Ethics in
Chemical Engineering
ChE 470
Dr. Sepideh Faraji
Department of Chemical Engineering
California State University, Long Beach
What is ethics?
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Generally, ethics is concerned with
standards, rules, or guidelines for moral or
socially approved conduct, or acting in the
best interest of society.
Ethics is about what is right and what is
wrong.
Not all standards or values are ethical
standards. For example, individual
choices of food or clothing are not ethical
values.
What is ethics?
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For example, using a substandard grade of
steel in the construction of a bridge would
violate ethical standard.
-Because of the potential for safety hazards for
people.
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But on the other hand, using an inferior brand
of ketchup on one’s fries does not violate any
ethical standard.
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Ethical standards should also be
distinguished from legal standards.
Question about ethics
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A person’s behavior is always ethical when
one:
A) Does what is best for oneself.
B) Has good intentions, no matter how things
turn out.
C) Does what is best for everyone.
D) Does what is most profitable.
Engineering ethics
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This field of ethics examines and sets the
obligations by engineers to society, to their
clients, and to the profession.
Engineering is a professional career that impact
lives. When ethics is not followed, disaster often
occurs.
Engineering Ethics applies to every engineer
and is very important.
Engineering ethics
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The Preamble of the National Society of
Professional Engineers (NSPE) Code of
Conduct for Engineers (2007) states:
“Engineers shall at all times recognize that their
primary obligation is to protect the safety, health,
property, and welfare of the public. If their
professional judgment is overruled under
circumstances where the safety, health,
property, or welfare of the public are
endangered, they shall notify their employer or
client and such other authority as may be
appropriate.”
Questions about Engineering ethics
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Engineers should follow their professional
standard of ethics because:
A) It helps them avoid legal problems, such as getting
used.
B) It provides a clear definition of what the public has a
right to expect from responsible engineers.
C) It raises the image of the profession and hence gets
engineers more pay.
D) The public will trust engineers more once they know
engineers have a code of ethics.
Questions about Engineering ethics
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Engineers should act ethically because:
A)
B)
C)
D)
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If they don’t, they risk getting demoted or fired.
The boss wants them to.
It feels good.
That’s the way responsible engineers behave.
The first and foremost obligation of registered
professional engineers is to:
A)
B)
C)
D)
The public welfare.
The employer.
The government.
The engineering profession.
Ethics in Chemical Engineering
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As you know, a chemical engineer faces a lot of
decision making problems. For example:
- what kind of pump needs to be used?
- how to keep the reactor hot?
- what to do with the liquid and gas waste?
He/she needs to determine if his/her decision
could adversely affect their associates, their
business, and their community.
American Institute of Chemical Engineers
(AIChE) clearly shows code of ethics for
chemical engineers on AIChE website.
AIChE Code of Ethics
Members of AIChE shall:
• Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of
the public and protect the environment in
performance of their professional duties.
• 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.
• Accept responsibility for their actions, seek and
heed critical review of their work and offer objective
criticism of the work of others.
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Reference: http://www.aiche.org/about/code-ethics
AIChE Code of Ethics
• Issue statements or present information only in an
objective and truthful manner.
• Act in professional matters for each employer or
client as faithful agents or trustees, avoiding
conflicts of interest and never breaching
confidentiality.
• Treat fairly and respectfully all colleagues and coworkers, recognizing their unique contributions
and capabilities.
• Perform professional services only in areas of
their competence.
Reference: http://www.aiche.org/about/code-ethics
AIChE Code of Ethics
• Build their professional reputations on the merits
of their services.
• Continue their professional development
throughout their careers, and provide
opportunities for the professional development of
those under their supervision.
• Never tolerate harassment.
• Conduct themselves in a fair, honorable and
respectful manner.
Reference: http://www.aiche.org/about/code-ethics
Question
• You are a quality control engineer, supervising the
completion of a product whose specification
includes using only U.S.-made parts. However, at
a very late stage you notice that one of your subcontractors has supplied you with a part having
foreign-made bolts in it but these are not very
noticeable, and would function identically to U.S.made bolts. Your customer urgently needs
delivery of the finished product. What should you
do?
