What Is Engineering Ethics

Every profession has ethics that guides its members. Engineering as a profession has its ethics that are laid down rules to protect engineers and the public at large. One cannot underestimate the importance of engineering ethics in the society in regards to its welfare, health and protection.

Engineers require a balance of moral thinking, legal importance, costs, safety, standards, risk investigation and benefits. Engineering Ethics comprises a body of ethical rules that apply to the study of engineering.

Ethical Problems Faced By Practicing Engineers

The ethical problems experienced by practising engineers are not quickly resolved, and they are of different types. Ethical Problems influence a large scale of engineering custodians and decisions about doing what is right, frequently fall into an uncertain area that is best unclear and disastrous at worst.

It is good to understand the minor distinctions of many approaches to ethical testing and essential decision making. Most times, the right decision taken by a vast majority of engineering stakeholders always have some negative influence on the majority.

The principle of ethical utilitarianism states that the right decision is that which leads to the highest good for the most considerable number of engineering stakeholders is not the best moral decision made.

Other ethical principles like respect for colleagues and moral ethics may produce better ethical decisions resolving severe problems. It is important to note that immediate cognition is not the best way of making ethical decisions.

Engineering Codes of Ethics

Engineering Codes Of ethics are laid down rules of practice that give a framework for making ethical decisions in respect to historical research, where wrongly decisions made have led to negative results. Even though engineer codes of ethics are alike across disciplines, they have their different historical background.

The primary principles published on the National Society of Professional Engineers website are worthy of comparison with the codes of ethics written by Individual Professional Society. They include;

1. Hold the highest importance of safety, health and welfare of the public.
2. Carryout services only in areas of specialization.
3. Give public statements only in an objective and sincere manner.
4. Work for every employer or client as faithful agents or trustees.
5. Abstain from deceptive acts.
6. Carry themselves honourably, responsibly, lawfully and ethically to ensure and improve the honour, reputation, and effectiveness of the profession.

The Importance of Engineering Ethics to the Society

Engineering, as a profession, has a culture and set of practices of their own. Engineers have developed a set of ethics to guild them whenever their services are needed in society. Just like every other craftwork, there are a lot of engineering standards to consider when providing services to a client. The most important duty of an engineer is to protect the well being of the public. That is, be sure of any services provided and carryout appropriate testing to ensure the safety of any project, even when the engineer has chances to offer low-quality services for his/her benefits.

The Takeaway

Conclusively, all engineers have the right to report any fault notice during production or construction to the appropriate government regulatory body, if the organization they work for fails to adhere to the right ethics. This may sometimes cause them their job, but they should always remember that protecting the interest of the public is their first-ever responsibility as an engineer.