ENGINEERING
PROFESSIONALISM AND
ETHICS
EGN 4034
FALL TERM 2008
DR. G.HASKINS
Ethics as Relating to Engineering
Engineering often is based on Preventative Ethics
which is based on two dimensions:
1. Engineers must be able to think ahead to
anticipate possible consequences of their
professional actions.
2. Engineers must be able to think effectively about
those consequences and decide what is the
‘ethically’ correct manner to handle the situation.
WHAT IS A PROFESSION?
•No universally accepted definition, but one
good working definition is:
A number of individuals in the same
occupation, voluntarily organized to earn a
living by openly serving a moral ideal in a
morally permissible way, beyond what law,
market, morality, and public opinion would
otherwise require.
Profession (Cont.)
A number of individuals
Public element (profess)
Earn a living
Morally praiseworthy goal by morally
permissible means
Higher ethical standards than others
Standards of Proper Conduct
Professional Ethics
the set of standards adopted by professionals to govern
their actions and their particular profession, often listed
in a ‘code of ethics’ for that profession.
Personal Values (Ethics)
the set of one’s own ethical commitments, usually
acquired and/or developed in early home, religious,
or social training; often modified over time by later
reflection or experience.
Common Morality
the set of moral ideals shared by most members of a
culture or society.
Ethical Conflict
What happens if one’s personal values
conflict with common morality?
Stem cell research
What if one’s personal values conflict with
professional ethics?
Contraceptives for unmarried women
Case Studies in Engineering Ethics
A320 Airbus - Fly by wire
 The A320 is perhaps best known as the first airliner to
introduce a fly-by-wire flight control system - where
control inputs from the pilot are transmitted to the flying
surfaces by electronic signals rather than mechanical
means. Apart from a small weight saving, the advantage
of Airbus' fly-by-wire is that as it is computer controlled,
an inbuilt flight envelope protection makes it virtually
impossible to exceed certain flight parameters such as G
limits and the aircraft's maximum and minimum
operating speeds and angle of attack limits.
Case Studies in Engineering Ethics
 If you Designed a system that required a gasketed
connection and you did not have sufficient data to predict
performance across a spectrum of conditions?
Chapter 1
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THE CHALLENGER DISASTER
Pressure from Management leads to:
Poor Engineering Judgment
Entire crew lost
Space program set back years
Lost public confidence
Case Studies in Engineering Ethics
 If you Designed an automobile component that later proved
to fail under certain conditions and could be replaced for
$11 under a recall?
Case 27
 THE FORD PINTO GAS TANK -corporate decision based on
a Benefit/Cost analysis
 BENEFIT ANALYSIS
 180 deaths, 180 serious injuries, 2,100 burned vehicles
 At a cost of $49.15 million
 COST ANALYSIS
 $11 per vehicle to recall
 Total cost of $137 million
*How appropriate is it to use figures like this?
*If not appropriate, what are other options?
Case Studies in Engineering Ethics
 If you were asked to sign off on a set of shop drawings that
had come from a reliable vendor with whom you had a very
good working relationship?
Case 17
 THE HYATT REGENCY WALKWAY (Kansas City, 1981)
 Support system was changed in the shop drawings by the
steel fabricator
 Engineer failed to review the shop drawings and therefore
did not discover the change
 The change doubled the load on the supports
 32 ton walkways collapsed
 114 deaths
 200 injuries
 Engineers prosecuted
Case Studies in Engineering Ethics
Everyday Occurrences
 If you knew that a co-worker was drinking on the job?
 If you were given a set of drawings designed by junior
engineers and asked to put your seal on them without a
thorough review?
 If you were asked to submit a design for a new school
building and your spouse was on the school board?
 If you had to recommend the location for a new sanitary
land fill?
Becoming a Professional Engineer
 Understand that Engineering is a Profession.
 Become familiar w/the Code of Ethics of your
Discipline.
 Join Student Engineering Societies.
 Join other Professional Organizations.
 Always think of how you would like to be treated
under similar circumstances.
**There’s more to being an engineer than technical
competence.**