Ethics in Chemical Engineering
Article on BP Accident
Chapter 1.6
Terry A. Ring
ChE
Six Pillars of Character
Josephson, M. "Making Ethical Decisions", The Josephson Institute of Ethics, 1993.
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Trustworthiness : quality of dependability and includes
honesty integrity, loyalty, and promise-keeping.
Respect : treating others (superiors, subordinates, clients,
contractors) in a manner to enhance their dignity.
Responsibility : comprises accountability, pursuit of
excellence and self-restraint.
Justice and Fairness : be objective and impartial, do what is
right, pursuit of excellence
Caring : when ethical decisions are made, the impact to all
concerned should be minimized.
Civic Virtue (accepting appointments, give time and
money to social causes) and Citizenship : obligation to
community which extends beyond self interest.
Ethics
– "While students come to college knowing a good deal about
ordinary morality, they generally do not come to college knowing
much about the ethics of their profession. (Because) Professional
ethics differs from profession to profession and cannot be deduced
from ordinary morality or philosophical theory." ...
– "While we can assume our students have a pretty good
understanding of morality and want to behave decently, we cannot
assume that they know, for example, whether to put their client's
welfare (or their employer's welfare) or the public welfare first.
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For lawyers, the client's welfare generally has priority
What is it for Engineers?.”
– Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions,IIT, Vol 13(2), p. 1,
February 1994.
Issues Associated with Ethics
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Ethics is not just Black and White, but predominately grey from the
deciders point of view.
Ethical decisions viewed by others tends to be Black and White.
Ethics is not a matter of majority vote but of private conscience.
Loyalty causes ethical confusion
– Client, employer, self, family, public - Who comes first?
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Protect Public Health or keep your job - Nerve Agent Disposal Engineer
in Utah (Whistle Blower Laws)
Loyalty to friend or to self?
To take a job transfer or not - Family before employer?
http://onlineethics.org/
Ethics
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We live in a Litigious Society
AIChE Code of Ethics -1995
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Members of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers shall uphold and advance the integrity, honor
and dignity of the engineering profession by : being honest and impartial and serving with fidelity their
employers, their clients, and the public: striving to increase the competence and prestige of the
engineering profession; and using their knowledge and skill for the enhancement of human welfare. To
achieve these goals, members shall
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1. Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public in performance of their
professional duties.
2. Formally advise their employers or clients(and consider further disclosure, if warranted) if
they perceive that a consequence of their duties will adversely affect the present or future
health or safety of their colleagues or the public.
3. Accept responsibility for their actions and recognize the contributions of others; seek critical
review of their work and offer objective criticism of the work of others.
4. Issue statements or present information only in an objective and truthful manner.
5. Act in professional matters for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees, and
avoid conflicts of interest.
6. Treat fairly all colleagues and co-workers, recognizing their unique contributions and
capabilities.
7. Perform professional services only in areas of their competence.
8. Build their professional reputations on the merits of their services.
9. Continue their professional development throughout their careers, and provide opportunities
for the professional development of those under their supervision.
Fundamental Canons
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1. Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the
public in the performance of their professional duties.
2. Engineers shall perform services only in areas of their competence.
3. Engineers shall issue public statements only in an objective and
truthful manner.
4. Engineers shall act in professional matters for each employer or
client as faithful agents or trustees, and shall avoid conflicts of interest.
5. Engineers shall build their professional reputations on the merits of
their services.
6. Engineers shall act in such a manner as to up hold, enhance the
honor, integrity and dignity of the engineering profession.
7. Engineers shall continue their professional development throughout
their careers, and shall provide for the professional development of
those engineers under their supervision.
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AIChE - 8/16/1980
Ethics
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"Let no man turn aside, ever so slightly, from
the broad path of honor, on the plausible
pretense that he is justified by the goodness
of the end. All good ends can be worked out
by good means. Those that cannot, are bad;
and may be counted so at once and left
alone.”, Charles Dickens in Barnaby Tudge,
1841
– Many people have been fired for Travel Expense
Fraud
Ethical Priority
For
engineers, the
public's welfare has
priority
Process Safety
Lectures to follow on Process Safety
 Student Certificat Program at AIChE
 http://sache.org/student_certificate_pro
gram.asp
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BP Texas City Plant
3-05
15 people dead
180 Injured
$1.6 Billion spent to settle
1000 claims
Another Disaster in Texas City April
16, 1947, fire and detonation of
~2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate
being loaded on board the Frenchregistered vessel SS Grandcamp in
the port at Texas City, killing
581people.
mms://powerhost.powerstream.net/002/00174/051222bp/BPAnimations.wmv
BP oil spill in Alaska
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March 2006
– 6,4000 bbl oil over 1.9 acres
– Neglected
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Corrosion monitoring
– Cut team size
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pipeline service
Neglected multiple cries from employees
– Guilty to negligent discharge of oil
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fined US$20 million
BP Oil Spill -2010
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11 Dead
BP Accident
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The incident occurred during the startup of an isomerisation (ISOM) unit
when a raffinate splitter tower was
overfilled and over-heated. When liquid
subsequently filled the overhead line,
the relief valves opened. This caused
excessive liquid and vapour to flow to
blowdown drum and vent at top of the
stack.
