Mahboobin 10:00
R11
ETHICAL DILEMMA WITH CONDUCTIVE CONCRETE
Robert Cornwall (rac166@pitt.edu)
ETHICS IN ENGINEERING
Ethics in engineering is a very important topic to
engineers and engineering students. Engineers are
designing new technologies that millions of people
encounter. The effects of these new technologies, whether
positive or negative, are felt by millions of people. A lot of
ethic guidelines exist, however for me personally as an
engineer, the most important guideline for me to follow is,
“Engineers shall act in such a manner as to uphold and
enhance the honor, integrity, and dignity of the engineering
profession and shall act with zero tolerance for bribery,
fraud, and corruption” [1]. For me personally, as an
engineer researching and developing conductive concrete,
this means that it is my duty to society to always do the best
job that I can do. The integrity part of this statement is what
really influences me as an engineer. Integrity to me does
not mean producing technology that is consistently
flawless. It means that when you make a mistake, do the
ethically right thing to fix your mistake in a timely manner.
Society knows engineers are just people and society knows
they will make mistakes but society also expects that
engineers will work hard and problem solve to resolve the
flaws in the new technology in order to keep the public
safe.
TECHNOLOGY: CONDUCTIVE
CONCRETE
Snow and ice storms make roads dangerous for
travelers. Conductive concrete is a technology that has
continued to be developed over the past few decades.
Conductive concrete, generally speaking, is concrete
mixed with different elements that allow it to emit heat.
Thus, the concrete prevents snow and ice from
accumulating on the streets, allowing the cars to maintain
a much higher coefficient of friction which makes traveling
in a winter storm significantly safer. Conductive concrete
began with carbon based fibers being placed in the
concrete. The carbon fibers would react to the sun to
produce heat [2]. After a while, engineers developed
conductive concrete that utilized electric current flowing
through wires in the concrete. More recently, the
engineering company I work for has developed a product
utilizing, a multi-wire system built in with a sensor to turn
off the power when the concrete is above a certain
temperature [2]. This product has been tested in the small
scale and produced results, for a 150 foot by 36 foot slab,
such that, “the average slab temperature was about 18°F
higher than the ambient temperature” [2]. My company’s
recent research shows that this new version of conductive
University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering
2015-11-03
concrete provides a very efficient method of keeping the
roads safe for travel in the winter months.
ETHICAL DILEMMA
The company I work for has just made a multi-billion
dollar deal with the city of Boston in Massachusetts. My
company, Revolutionary Concrete, has sold the product to
Boston and they plan on installing it on all of their streets
at a cost of, “$59/𝑓𝑡 2 ... this cost includes: (1)placing,
finishing, curing and saw cutting conductive concrete;
(2)procuring conductive concrete materials; (3)building
and installing control cabinet with sensors and power
relays…” [2]. The city of Boston is planning to cut all other
winter snow storm clearing techniques, such as plows and
road salt, because my companies research shows that the
conductive concrete should be efficient enough to manage
the road conditions as well, if not better than plows and
road salts. The ethical dilemma that I face is that I have
recently completed additional research that revealed that
my company’s conductive concrete is not as effective as
originally thought. The concrete does not operate as well
as expected in heavy snow storms. The instillation of the
concrete has already been completed. Since I am a lead
research engineer on this assignment it is my responsibility
to inform the proper people of this new discovery. At the
company, I have multiple engineers who work under me,
however, these engineers are focused on continuing to
improve the technology. None of them have discovered
that it is not as efficient as the CEOs are advertising it to
be. The CEOs are not engineers, they are simply business
men trying to run a company. I am a department head so I
focus my attention on researching the current technology
we developed and its effectiveness. It is going to be solely
my decision about what to do regarding the discovery that
our conductive concrete is not as effective as thought to be.
CONSEQUENCES
The consequences of conductive concrete failing as a
technology in the city of Boston are immense. Also, the
consequences if this project fails for my company are
significant because this is the largest project my company
has had to date. Before the Boston project, the company
mostly repaved driveways with conductive concrete.
