Act Ethically As an Engineer

As an engineer, you have several considerations to put into mind when designing or making something. The product would have to be built with cost-effective materials, the design itself is easy for the manufacturers to produce, and the people that will use the product can expect good quality and safety. However, there will be times that other factors may prevent you from getting the intended product. Therefore, it's up to an engineer to uphold the standards of the profession and maintain their own integrity. By knowing their own rights, acknowledging their own position in a situation, knowing who or what is affected by the situation, and how to appropriately respond can help an engineer in dealing with unethical situations.

Steps

Knowing your own Rights, and Standards as an Engineer

  1. Understand an engineer's professional rights. While an engineer would have the same rights as any other employee in a company, an engineer also has their own kind of rights as a professional, these include the right of a professional conscience, right of conscientious refusal, and right of professional recognition (“Engineering Ethics,” Tutorialspoint).
    • The Right of Professional Conscience is that the actions of an engineer while on duty when carried in an ethical and moral manner is to not be opposed.
    • The Right of Conscientious Refusal is the right to refuse to perform or engage in behavior that's considered unethical.
    • The Right of Professional Recognition is that an engineer can recognize their own works and accomplishments. They also can speak about the work while maintaining confidentiality (“Engineering Ethics,” Tutorialspoint).
  2. Follow Engineering Codes and Standards. There are some engineering organizations that have their own ethical codes and standards for their own members to follow, such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the National Society of Professional Engineers.
    • The standards that these organizations have can range from safety codes for elevators and escalators to safety with mobile and locomotive cranes.
    • Code of Ethics between organizations like ASME and NSPE can have many similarities and differences, an example of such similarity is their first Fundamental Canon which states that an engineer holds paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public (“Code of Ethics,” asme.org and “Code of Ethics,” nspe.org).

Recognizing your Position when Confronted with something Unethical.

  1. Know where you stand on an issue. It's important to consider where you are when something dangerous or unethical happens. If you were working at or around the location of where the situation happened, it is well within your prerogative to take appropriate action since you understand what happened. If you only really heard about it from another person, it may not be advisable to do something considering that you yourself haven't witnessed the details in the situation.

Determining and Understanding the Affected Audience

  1. Identify who or what is affected. In that dangerous or unethical situation, it's important to note on the kind of audience that will be affected by that situation.
    • Yourself. Consider that maybe you yourself are put into that situation. Depending on the circumstances, and how you can proceed, you are well within your rights to refuse to do such acts.
    • Employees. A variety of things can happen to fellow employees. The workspace could be a dangerous place, proper safety procedures aren't followed, or the equipment isn't being used in a safe manner.
    • The Public. Whatever the project or design, they must be made in a manner where the public will not be put in danger.
    • The Company. Sometimes the situation can blow up to where the company can be placed in such a position. Perhaps more along the unethical lines than danger itself, the reputation and integrity that the company holds can be put into jeopardy.

Rectifying the Unethical Situation.

  1. Ensure a safe workspace. In the workspace, there is something called normalized deviation (or normalization of deviance) which is the process of unacceptable practices and standards becoming acceptable and the norm until something bad happens (Boe, 1970). Often the employees would make “shortcuts” to maximize efficient use of time and profit. However, when someone gets injured or killed, then it would result in proper procedures are followed. This can be prevented by making sure that proper codes and standards are followed in the workplace, even if the workers would disagree with it.
  2. Protect the public. With the best of your abilities and the budget given to you, the product must be properly designed and made with the best (and cost-effective) materials that can be used.

Using your Experience and Expertise to Remain Ethical.

  1. Report and discuss with your employers or clients. To any client or employer, the engineer is to act as a faithful agent or trustee from an ethics standpoint (“Code of Ethics,” asme.org). Discuss with the employers or client any relevant information or issue that comes up regarding the design or product. Speak in an honest and direct manner.
  2. Understand the Employers or Clients. Remember that your employers or client would want to see the design or product function, for a variety of reasons that includes making a profit. However, if they are willing to take shortcuts that are unsafe or use illegal means to do so, it may be wise to consider more extreme options that are well within your rights. Don't participate in what they're doing lest you risk your career.

Having to Leave the Company or Blow the Whistle.

  1. Leaving the Company. If nothing can really be done to assure that the work environment is safe, or that illegal means can't be curbed down, then perhaps you should leave the company. You shouldn't fall with the company in that case. But the fact remains that the issue itself is still there. There is another option into dealing with the situation.
  2. Blowing the Whistle. Whistleblowing shouldn't be taken lightly, considering the unethical situation faced. You must have several considerations when doing such:
    • The harm or potential harm is serious.
    • There is enough documentation of the situation.
    • The concerns have been reported.
    • Action or inaction by superiors isn't satisfactory to rectify the situation, even to the highest levels of management.
    • Whistleblowing is the only option to prevent or remedy harm (“Engineering Ethics,” Tutorialspoint).

References

  • “Engineering Ethics - Rights of Engineers.” Tutorialspoint, www.tutorialspoint.com/engineering_ethics/engineering_ethics_rights_of_engineers.htm.
  • “Code of Ethics.” Colorado Section | ASME Engineering Network, community.asme.org/colorado_section/w/wiki/8080.code-of-ethics.aspx.
  • “Code of Ethics.” Code of Ethics | National Society of Professional Engineers, https://www.nspe.org/resources/ethics/code-ethics
  • Boe, Rob. “The Normalization of Deviance (If It Can Happen to NASA, It Can Happen to You).” On the Line: Public Safety Risk Management, 1 Jan. 1970, lmcontheline.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-normalization-of-deviance-if-it-can.html.

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