A brief discussion on ethical responsibilities of engineers

ETHICS IN ENGINEERING

INTRODUCTION Definition:

Ethics can be defined as the rules or standards governing principles of right conduct of the members of a particular profession. (American Heritage Dictionary, 2009).

Problem: Unethical behaviours of an individual or organisation.

Underlining Statement:Unethical practices occur daily within various industries and companies/ organizations must acknowledge that the need for professional ethics is substantial.

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INTRODUCTION

Sources (Secondary):Case Study: Anhydrous Ammonia Hose (“Texas A & M University”, 1992).

Outline:•Ethical Issues in Mechanical Engineering

•Accountability

•Recommendations

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DETAILS OF CASE STUDY

• A hose company decided to redesign the reinforcements within its type of hoses with a new material called AAH#1.

• Studies were carried out at the Texas A&M University, the yarn used was,“…not materially affected by the low concentration of NH4Oh vapor, but the strength of the yarn is reduced over time to 46% of its original strength by the vapor from anhydrous ammonia.”

• AAH #1 could not be ruled out as a feasible reinforcing material. However using it as a reinforcing material for hoses and the company should over-design their hoses to compensate for gradually diminishing strength.

• These new hose designs were deemed cheaper and cost effective by Cooperate and to the public ,especially to farmer’s who usually use these hoses for fertilizing .The anhydrous ammonia has been used by farmers as a nitrogen fertilizer.

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DETAILS OF CASE STUDY• Extreme caution needed to be used because the toxicity of the ammonia

vapors expelled to the atmosphere when the material is "knifed" into the soil.

• The usage of the AAH #1 hose was met with widespread failure and harm to human life a short time after.

• Due to this and other numerous incidents of malfunctioning of the AAH #1 hose and subsequent injuries, XYZ Cooperatives selling the hose were sued by the affected farmers.

• XYZ did not properly design, test and monitor their product while in use, and therefore they put the end users of the hose at risk.

• XYZ Hose Company claimed that their product was misused or abused while in operation in the field which led to the many malfunctions of their product.

• The company restore its duty to the public and its image and damage control readiness and reputation.

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ETHICAL ISSUESWhat kind of ethical issues arise in your field of

engineering? When and in what context do they arise?

•Professional and corporate responsibilities to consumers at large (“Texas A & M University”,1992). This issue surfaces through the design and production process of a product. It informs aspects of costs, profits and actual benefit to consumers.

•The application of risk assessment and in-use monitoring to ensure public health and safety (Wertel, 2008).

•Appropriate responses by the company when faced with product and/or service failure (“Texas A & M University”,1992).

•Proper documentation of operational procedures and regulations as a prerequisite to the use of an experimental material (“Texas A & M University”,1992). 29-Nov-13 6

ETHICAL ISSUES

To what degree are engineers held accountable for applications of their products and designs?

•Obligation to the public, corporate policies and general engineering practices in design and process all inform the decision making problems of engineers.

•Social responsibility against legal liability often has a large role in discussing risk and cost factors along with production time, and market demand.

•The public suffers to a great extent.

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ETHICAL ISSUESAre there underlying ethical principles that can provide a

foundation for good practice?

•According to the NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers (n.d.) the public health, safety and welfare, professional competence, objectivity/truthfulness and conflict of interest all play a part in how engineers and corporations should assess risk and, what their professional engineering and corporate responsibilities are to the public.

•The quality of corporate associates and engineers, who in short, would define the code of ethics that they would employ.

•Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics (n.d.) states that in making an ethical decision, one must first recognize the ethical issue, evaluate what should be done and what the alternative actions are, and then proceed to act and reflect on the outcome of the situation.29-Nov-13 8

RECOMMENDATIONS

1 Recognize and clarify the dilemma

4 Test each option

3 List your options

2 Get all the possible facts

5 Make your decision

7 Take Action

6 Double check your decision

(Nguyen and Wang, 2012)

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The seven – step checklist by Schermerhorn and Otten

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Be realistic in setting values and goals regarding employment relationships.

• Integrate ethical decision-making into the performance appraisal process.

• Be professional at all times

• “Engineers shall issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner” (Code of Ethics of Engineers, n.d). The ethics department can have seminars where the company’s code of conduct is discussed.

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CHALLENGES EXPERIENCED

• Time Management

• Interpreting the question for this project

• Creating an outline

• Collecting data to support our ideas was difficult

• Poor communication amongst members

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CONCLUSION

• Ethics plays a very important role in the functioning of our society and to an extent the workplace.

• Using the fundamental engineering canons problems can be solved successfully.

• Through the engineering canons ethical issues and the proper ethical practice in mechanical engineering would be elevated with minimal unethical activities taking place.

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REFERENCES

• Ethics, (n.d.) In American Heritage® Dictionary Online. Retrieved from http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=ethics

• National Society of Professional Engineers. (n.d.) NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers. Retrieved from http://www.nspe.org/Ethics/CodeofEthics/index.html

• Nguyen, H.T., Nguyen, H.L., Wang, C. (June 7th, 2012) Dealing with Unethical Behaviours in Organizations. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/NguynHuTun/dealing-with-unethical-behaviors-in-organizations

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REFERENCES

• Texas A & M University. (June 1992) XYZ Hose Company and the Case of the Bursting Hose. [PDF Document]. Retrieved from http://www.vmi.edu/uploadedFiles/Faculty_Webs/MECH/HodgesTM/Courses/ME457/xyz.pdf

• Wertel, S. (October 2nd, 2008) Fundamental Canons of Engineering. [Web Log Comment] Retrieved from http://wertel.blogspot.com/2008/10/fundamental-canons-of-engineering.html

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Thanks!

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Any questions on the content of this

presentation?