CONSEQUENCES FOR CITY
The city of Boston is expecting the concrete to keep the
roads completely clear during any snow storm, which
means when the conductive concrete is not one hundred
percent efficient, then the city will not be prepared with
Robert Cornwall
plows, road salts or man power to distribute these
resources. If the conductive concrete fails then the roads
will be much more dangerous to travel on, as shown in a
study about car accident injuries, “male drivers under 45
years old… higher probabilities minor-injury on snow/ice
surfaces relative to dry surfaces” [3]. In the study, 9587
snow related accidents were recorded, which was just a
little under half of all the accidents recorded [3]. Another
problem that could arise from the roads not being as clear
as before is a large decrease in response time of emergency
vehicles because they are not able to travel as fast in the
snow covered roads. A final consequence is the direct
impact on Boston’s business. If the roads are not safe to
travel, local business will lose a lot of customers as well as
regional businesses who are unable to ship their product on
the dangerous roads.
more important than the success and integrity of a company
that I work for. Also, purposely putting people in risk and
hiding a discovery about a technology is not the right thing
to do according to almost every kind of ethical code.
Another possible solution is I could tell the CEOs of the
company about the discovery and tell them we have to go
public with the information. The company may try to
convince me not to go public with the information that
conductive concrete is not as effective as stated to be. The
company would do this to prevent their integrity, to save
there multi-billion dollar deal, and to prevent a viable law
suit. The company could try to convince me not to go
public by giving me a bonus check. The company would
not directly state the money was a bribe to stay quite
however the company could imply it by telling me the
check was for the endless effort I put in on the conductive
concrete project. In a case study a bonus check is given to
an employee and it is strongly recommended that he uses it
to donate towards a political figure who just gave the
engineering company a contract. The overwhelming
consensus of the case study is that, “You are not
comfortable about being told to contribute money to
specific campaign funds, no matter whether these
individual council members have been instrumental in
CWE obtaining projects” [5]. The engineering company I
work for is going to be more focused on the overall success
of the company, whereas me, as an engineer who worked
on the project is going to be more concerned with the safety
and wellbeing of the public. It is very plausible that the
company would bribe me to stay quite. Ethically, I would
not be able to stay quite. There is too big of a possibility of
people being injured and I would not want to be
responsible. As an engineer I was very involved in this
project because I thought the current state of road
conditioning was not efficient enough. I wanted to make
the roads safer. It would be against my values to simply
ignore those values for a couple thousand dollars.
Another possibility is that I could tell the city of Boston
of the situation and recommend that they keep plows and
road salts readily available. This decision would cost
myself and the company engineering integrity however it
would potentially keep the citizens safe. I say potentially
because just because I recommend something to the city
does not mean that the city has to follow my
recommendation. The city could not have the budget to
keep the plows and road salts and be unable to use them.
As shown in a case study involving a structurally unsound
bridge, “The engineer recommended further study be
carried out… he recommended a protective coating be
applied. The County did not follow the engineer's
recommendations” [6]. The city of Boston would not likely
tell its citizens about the engineer’s assessment of the
bridge. As an engineer, I find it hard to be ethically okay
with the government possibly not warning its citizens about
the dangers that they would experience during a storm. The
city of Boston had to publish a multi-billion dollar deal so
CONSEQUENCES FOR COMPANY
Of course, there all consequences to the company as
well as the town. One consequence to the company is that
the company loses a multi-billion dollar deal and has to pay
for the repairs to the cities roads. Another possible
consequence to the company is a loss of reputability to
future potential customers. Also, the company is at risk of
being sued by the city if they do not properly fix the
problem with conductive concrete in a timely manner [4].
