution of this
waste disposal problem will benefit the society by providing improved
health care and more plentifuln electricity. The slight potential for
adverse helath effect for individual living near the transporation routes
is far outweighed by the overall benefits to society.

(b) Right ethics

Answer :
People who live along the route where the radioactive wastes will be
transported have the right to live without fear of harm due to accidental
spills of hazardous waste. But the nations as a whole will benefit from
the safe disposal of these wastes. Right ethics would come down
clearly on the side of the individual living along the route despite the
overall advantage to society.
3. “ Will Morgan, a licensed electrical engineer, worked for a state University
on construction and renovation projects. His immediate manager was an
architect, and next in the chain of command was an administrator, John Tight,
a man with no technical background. Tight, without talking to the engineers,
often produced estimation project costs that he passed on to higher university
officials. In those cases, not infrequent, where it became evident that actual
costs were going to exceed his estimates, he would pressure the engineers to
cut all corners.
One such occasion involved the renovation of a warehouse to convert some
storages space into office space. Among the specification detailed by Morgan
was the installation of emergency exit lights. These were mandated by the
building code. As part of his effort to bring the actual costs closer to his
unrealistic estimate, Tight insisted that the specification for emergency lights
be deleted.”

(a) Which code of ethic would be violated if Morgan choose to follow Tight’s
instruction.
Answer :

• BEM Code of Ethic

- A registered engineer shall all the times hold paramount the safety,
health and welfare of the public
- A registered engineer shall conduct himself honourably, responsibly
ethically and lawfully so as to enhance the honour, reputation and
usefulness of the profession

(b) Use ethical theories learnt to analyze the case. Consider all possible
elements that are affected in the case i.e mankind, environment, and
society.
Answer:
- Right ethic – respect human right
- Duty ethic – respect individual autonomy
- Virtue ethics – good character is central to morality
- Self- realization ethic - moral significance of self fulfillment
- Utilitarianism
4. Based on the Aberdeen Three case study,

(a) What does utilitarianism tell us about the behaviour of the Aberdeen Three? What
do duty and rights ethics tell us?

Answer;

These engineers were knowledgeable about the effects of hazardous chemicals

on people and the environment (they developed chemical weapons), so why
were they so seemingly unconcerned about the disposal of hazardous
chemicals? It is interesting to note that even after they were convicted the three
engineers showed no apparent remorse for their wrongdoing. They kept
insisting that the whole case was blown out of proportion, and that they had
done nothing wrong. All containers of hazardous chemical have labels which
state that the chemicals must be disposed of according to RCRA requirements,
yet the three engineers maintained that they had no knowledge of RCRA.
Perhaps the best answer to this question is that they did not hold their
responsibilities to the public as engineers as high on their list of priorities as
other responsibilities they held. To better understand the responsibility of the
engineer, some key elements of the professional responsibilities of an engineer
should be examined. This will be done from two perspectives: the implicit social
contract between engineers and society, and the guidance of the codes of ethics
of professional societies.

As engineers test designs for ever-increasing speeds, loads, capacities and the
like, they must always be aware of their obligation to society to protect the public
welfare. After all, the public has provided engineers, through the tax base, the
means for obtaining an education and, through legislation, the means to license
and regulate themselves. In return, engineers have a responsibility to protect the
safety and well-being of the public in all of their professional efforts. This is part
of the implicit social contract all engineers have agreed to when they accepted
admission to an engineering college.

The engineers were also unaware that their experiments and their handling of
waste products had social impact, even though they considered themselves to
be far removed from the outside world. The leaking of sulfuric acid into Canal
Creek quickly disproved their claim of being removed from the outside world.
No matter how far an engineer feels removed from society, he still has an effect
on it, even if it is an indirect one. Even though the Pilot Plant was located on a
military base, it still had to follow the RCRA guidelines, regardless of its military
mission. In addition to their responsibilities to society in general, the "Aberdeen
Three" also had responsibilities to their subordinates, which they also
overlooked. It was one of these employees who originally went to the press and
exposed what was going on at the Pilot Plant. Employees were working under
conditions where chemicals were dripping down from leaky pipes above them,
and in violation of RCRA rules. Employees who had no hazardous materials
training were ordered to handle and dispose of chemicals about which they had
little or no knowledge. Whether or not there were rules for the training of
employees who would be handing hazardous materials, the three engineers had
a responsibility to those employees to inform them of what they were dealing
with and how to handle the waste materials properly. The three engineers
convicted in this case were well aware of the dangers the chemicals they worked
with on a daily basis posed to society, yet they allowed their unfounded feelings
of separation from the outside world and their misguided loyalty to their military
mission to lessen the importance they placed on their responsibility to society
as engineers. The prosecutor in the case had this to say about the Aberdeen
Three: "These are experts in their field. If they can't be expected to enforce the
law.

(b) Apply the code of ethics of one of the professional societies to this situation. Were
the engineers guilty of ethical violations accorsing to the code?

Answer;

According to the prosecution, the three engineers involved in the Aberdeen case
placed a low priority on this responsibility to society, and instead emphasized
the importance of their military mission.
The first canon in the ASME Code of Ethics urges engineers to "hold paramount
the safety, health and welfare of the public in the performance of their
professional duties." Every major engineering code of ethics reminds engineers
of the importance of their responsibility to keep the safety and well being of the
public at the top of their list of priorities. Although company loyalty is important,
it can, in some circumstances be damaging to the company, if the employee
does not think about the long-term effects of his actions on the company. It is a
sad fact about loyalty that it invites...single-mindedness. Single-minded pursuit
of a goal is sometimes delightfully romantic, even a real inspiration. But it is
hardly something to advocate to engineers, whose impact on the safety of the
public is so very significant. Irresponsibility, whether caused by selfishness or
by magnificently unselfish loyalty, can have most unfortunate consequences.