Engineering Ethics: Principles and Codes

Engineering Ethics Overview

• Engineering ethics is a set of moral principles and professional standards guiding engineers.
• Crucial in ensuring safety, fairness, and responsibility in technology and infrastructure.
• Building trust between engineers, society, and clients stems from ethical conduct.
• Compliance with legal and regulatory requirements ensures responsible innovation.

Professional Codes of Ethics

• NSPE (National Society of Professional Engineers) provides ethical guidelines.
• IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) have a code of ethics.
• ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) adheres to honesty, fairness, and public welfare.
• The core principles underlying professional codes of ethics include honesty, fairness, and public welfare.

Ethical Theories

• Utilitarianism focuses on maximizing overall happiness.
• Deontological ethics involves a duty-based approach.
• Virtue ethics emphasizes character and moral virtues.
• Rights-Based Ethics prioritizes protecting individual rights.

Utilitarianism in Engineering

• This encourages actions benefiting the greatest number of people.
• It is used during cost-benefit analysis and safety regulations.
• Whether actions are right or wrong is determined by the consequences of those actions.
• The Thanos theory of balance is an example.

Deontological Ethics in Engineering

• Also known as duty-based ethics, judges actions based on adherence to rules, not consequences.
• Focuses on duty and morally required principles.
• Morality emphasizes the value of every human being.
• Decisions are made without regard to overall consequences.

Virtue Ethics in Engineering

• A philosophical, character-based approach.
• Focuses on courage, wisdom, and passion.
• Decisions are made solely on character.

Rights-Based Ethics in Engineering

• This moral theory focuses on human rights and the balance between individual freedoms and societal obligations.
• Rights-based ethics emphasizes the idea that all humans have certain rights, both positive and negative, simply because they are human.
• Focuses on balance and neutral decision-making.

Overview of Professional Responsibility

• Engineers must prioritize safety, honesty, integrity, and public trust.
• Engineers required to obey professional codes of ethics.
• They are responsible for public welfare and sustainable practices.

Safety, Honesty, Integrity, and Public Trust

• Engineers are working on projects that impact the lives of society daily
• Engineers' code of ethics ensures that they put the safety of the members of the society first.
• Engineers' code of ethics ensures that they remain honest in all their transactions.
• Public trust is equal to safety plus honesty and integrity.

Engineering Code of Ethics

• This establishes guidelines that professional engineers are obligated to follow.
• NSPE (National Society of Professional Engineers) offers such a code.
• ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) offers such a code.
• ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) offers such a code.
• IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) offers such a code.

Law of Whistleblowing

• This is located in the Employment Rights Act 1996 (amended 1998).
• It is the lawful disclosure of information a discloser believes evidences wrongdoing to an authorized recipient.
• Requirements include proof/evidence and it is in the public interest.

Whistleblowing law examples

• A criminal offence, for example fraud.
• Someone's health and safety is in danger.
• Risk or actual damage to the environment.
• The company is breaking the law, for example does not have the right insurance.
• It is believed that someone is covering up wrongdoing.
• Collecting and using customer data that violates their privacy rights.

Sustainable Engineering

• It is designing and building things that meet human needs while reducing environmental impact.
• It must meed human needs and be eco-friendly.
• This involves using renewable energy sources, reducing waste, and creating long-lasting systems.
• Life Cycle Stages (LCS), and Sustainability Metrics are used in LCA.
• Sustainable technologies and innovations are important here.

Renewable energy

• It originates from natural sources that are replenished at a higher rate than they are consumed.
• Solar panels and hydropower are examples.
• Sunlight and wind are constantly being replenished.

3 Aspects of Sustainable Engineering

• Social aspects involve community engagement, skills development, and worker health/safety.
• Environmental aspects include renewable energy integration, water conservation, waste reduction/recycling, and pollution control.
• Economic aspects focus on cost-effective design to minimize construction costs.

Life Cycle Stages (LCS)

• These are the different phases of a product's life cycle.
• Raw Material Acquisition (extraction/processing), Manufacturing (production), Distribution/Transportation (movement to consumers), Usage/Operation (consumer use), and End-of-Life Management (recycling, disposal, reuse).

Life Cycle Approach (LCA)

• This evaluates environmental, social, and economic impacts throughout the life cycle.
• The Life-cycle Approach encompasses raw material extraction to disposal.
• LCA = 3 aspects of Sustainable Engineering (Social, Env, Economic) + LCS (5 stages of Engineering Life Cycle)

Sustainability Metrics used in LCA

• Viable (Economic + Environmental): Economic growth that does not come at the expense of environmental degradation i.e electric vehicles, eco-friendly construction, smart grids.
• Bearable (Environmental + Social): Environmental protection that does not negatively impact human well-being. ex: public parks, green spaces, sustainable tourism, and bike-friendly cities.
• Equitable (Social + Economic): An approach ensuring fairly distributed economic benefits across society i.e. affordable healthcare, microfinance, education for all.
• Viable + Bearable + Equitable = Sustainability

Intellectual Property

• It involves intangible creations of the mind like inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, and symbols.
• Intangible Assets are objects that lack physical form such as patents, copyrights, software, brands, logos, designs, and trademarks.
• Tangible Assets are objects that can be touched seen and physically owned i.e House, pen, car, furniture.

Why is Intellectual Property needed

• It helps engineers and developers protect their designs from being stolen.
• It assists in encouraging intellectual investment and boosts creativity and innovation.
• Creators are allowed to profit from their work via IP, and it permits fair competition.

Intellectual Property (IP) Types

• Patents protect inventions, processes, machines, or compositions of matter, giving exclusive rights for a specific time.
• Copyrights protect rights of authors and creators of books, music, and software.
• Trademarks protect logos, words, and branding to distinguish products/services.
• Registered Designs protect visual designs of products.
• Trade Secrets protect confidential business information that provides a competitive advantage.

Open-Source vs. Proprietary Software Ethics

• Open-source software promotes transparency, collaboration, and ethical use through shared access.
• Proprietary software focuses on license compliance.
• Examples are:
  • Linux vs. Windows/macOS
  • ChatGpt vs. Deepseek AI
  • Microsoft Office vs. LibreOffice