POSSIBLE DECISIONS
As an engineer at this company I have multiple options
about what to do in this situation. One option would be to
keep it a secret and not tell the city or my superiors. I could
simply pretend I never made the discovery. The conductive
concrete is efficient in all snow storms except heavy storms
so it is possible that the city of Boston could make it
through a complete winter without ever realizing that the
conductive concrete is not as efficient as stated by the
company. Being Boston, there is the high possibility that
there is an extreme snow storm making the roads unsafe. If
I as an engineer choose to let my company keep the
information about concrete an internal matter, I am putting
many people’s lives at risk while I am potentially saving
the integrity of the company I work for. The company
could be held legally responsible for the injuries or deaths
of people in car accidents, An example of this is explained
in a case study where an engineer, Dr. X, found his building
could potentially collapse in high winds, “Dr. X's
professional reputation and career would certainly be
ruined and he could also face imprisonment and civil
lawsuits” [4]. Since, I am an engineer who was one of the
main engineers on this project, I am put at great risk by
pushing this new information under the rug. Also ethically,
I would not be okay with putting that many people at risk
just to protect me and my company’s integrity. For me as
an engineer, the safety of the general population is much
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Robert Cornwall
as far as the public would know, the roads should be safer
than ever before. If the government does not pass on that
they could not meet my recommendation to keep plow and
road salts, then the people have no way of knowing the
dangerous they could experience during a trip in inclement
weather.
An additional choice that I could make regarding the
conductive concrete not being as efficient as expected is to
present to the city of Boston the flaws in the new concrete
and then have the company provide the snow plows and
salt. This would be very costly for the company however,
it would guarantee the people of Boston would be able to
travel safely. I think it is ethically fair for the company to
have to pay for the additional expenses of snowplow and
road salts because when the city gave them the contract, the
contract was for conductive concrete that worked at a
efficiently level. The government should not be responsible
to pay the additional expenses because the company did not
provide what they said they would. As an engineer
involved in the project, I could figure out how to use the
conductive concrete and snow plows to get the roads up to
at least the same efficiency during storms they were at
before and present this to management. When coming up
with this idea, I contacted my good college friend Torsten
Voigt. Torsten and I completed the engineering program at
the University of Pittsburgh. When I contacted him he said,
“The Company needs to take responsibility. You should
look into hiring outside contractors to operate
snowplows… It is essential to continue to develop the
technology and fix the mistake as soon as possible” [7]. A
key part of Torstens advice is to replace the technology
with new and improved technology. It is not going to be
cost efficient for my company to continue to hire people to
plow the roads. However, it is necessary for us to fix our
mistakes. Although Boston is not going to be as big of a
profit as the company thought, after the flaws in Boston are
worked out other cities can use the technology. My
company taking responsibility for its actions in Boston will
give other cities confidence that the company is responsible
enough to admit when it makes a mistake and fix the
mistake.
A final decision I, as an engineer, could make is to tell
the city of Boston and also to reveal the details to the
public. If I did this, I would be informing the people who
are able to make the necessary changes to keep the roads
safe and also informing the public to be extra careful until
the proper safety measures are put in place. According to
the National Society of Professional Engineers Code of
Ethics, “Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health,
and welfare of the public” [8]. The combination of telling
both the government and the public guarantees that public
safety is put in the highest regard. The conductive concrete
has already been put in place in Boston, the damage is
done. All that can be done at this point is to improve the
safety of the roads by following every advice I, as an
engineer involved in the project, give. Ethically, this
method allows for everyone to be fully informed. Everyone
affected being fully informed is key to the overall safety of
society. However, my company is not taking
responsibilities for its action. Ethically, I feel the company
should take responsibility and fix the problem. By not
taking responsibility for the problem, the company keeps a
large profit however I feel the company loses integrity.
MY DECISION
In conclusion, I would choose to present the
information to my boss recommending that we hire outside
contractors to plow the roads until we improve conductive
concrete to the required efficiency point. I would also
recommend that they tell the city of Boston that there is a
problem with the concrete but the company is taking all
responsibility for the problem. I would choose this because
it is taking responsibility for my actions and it is the option
that keeps my integrity intact. Although I messed up with
the initial assessment of the efficiency I would be able to
correct my mistake and not put anyone in danger due to my
error. The roads would remain safe. In the movie, Rocky
Balboa, Rocky is talking to his son who is having problems
with his personal beliefs about what is right and wrong.
Rocky Balboa tells his son, “But somewhere along the line,
you changed. You stopped being you. You let people stick
a finger in your face and tell you you're no good” [9].
