Engineering ethics and human rights.

Engineering Ethics is the set of rules and guidelines that engineers adhere to as a moral
obligation to their profession and to the world. Engineering is a professional career that impact
lives. When ethics is not followed, disaster often occurs; these disasters not only include huge
monetary costs and environmental impacts, but also often result in the loss of human life.
Engineering Ethics applies to every engineer and is very important.

Accordingly, the services provided by engineers require honesty, impartiality, fairness, and
equity, and must be dedicated to the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare.
Engineers must perform under a standard of professional behavior that requires adherence to the
highest principles of ethical conduct.

Approaches to ethics

Philosophers nowadays tend to divide ethical theories into three areas: meta-ethics, normative
ethics and applied ethics.

 Meta-ethics deals with the nature of moral judgment. It looks at the origins and meaning
of ethical principles.

 Normative ethics is concerned with the content of moral judgments and the criteria for
what is right or wrong.

 Applied ethics looks at controversial topics like war, animal rights and capital
punishment

Fundamental canons.

Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall:

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.

Code of ethics.

A code of ethics is a guide of principles designed to help professionals conduct business honestly
and with integrity. A code of ethics outlines the mission and values of the business or
organization, how professionals are supposed to approach problems, the ethical principles based
on the organization's core values, and the standards to which the professional is held.

A code of ethics sets out an organization's ethical guidelines and best practices to follow for
honesty, integrity, and professionalism.

For members of an organization, violating the code of ethics can result in sanctions including
termination.

The main types of codes of ethics include a compliance-based code of ethics, a value-based code
of ethics, and a code of ethics among professionals.

A focus on climate change has become an integral part of companies' codes of ethics, detailing
their commitment to sustainability.

This means that engineers should always be aware that their safety and the safety of those
around them comes before anything, including any engineering projects they take on, no
matter how wonderful the end product might be. That being said, engineering standards
change from one professional engineering society to the next because of the work that
different type of engineers do. For example, the work that a civil engineer does (e.g.
construct a bridge) will be different from the work that a biomedical engineer does (e.g.
making an artificial heart). However, no matter what type of engineer you are, Engineering
Ethics is important because if you do not follow it you can be putting yours and someone
else’s life in danger.

Rules of Practice
1. Engineers should consider the safety, health, and welfare of the public. If engineers'
judgment is overruled under circumstances that endanger life or property, they shall
notify their employer or client and such other authority as may be appropriate.

2. Engineers should approve only those engineering documents that are in conformity with
applicable standards.

3. Engineers should not reveal facts, data, or information without the prior consent of the
client or employer except as authorized or required by law or this Code.

4. Engineers should not permit the use of their name or associate in business ventures with
any person or firm that they believe is engaged in fraudulent or dishonest enterprise.

a. Engineers should perform services only in the areas of their competence.

b. Engineers should undertake assignments only when qualified by education or experience

in the specific technical fields involved.

c. Engineers may express publicly technical opinions that are founded upon knowledge of
the facts and competence in the subject matter.

d. Engineers should disclose all known or potential conflicts of interest that could influence
or appear to influence their judgment or the quality of their services.

e. Engineers should not accept compensation, financial or otherwise, from more than one
party for services on the same project, or for services pertaining to the same project,
unless the circumstances are fully disclosed and agreed to by all interested parties.

f. Engineers should not solicit or accept financial or other valuable consideration, directly
or indirectly, from outside agents in connection with the work for which they are
responsible.

g. Engineers shall not falsify their qualifications or permit misrepresentation of their or their
associates' qualifications. They shall not misrepresent or exaggerate their responsibility in
or for the subject matter of prior assignments. Brochures or other presentations incident
to the solicitation of employment shall not misrepresent pertinent facts concerning
employers, employees, associates, joint ventures, or past accomplishments.
 h. Engineers shall not offer, give, solicit, or receive, either directly or indirectly, any
contribution to influence the award of a contract by public authority, or which may be
reasonably construed by the public as having the effect or intent of influencing the
awarding of a contract. They shall not offer any gift or other valuable consideration in
order to secure work. They shall not pay a commission, percentage, or brokerage fee in
order to secure work, except to a bona fide employee or bona fide established commercial
or marketing agencies retained by them.

Professional Obligations

1. Engineers should be guided in all their relations by the highest standards of honesty and
integrity.

2. Engineers should acknowledge their errors and shall not distort or alter the facts.

3. Engineers should advise their clients or employers when they believe a project will not be
successful.

4. Engineers should not accept outside employment to the detriment of their regular work or
interest. Before accepting any outside engineering employment, they will notify their
employers.

