ENGINEERING ETHICS ASSIGNMENT
We study important cases from the past so that you will know what situations other
engineers have faced and will know what to do when similar situations arise in your
professional career. Also, you will learn techniques for analyzing and resolving ethical
problems when they arise.
Assignment I
1. In your respective groups, using PPTs;
Study, analyze and present an overview (illustratively where need be) of the
following case studies. Evoke the use of critical thinking in presenting your arguments.
Answer the preceding questions per case study (engage the class in a discussion)
1. The Space shuttle Challenger case study
a. Can an engineer who has become a manager truly ever take off her engineer’s
hat? Should she?
b. Should a launch have been allowed when there were no test data for the
expected conditions? When the data are inconclusive, which way should the
decision go?
c. What else could Boisjoly and the other engineers at Thiokol have done to
prevent the launch from occurring?
2. The City of Albuquerque vs. Isleta Pueblo Water Case
a. What does utilitarianism tell us about this case? What do rights and duty ethics
say?
b. Is the religious use of water a valid claim against a municipality? If this were a
claim by a large mainline religious denomination (for example, some Christian
denominations might want to use the river for baptisms), does the answer to
this question change?
a. Engineers frequently participate in setting standards for pollution limits
through consulting with governments. If you were an engineer working for the
EPA, what would your advice be? How would this advice change if you worked
for the city of Albuquerque? How would this advice change if you worked for
Isleta Pueblo?
3. Vice President Spiro Agnew and Construction Kickbacks in Maryland
a. What should an engineer do in the face of competition from others who are
willing to resort to bribery?
b. What issues does this case raise regarding competitive bidding for engineering
services? Would competitive bidding for the engineering contracts in
Baltimore County have solved this problem?
c. What is the ethical status of a campaign contribution given to a politician to
secure future business? Is this a bribe? Is it the same as a kickback? Perhaps
line drawing would help answer this question.
4. The Failure of the Teton Dam
a. Some critics charged that once the momentum had been built on this project,
there was no stopping it, regardless of the problems that became evident
during construction. Can all problems be overcome with more engineering?
Should all problems be overcome with more engineering? Should new
methods have been employed to solve the fissured rock problem, rather than
relying on technology (the grout curtains) that the bureau had experience with
at other less fissured sites?
b. Seepage and leakage of water around this type of structure is probably
inevitable. What precautions should engineers take to ensure that an
inevitable problem is managed?
c. How much instrumentation and monitoring is enough in this type of situation?
d. Should this accident be classified as procedural, engineered, or systemic?
e. Draw a flow chart of the decisions made by the engineers as they designed the
Teton Dam. Where do you think they went wrong?
5. Teton Dam
a. Many critics of the Bureau of Reclamation contend that the dam should never
have been built, given the highly cracked nature of the rock in the surrounding
canyon walls. Should the dam have been built under these circumstances?
b. Some critics charged that once the momentum had been built on this project,
there was no stopping it, regardless of the problems that became evident
during construction. Can all problems be overcome with more engineering?
Should all problems be overcome with more engineering? Should new
methods have been employed to solve the fi ssured rock problem, rather than
relying on technology (the grout curtains) that the bureau had experience with
at other less fissured sites?
c. Seepage and leakage of water around this type of structure is probably
inevitable.
What precautions should engineers take to ensure that an inevitable problem
is managed?
d. How much instrumentation and monitoring is enough in this type of situation?
e. Should this accident be classified as procedural, engineered, or systemic?
f. Draw a flow chart of the decisions made by the engineers as they designed the
Teton Dam. Where do you think they went wrong?
6. Space Shuttle Columbia
a. Some people believe that the shuttle should have been better engineered for
crew safety, including provisions for repair of the shuttle during the mission,
escape of the crew when problems occur during launch, or having a backup
shuttle ready to launch for rescue missions. What are some reasons why NASA
would not have planned this when the shuttle was designed?
b. The space shuttle is an extremely complex engineered system. The more
complex a system, the harder it is to make safe especially in a harsh
environment such as outer space. Do you think that two accidents in 113
flights is an acceptable level of risk for an experimental system such as the
shuttle?
c. The Columbia tragedy was attributed to a foam strike on the shuttle wing. This
sort of strike had occurred often in previous flights. What role do you think
complacency of NASA engineers and managers played in this story?
7. The Aberdeen Three
a. What does utilitarianism tell us about the behavior of the Aberdeen Three?
What do duty and rights ethics tell us? In analyzing this, start by determining
who is harmed or potentially harmed by these activities and who benefits or
potentially benefits from them.
b. Do you think that the Aberdeen Three were knowledgeable about the effects
of these chemicals and proper storage methods? Should they have been?
c. Apply the code of ethics of one of the professional societies to this situation.
Were the managers guilty of ethical violations according to the code?
d. In the course of this case, it came out that cleaning up the chemical storage at
Aberdeen would have been paid for out of separate Army funds and would not
have come from the budgets of the three managers. What bearing does this
information have on the case?
8. The Disaster at Bhopal
i. Use the ethical theories discussed in this chapter to analyze the Bhopal
case. Topics to be considered should include the placing of a hazardous
plant in a populated area, decisions to defer maintenance on essential
safety systems, etc. Important theories to consider when doing your
analysis are rights and duty ethics and utilitarianism.
ii. Find a copy of the code of ethics of the American Institute of Chemical
Engineers and use it to analyze what a process engineer working at this
plant should have done. What does the code say about the
responsibilities of the engineers who designed the plant and the
engineers responsible for making maintenance decisions?
iii. In the absence of environmental or safety laws in the locality where it
operates, what responsibility does a U.S. corporation have when
operating overseas? Does the answer change if the locality does have
laws, but they are less strict than ours? What about the ethics of a U.S.
corporation selling products overseas that are banned in the United
States, such as DDT?
9. DC-10
a. Should engineers have refused to build the DC-10 on such an accelerated
schedule?
b. Should the design engineers have insisted on using state-of-the-art designs
even if doing so went against the corporate culture?
c. In the aftermath of the door blowout on the prototype, what should McDonnell
Douglas have done? Given that McDonnell Douglas management knew that
there was a problem with the cargo door as early as 1970, when the prototype
failed, and knew that there could be catastrophic failure of the airplane’s
superstructure, leading to an accident, what ethical responsibility for the
accidents does it have?
d. The hydraulic latching system seems to be more “fail safe” than the electric
system. What are the ethical implications of using the electric system in the
DC-10?
e. What were the responsibilities of the inspectors who oversaw the
modification of the doors? What responsibility does McDonnell Douglas have
to ensure that inspections are performed properly?
f. Analyze this case from the perspective of risk–benefit analysis. What
conclusion would a reasonable manufacturer take? In assessing the risk, be
sure to keep in mind that there is some financial risk to the company, but also
some personal risk to the people flying on the airplane. Is it reasonable to
expect passengers to understand the risks involved? Even though flying is
acknowledged to be a risky endeavor?