EthicsENGR 1111

Glenn Brown, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, F.ASABE, F.EWRI

A Boring Meeting….. January 22, 2008: Preconstruction meeting at OSU

Botanical Garden for new entrance with LID. Present: Larry Baker, PE, Consultant and Engineer

of Record,Glenn Brown, PE, OSU technical advisor,Dale Maronek, OSU, Head of Horticulture,Jim McKee, PE, OSU Physical Plant,Jim Shoemaker, Owner, Pavestone Tulsa & Donor,and a few others.

…Turned to the Surreal A FBI agent escorted by two OSU

police officers entered the meetingand ask to speak to Baker outside.

Once outside, Baker was arrested and led away in handcuffs.

Latter that day he was charged with bribery for paying $9K to obtain a $200K City of Tulsa contact.

It would be an understatement to say that afterwards the meeting was a little awkward.

Tulsaworld.com

KC Hyatt Regency, 1981114 deaths

ethics.tamu.edu

KC Hyatt Regency

ethics.tamu.edu

Failure of sky bridges attributed to incompetent design and supervision of design engineer, Jack Gillum. Gillum lost his licence.

Union Carbide Bhopal, India, 1984 3,787 deaths

en.wikipedia.org

Bhopal

ethics.tamu.edu

Union Carbide claimed the failure was caused by sabotage. However, there was a long history of injuries at the plant, most of the plant’s safety systems were not functioning, and the tank that leaked was filled over its rated capacity.

Challenger, 1986Seven Deaths wikimedia.org

Challenger

ethics.tamu.edu

A solid rocket field joint failed due to the 18oF launch temperature being well belown the ‘red line” temperature of 40oF. NASA’s culture of not communicating within its ranks and to the contractor, Morton Thiokol, was blamed for the decision to launch over the objections of several engineers.

Ethics Ethics are a everyday concern.

Ethical problems may arise even if no one is harmed or endangered.

There are many gray areas.Practical decisions require acknowledgement

of conflicts between standards.

NSPE Code of Ethics Fundamental Canons

1. Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public.

2. Perform services only in areas of their competence.

3. Issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner.

4. Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees.

5. Avoid deceptive acts.

6. Conduct themselves honorably, responsibly ethically and lawfully so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession.

Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties shall:

Ethical Problem Types

Absolute StandardsLine DrawingConflicting Standards

Absolute Standards

A cannon or standard clearly applies. There is no conflict with other standards. There is a course of action that meets the applicable

standard.

Some situations may be decided with a simple analysis. The situation is clear if:

My experience is that people will not act ethically in such cases if it is “small stuff” where “everyone does it”.

Ex: Expense Account Dinner In the early 1980’s I worked for a large company.

The job required extensive out-of-town travel, which meant two to four days away from my family almost every week.

My direct supervisor told me to take my wife out to a nice dinner after every trip, alter the bill, and put it on my expense account as a trip expense.

I did so. Was I ethical?• No. Cannon 5: Avoid deceptive acts.

Line Drawing – Method of Casuistry

While many actions are either clearly wrong or clearly correct, problems arrive with gray areas. You have to draw the line.

 The method of casuistry is a comparison method. A case is compared against positive and negative paradigms. Whichever the case most closely resembles dictates the decision.

My experience is that “slippery slopes” are best crossed with a Casuistry analysis.

Steps in Drawing the Line Define possible actions and ethical standards that

apply. Define positive and negative paradigms. (Case

histories or from mentors.) Test each feature of the test case against the

paradigms. Is the case clearly close to either positive or negative

paradigms? If so, decision is made. If not, return to top.

Ex: Gift from a Vendor My job required the photographic reproduction of large

maps. The maps were expensive and done by an outside vendor.

There were two vendors in town, but my department only used one because we liked their service.

At X-mass the vendor would come to our office and give out large tins of mixed nuts like they were cheap pens. Since I was their biggest customer, they made a point of letting me know I could have as much as I wanted.

I accepted the gift. Was it ethical?

Developing Paradigms Is there a corporate policy?

No. Would it matter if the gift was not at X-mass?

Yes; it is traditional at that time. Is there an assumption or appearance of quid pro

quo?

No. Does it matter if I accepted 5, 10 or 50 lbs?

Yes.

Paradigms Positive: A business lunch picked up by the vendor

to discuss services. Negative: Golf clubs worth 5% of my annual orders

that shows up at the start of a big project. Which paradigm was closest?

Positive. Was I ethical?

• Yes. It is an accepted business practice.• (5 lb for home and 10 lb for the front desk.)

Conflicting Standards Difficult decisions usually arise when there are conflicts

between the interests of different groups. People do not have a obligation to self sacrifice, (such as

jumping on hand grenades), but each person has a responsibility to respect other’s rights and to use reasonable precautions in consideration of others’ well being.

A “decision” may require several separate actions. Thus, you may decide to act in your own best interest, but only after notifying others of a condition, or offering them an "out".

End of the Story

Baker plead guilty in Federal court, was sentenced to 3 years and 8 months prison and fined $134,000.

Quoting his attorney, Mr. Baker “is no longer and never will be again licensed to practice his chosen profession.”

Five others were convicted ofrelated or similar offences.

In Closing

Ethics have been developed to protect not only the society, but you personally.

It is in your personal interest to act ethically.

You will be held accountable at the final for the NSPE Code of Ethics’ six Fundamental Canons