5. Engineers should not attempt to attract an engineer from another employer by false or
misleading pretenses.

6. Engineers should not promote their own interest at the expense of the dignity and
integrity of the profession.

7. Engineers should treat all persons with dignity, respect, fairness and without
discrimination.

a. Engineers should at all times strive to serve the public interest.

Problem Solving in Engineering Ethics

Every engineer will find himself in a conflicting position. For example, consider the case of a
biomedical engineer engineering a potentially working artificial kidney. When he was on the
clinical trial phase, he needs to decide whether to proceed with testing on humans. If he
proceeds, and the device fails, a human test subject could die. If he succeeds, he will be saving
the lives of the thousands of people who need kidneys in the future. Although he is in a touch
predicament, he can make his decision better by using the steps of problem solving in
engineering ethics to help him make the best decision. The steps of Problem Solving in
Engineering Ethics are (Johanssen, 2009):

 State the Problem: Clearly define what the ethical engineering problem is.

 Get the Facts: Obtain all relevant facts to the matter (i.e. the different moral viewpoints)
and then analyze them all.

 Identify and Defend Competing Moral Viewpoints: Analyze the pro and cons of different
moral viewpoints and pick the best course of action.

 Come up with a Course of Action: Pick the best course of actions, and answer all un-
answered questions.

 implement the course of Action: Back up the course of action with facts or statistics.

In the scenario above, the biomedical engineer can first state the problem, which is whether or
not to proceed with testing knowing that he could save the lives of thousands, or else kill the test
subjects. He can then gather all the facts about the test subjects, the device he made, and the
different moral viewpoints from others. He can then make a pro and con list of all the moral
viewpoints. From this he must pick the best action to take and be prepared to defend it.

Reasons why Engineers Stray from the Code of Ethics

There are two main reasons why Engineers often stray from their code of ethics. The first reason
is because they are overconfident in their work, which in turn causes them to neglect things that
might be wrong with it. They may overlook small mistakes or remain stubborn about their beliefs
because they think highly of their education level. However, in engineering, these small mistakes
might be the very thing that causes a disaster (e.g. the Challenger and O-rings). Another reason
why Engineers stray is that they are impatient. They are excited about their work and want to see
it in action in the world, so they send it out before it’s ready. Sometimes it is not even their fault,
but the fault of their authority figures (i.e. boss or managers). Their authority figures can be
impatient and give them a short deadline to work on the project. Impatience does not allow room
for iterations of the processes involved in design, testing, and implementing a product or project.
Iterations are often needed to increase confidence that the product will work and that, more
importantly, it will work safely.

Thus, it is recommended that engineers check their work at least twice and even have others
check their work no matter how little time they have left or no matter how excited they are about
submitting the project. If they know they have a short deadline, they can either manage their time
better to have room for several revisions or ask their boss for an extension. Engineers should also
try to be open to other ideas and admit that they could be wrong.

Engineering Ethics in the Professional World

In the professional world, ethical engineering problems come up in many cases. One of these
includes the case of a professional using someone else’s work that is published in the widespread
market of publication. Another is the case of a professional using someone else’s work that is not
published yet and stealing their idea. Engineers who have good engineering ethics often have a
good sense of the value of life. They don’t hesitate to admit that they made a mistake because
they know that the cost of not owning up to your mistakes can have disastrous consequences. It
might even cost a human life.

Engineering Ethics in Companies

Not only do individual engineers have to be conscious of engineering ethics, but also companies.
Companies have to be aware of their Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental
Responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility is a company’s responsibility to give back to the
community that they profit from and to behave ethically so that both they and their community
can benefit. Environmental Responsibility is a business’s initiative to leave the environment
(where it is taking its resources from) the same, if not better, that it is found it.

Human rights:

The basic rights of engineers include the right to live freely and pursue their legitimate interests
as any human being, along with the right to be against racial or sexual discrimination, receiving
one’ s salary according to the work, choosing of political activities, etc., as other employees.
Besides all of them, engineers have some special rights as professionals.
Professional Rights

The rights that engineers have as professionals are called Professional Rights. These professional
rights include:

Professional Rights

The rights that engineers have as professionals are called Professional Rights. These professional
rights include −

 The basic right of professional conscience.

 The right of conscientious refusal.

 The right of professional recognition.