Question
A) Say nothing and deliver the product with the foreign bolts
included, hoping this fact won’t be noticed by the
customer.
B) Find (or, if necessary, invent) some roughly equivalent
violation of the contract or specifications for which the
customer (rather than your company) is responsible.
Then, tell them you will ignore their violation if they ignore
your company’s violation.
C) Tell the customer about the problem, and let them decide
what they wish you to do next.
D) Put all your efforts into finding legal loopholes in the
original specifications, or in the way they were
negotiated, to avoid your company’s appearing to have
violated the specifications.
Accepting Gifts and Amenities
• Most engineers probably believe that accepting
small favors (such as inexpensive pens) from
vendors is permissible.
• By contrast, most engineers probably believe that
accepting large gifts or amenities is wrong.
• Ethics code says:
“ engineers shall not directly or indirectly give,
solicit, or receive any gift or commission, or other
valuable consideration in order to obtain work, and
shall not make a contribution to any political body
with the intent of influencing the award of a contract
by a governmental body.”
Question about Accepting Gifts
• Your company buys large quantities of parts from
various suppliers in a very competitive market
sector. As a professional engineer you often get
to make critical decisions on which supplier
should be used for which part. A new supplier is
very eager to get your company’s business. Not
only that, but you find they are very eager to
provide you personally with many benefits (for
example, free meal at an expensive restaurant,
free vacation trip, or other expensive gifts ). What
should you do?
Question about Accepting Gifts
A) Do not accept any of the gifts that go beyond
legitimate business entertaining, even if your
company would allow you to accept such gifts.
B) Report all the gifts, etc., to your company, and let
them decide whether or not you should accept them.
C) Accept the gifts without telling your company,
because you know that your professional judgment
about the supplier will not be biased by the gifts.
D) Tell other potential suppliers about the gifts, and ask
them to provide you personally with similar benefits
so you won’t be biased in favor of any particular
supplier.
Videos
http://youtu.be/u1BZ3MWpPuk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upUN460U56A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loXqK6D6lbk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upqVvyS8YMI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_ARzAMEnGo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df-N6_eUOGQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mte2goeUBJo
Discussion
• Work in groups.
• Discuss the lessons you learned from videos
with your group mates.
HW #6
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set strict rules against air pollution in
California. One of the main causes of pollution in chemical processing plants is due to fugitive
emission of pollutants from piping elements. Some chemical emission could be from vent
nozzles during normal operation or due to an accident.
(1) Identify possible sources of emissions in the plant that you design. Be honest because
the professional opinion you provide is vital in the risk assessment plan your company will
conduct even in the design phase of the plant. If emission is inevitable, state why (for
example, we sometimes need to vent the inerts) and how to minimize or eliminate such
inevitable emission.
(2) If one of the team members wants to save cost by installing cheap piping elements or
process equipment that you know will not withstand the process condition or environmental
condition, what will you do? Will you simply listen to that manager or team member? How
would you voice your objection? How would you back up your objection with your
professional knowledge? Do you know how to get the support from professional organization
or government agencies (such as OSHA, AIChE, ACE, ASME, any professional societies or
even the legal system)? List some of the sources of assistance available to engineering
profession. You may use internet or our textbook to suggest possible solutions to this difficult
problem. Do you remember or hear about the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster? It may
provide a good clue for you.
Conclusions
• When you leave this class today you must
leave with the knowledge and conviction that
you have a professional and moral
responsibility to yourselves and to your
fellow human beings to defend the truth and
expose any questionable practice that will
lead to an unsafe product or process.
References
• Engineering Your Future by W. C. Oakes,
L. L. Leone, and C. J. Gunn, Oxford
University Press (2012).
• Ethics in Engineering by M. Martin and R.
Schinzinger, McGraw-Hill (1996).
• The Power of Ethical Management by K.
Blanchard and N.V. Peale, William Morrow
(1988).
Acknowledgement
• This project is supported by the Ethics
Across the Curriculum Award through the
Ukleja Center from Ethical Leadership at
California State University Long Beach.