Rocky is saying that his son knows what is right and wrong
and his son cannot let the world effect what he thinks is
right. Without a doubt, the engineering company or the
government would try to cover up this massive mistake. As
an engineer involved in the design I would certainly be
caught in the middle. I need to stand my ground and look
towards my own ethical beliefs to decide what to do. The
National Society of Professional Engineers in their Code of
Conduct when it says, “Engineers should avoid all
deceptive acts” [8]. Engineers are trusted with the safety of
the public. As an engineer involved in the conductive
concrete dilemma it is my duty to make sure that public
safety is not compromised due to the flaw of the new
technology. When writing this paper, I have learned that
there are many possible solutions. No matter what you
choose, someone is going to benefit and someone is going
to suffer. I think it is key not to lose your own moral
standards because many people will try to convince you
their way is the right way. My advice to other engineers in
a similar ethical dilemma would be to consider all possibly
solutions closely and to pay very close attention to all the
consequences. Also when making your decision, make sure
your decision agrees with your own moral standards as
well as the standards of the engineering community. At the
end of the day, it is your decision and as long as you truly
believe it was the right decision based on engineering
codes of ethics and viewing possible consequences then
there is nothing more anyone can ask of you.
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Robert Cornwall
K. Sinha, D. Bullock, C. Hendrickson, H. Levinson, R.
Lyles, A. Radwan, Z. Li. “Development of Transportation
Engineering Research, Education, and Practice in a
Changing Civil Engineering World. Journal of
Transportation
Engineering.
(Online
Article).
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=b276d
0a3-db4f-42bf-94986f9691e4b6c9%40sessionmgr4001&vid=0&hid=4107&b
data=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=68315
64&db=aph
REFERENCES
[1] (2006). “Code of Ethics.” American Society of Civil
Engineers. (Website). http://www.asce.org/code-of-ethics/
[2] S. Yehia, C. Yuan. (2004). “No-Stick Surface”. Roads
and
Bridges.
(Online
Article).
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=a2b47
01b-b1c7-4865-94ac2113b185f1ae%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4107&b
data=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVpZCZzY29wZT1zaXRl#
AN=12945308&db=aph
[3] A. Morgan, F. Mannering. (2011). “The Effects of
Road-Surface Conditions, Age, and Gender on DriverInjury Severities.” Accident Analysis and Prevention.
(Online
Article).
http://ejournals.ebsco.com/Direct.asp?AccessToken=9I5Q
9IM8XI9D9IKDUD994D4K1EIM8I4X5&Show=Object
[4] E. Karagianis. (1999). “The Cost of Integrity.”
webGURU.
(Website).
http://www.webguru.neu.edu/professionalism/casestudies/cost-integrity
[5] “Case 1006 – The Coercive Contribution Conundrum.”
Texas
Tech
University
(Website).
http://www.depts.ttu.edu/murdoughcenter/products/cases.
php
[6] J. Kardon. (2010). “Bridge Collapse and the Duty to
Warn.” Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science.
(Website)
http://www.onlineethics.org/Resources/Cases/24355.aspx.
[7] T. D. Voight. (2022-12-12). Interview.
[8] (2007). “NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers.” National
Society
of
Professional
Engineers.
(Website).
http://www.nspe.org/resources/ethics/code-ethics
[9] Sylvester Stallone. (2006). “Rocky Balboa” MetroGoldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Columbia Pictures, Revolution
Studios. (Motion Picture).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge Torsten Vogit for letting
me interview him for this assignment. I would also like to
acknowledge my writing instructor, Ms. McAdoo for
providing constructive criticism to my previous
assignment. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the
library staff for providing me with the research required to
complete this assignment.
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
D. Hill. (2013). “Conductive Cement Could Pave Way to
Heated Roads, Bridges.” Civil Engineering (08857024)
Vol. 83 Issue 11, p38-38. 1p. Online Article.
http://rt4rf9qn2y.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z3
9.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_
fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.at
itle=Conductive+Cement+Could+Pave+Way+to+Heated+
Roads
J. Wu, J. Liu, F. Yang. (2015) “Three-phase Composite
Conductive Concrete for Pavement Deicing.” Construction
and
Building
Materials.
Online
Article.
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA3998839
05&v=2.1&u=upitt_main&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=
3eca56cc485f34f32683353404fa5d6c
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