Right of Professional Conscience

This is a basic right which explains that the decisions taken while carrying on with the duty,
where they are taken in moral and ethical manner, cannot be opposed. The right of professional
conscience is the moral right to exercise professional judgement in pursuing professional
responsibilities. It requires autonomous moral judgement in trying to uncover the most morally
reasonable courses of action, and the correct courses of action are not always obvious.

There are two general ways to justify the basic right of professional conscience.

 The exercise of moral reflection and conscience that justifies professional duties is
necessary, with respect to that duty.

 The general duties to respect persons and rule-utilitarianism would accent the public good
of allowing engineers to pursue their professional duties.

Right of Conscientious Refusal

The right of conscientious refusal is the right to refuse to engage in unethical behavior. This can
be done solely because it feels unethical to the doer. This action might bring conflicts within the
authority-based relationships.

The two main situations to be considered here are −

  When it is already stated that certain act is unethical in a widely shared agreement among
all the employees.

 When there occurs disagreement among considerable number of people whether the act is
unethical.

Hence it is understood that engineers and other professionals have a moral right to refuse the
unethical acts such as bribery, forging documents, altering test results, lying, padding payrolls or
coercing employees into acting by threatening, etc.

Right to Recognition

An engineer has a right to the recognition of one’s work and accomplishments. An engineer also
has right to speak about the work one does by maintaining confidentiality and can receive
external recognition. The right for internal recognition which includes patents, promotions, raises
etc. along with a fair remuneration, are also a part of it.

The fulfillment of right to recognition motivates the employee to be a trustful member of the
organization, which also benefits the employer. This makes the employee morally bound which
enhances the ethical nature to be abide by the professional ethics.

Employee Rights

An employee right can be any right, moral or legal, that involves the status of being an
employee. They involve some professional rights also, such as the right to be paid according to
the salary mentioned in one’s contract. Privacy and equal opportunity can be considered essential
rights too.

Privacy

The right to privacy refers to the right of having a private life, off the job. It is the right to control
the access to and the use of information about oneself.

The examples of situations where the functions of employers conflict the rights of employees
will be when the job-related queries or any other tests conducted in a job, includes questions
relating to personal life such as alcohol usage or sexual conduct. The instances when a supervisor
unlocks and checks the desk of his subordinate in his absence or when the management questions
about his likes, dislikes or posts on social media regarding his personal opinions where it has
nothing to do with the company.

Employers should view the relationship with their employees concerning confidentiality that
cannot break the trust. The personal information in such cases is given based on the special
professional relation and trust.

Equal Opportunity – Non-discrimination

The demeaning of a person based on trivial factors such as one’s sex, race, skin color, age or
political or religious outlook can be understood as Discrimination. Such a discrimination should
never be allowed at any workplace; this is where everyone has to be treated equally. These things
internally affect the person’s self-identity and self-respect which is pernicious within the work
environment, where the work itself should represent a person’s self-image.

According to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “It shall be unlawful employment practice for an
employer to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate
against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of
employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex or national origin”.

Equal Opportunity – Sexual Harassment

In today’s world, there is an increase in the number of sexual harassment cases across the world.
This is quiet an unfortunate scenario. There were a number of cases where the charges were
levied since last two decades, which kept on growing. A definition of Sexual harassment is,
“The unwanted imposition of sexual requirements in the context of a relationship of unequal
power”. Sexual harassment is a display of power and aggression through sexual means. It takes
two forms, quid pro quo and hostile work environment.

Quid Pro Quo includes cases where supervisors require sexual favors as a condition for some
employment benefit (a job, promotion or raise). It can take the form of a sexual threat (of harm)
or sexual offer (of a benefit in return for a benefit). Hostile work Environment by contrast, is
any sexually oriented aspect of the workplace that threatens employee's rights to equal
opportunity. It includes unwanted sexual proposals, lewd remarks, sexual leering, posting nude
photos and inappropriate physical contact.
Equal opportunity – Affirmative Action

Affirmative action refers to the preference given to a person or a group who was denied equal
importance in the past. For example, the women and the minority communities were not given
equal treatment and were ill-treated in the past. So to compensate that, amendments were made
in recent laws to provide them special quota for reservations in education, employment and
social sectors.

These preferential treatments are made in order to compensate the previous ill-actions. Ideally
such compensation should be given to those specific individuals who in the past were denied
jobs. But the practical possibilities of such actions are limited. Sexism and racism still permeate
in our society and to counterbalance their insidious impact reverse preferential treatment is
warranted in order to ensure equal opportunity for minorities and women.