Ethics Case
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Putnam is an engineer employed by a computer manufacturer.
He is responsible for the design of some computer equipment
and signs off on the drawings. Although his design has been
properly prepared, the manufacturing process is faulty, drives up
cost, and suffers a mechanical breakdown. The manufacturing
division suggests modifications to bring down costs, but Putnam
analyzes the recommendations and finds that they would reduce
the reliability of the product that would likely cost the company
more through warranty claims. Putnam's supervisor asks him to
sign off on the changes anyway. Although there is nothing to
suggest that there is a product safety problem, Putnam raises
reliability concerns to his supervisor.
What are Putnam's professional responsibilities in this case?
What are the supervisor's responsibilities? What should Putnam
do?
Case Study
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Roger Roe, P.E., a principal of a research and
development company, proposes to purchase
and distribute pencils to present to potential
clients. Each pencil will be inscribed: Acme
Research & Development Company Columbia,
Mississippi.
Question:
– Is the type of advertising stated above permissible
under the Code of Ethics?
Case Study
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Engineer A, a professional engineer with expertise in civil
engineering, served as a Civilian Building and Grounds Division
Chief at a U.S. Army installation. An Army official requests that
Engineer A certify that certain arms storage rooms and arms
storage racks on the military installation are in accordance with
certain specific, lengthy, and detailed Army physical security,
arms, ammunition, and explosive regulations, which are crossreferenced with other Army regulations. Engineer A has read the
Army regulations but has no significant training or knowledge in
these areas. There are comprehensive training programs
available for this type of work, but training funds are not
available within the company.
Question:
– Would it be appropriate for Engineer A to certify as a qualified
engineer the arms storage rooms and arms storage racks as
requested by the Army official?
Case Studies
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Can a firm competing for a project take credit
for a previous project, when the project
manager and the key personnel are no longer
in its employ? What should be done?
Case Studies
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You have just started working for a new
company when you boss asks you for
information on your work conducted by a
previous employer which is under a secrecy
agreement associated with your departure
from that company. Your boss suggests that
there is nothing sacred about such
information and that sharing it would make
you more valuable to the firm. What do you
do?
Case Studies
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An engineer under your supervision, in
writing a final report for a client,
plagiarizes his own work that was done
for another client under confidential
contract. What should you do?
Case Study - cont.d
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You are auditing a facility as a private consultant. In
reviewing production records you learn that the plant
operates substantially beyond its permit limits,
emitting as much as 50 to 70% more pollutants than
allowed. However, when you were performing your
official audit the plant was running within the permit
limits. When you point out the over pollution to the
plant manager, he offers you a bonus to ignore this in
your report. You and your spouse have just had
twins and could use some extra money. What do you
do?
Case Studies
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Your company is to build a new plant in
(pick a 3rd world country). You are in
charge of the project. To get the
permit to operate you have to get
government approval and the
government minister is asking for cash
to make the decision on your permit.
What is your response to the minister?
Shuttle Challenger
Pre launch Delays
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Challenger's launch was originally set for
2:43pm EST on January 22
– Delay with previous Mission pushed it back to
Jan24
– Bad weather at abort landing site pushed it back
to Jan 25.
– Bad weather in Florida pushed it back to Jan 27
– Problems with Hatch bolts and weather at abort
landing site pushed it back to early morning of Jan
28.
– Overnight the temperature was in the 20-25 F
range.
O’ring Failure at T+0.6 s
Challenger Disaster
O-Ring Data
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Seal Failure Data from 1985
– 0.280 in. thick
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1-2 s for 75F
>10 min for 50F
– 0.295 in. thick
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1-2 s for 50F
– (done at 2 in./min vibration rate, shuttle
experiences 3.2 in./min. vibration rate)
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One cold flight showed O-ring erosion
– Primary-1.3 in. length
– Secondary-0.171 in. length
Roger Boisjoly
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The matter was discussed with Morton Thiokol
management - who agreed that the issue was serious
enough to recommend delaying the flight. They
arranged a telephone conference with NASA
management and gave their findings. However, after
a while, the Morton Thiokol managers asked for a
few minutes off the phone to discuss their final
position again. Despite the efforts of Boisjoly and
others in this off-air briefing, the Morton Thiokol
managers decided to advise NASA that their data was
inconclusive. NASA asked if there were objections.
Hearing none, the decision to fly the ill-fated STS-51L
Challenger mission was made.
Contributing Issues
First Teacher in Space
 Conversation with Shuttle Astronauts in
State of the Union Address
 NASA budget under pressure
 Morton Thiokol contract up for renewal
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Roger Boisjoly argues that the caucus
called by Morton Thiokol managers,
which resulted in a recommendation to
launch, "constituted the unethical
decision-making forum resulting from
intense customer intimidation."[