Intellectual Property Rights

Intellectual property right is a type of property right which allows the creators or owners of
patents trademarks or copyrighted works to benefit from their own work or investment. These
rights enable the right person to benefit from the protection of moral and material interests
resulting from the authorship of scientific, literary or artistic productions. These rights are
outlines in the article 27 of the Universal declaration of Human rights.

Protection of IPR

Like the other rights, the intellectual rights also should be protected and supported. The IPR
(Intellectua l property Rights) need to be protected in order to serve the following reasons

 The creations and inventions are the paths which lead to the progress of human
development, either in technology or culture.

 These inventions should be protected legally in order to develop the commitment and
interest for more creations.

 These intellectual properties must be protected and promoted which indirectly promote
the economic growth that creates new jobs and industries, and enhances the quality and
enjoyment of life.
The Intellectual property rights are protected by certain measures like patents, trademarks,
industrial designs, copyrights, etc.

Patents

A Patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention. It provides the patent owners with
protection generally for a period of 20years. With the patent rights one can access any material
reward for their marketable innovations.

Once the patent protection is granted, that invention cannot be commercially made, used,
distributed or sold without the patent owner’s consent. Courts provide the legal safety for these
patent rights. Conversely, if a third party challenges the invention and is successful, the court can
declare the patent invalid.

Trademarks

We often come across certain distinctive marks or signs that identifies certain goods or services
produced or provided by an individual or a company. These trademarks ensure the belongingness
of products to the authorized owners. The owners can authorize other persons in return for some
payment. The protection offered through the trademarks is limited for a period, but can be
renewed indefinitely upon payment of the corresponding fee.

These trademarks can be one or a combination of words, letters and numerals. They may even
consist of drawings or signs such as shapes, colors, holograms, sizes or some non-visible signs
such as smell, taste and sound also. The collective trademarks are owned by an association
whose members use them to indicate products with a certain level of quality and who agree to
adhere to specific requirements set by the association.

Industrial Designs

The ownership of an industrial design protects it from any duplication. Industrial designs are
what make an article attractive and appealing and add commercial value to the product. This
further increases marketability. Duplication will definitely mislead consumers and might also
lead to the defamation of the original product.

Geographical Locations
The geographical location indications are helpful for the customers to identify the original and
quality products, which are produced using the raw materials of that geographical area. This
indication guarantees the customers that a product was produced in certain place and has certain
characteristics that are due to the place of production. It may be used by all the producers who
make products that share certain qualities in the place designated by a geographical location.

Some examples include “Brazil” for coffee beans, “Bordeaux” of France for wine, and “Habana”
of Cuba for tobacco.

Whistleblowing:

Whistleblowing occurs when an employee or former employee conveys information about a

significant moral problem to someone in a position to take action on the problem and does so
outside approved organizational channels (or against strong pressure).

When the information is passed outside the organization, it is External Whistleblowing. When
the information is conveyed to someone within the organization, it is Internal Whistleblowing.
While conveying the information, if the individuals openly reveal their identity, it is Open
Whistleblowing; and if one conceals their identity, it is Anonymous Whistleblowing.

Procedures for Whistleblowing

It is generally believed to be permissible and obligatory to whistle blow if the following

conditions are met:

The actual or potential harm reported is serious.

 The harm has been adequately documented.

 The concerns have been reported to immediate superiors.

 After not getting satisfaction from immediate superiors, regular channels within the
organization have been used to reach up to the highest levels of management.

 There is reasonable hope that whistleblowing can help prevent or remedy the harm.

Protecting Whistle blowers

Whistle blowing entails a substantial risk of retaliation which is difficult and expensive to
challenge. So, the Government introduced protections to the employees of an organization to
protect the whistleblowers against reprisals for lawful disclosures of information believed to
show a violation of any law, rule or regulation, mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, an abuse
of authority or a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety.

Laws, when carefully formulated and enforced, provide two types of benefits for the public, in
addition to protecting the responsible whistleblower. They are episodic and systemic.
The episodic benefits help in preventing any harm to the public in particular situations.
The systemic benefits are in sending a strong message to the industry to act responsibly or be
subject to public scrutiny once the whistle is blown.

Beyond Whistleblowing

The need for internal whistleblowing occurs when there is no openness or freedom to
communicate the odds within the organization. There should be direct access to the higher levels
of management, at least under certain special circumstances. A further better step can be the
involvement of an ombudsperson or an ethics review committee with genuine freedom to
investigate complaints and make independent recommendations to top management.

The crucial factor that must be involved in any structural change is the creation of an atmosphere
of positive affirmation of engineer’s efforts to assert and defend their professional judgment in
matters involving ethical considerations.