Safety : An Ethical Obligation

Health and safety is important in any industry because this assures the safety of the employer and employee under the work act of 1974(HASAW).It also makes sure that the employee understands the risks on the site, and the responsibility that will have to be taken. Working on a fishery or any field to do with fish management could become hazardous if precautions are not in place.

Hold Safety Paramount: Engineers must prioritize the safety, health and welfare of the public and should try to practice sustainability as often as possible. In order to do this, engineers must realize that major engineering decisions do impact the general public's well being and they must review their decisions to ensure that they are safe. Engineers with reasons to believe that a fellow engineer is not following the rules stated in Canon 1 must report this person to the authorities in charge.

When it comes to engineering, building, and designing something that will be used by humans, safety is the most important step in the entire process. It should be taken very seriously by all who are involved in a project, but the engineers should be the ones who double, triple or even quadruple check safety issues. Mainly the engineers because it is in their code and law of ethics and safety is the first Canon on the list, “Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.” (NSPE, 2012). There are very bad consequences that happen when someone decides not to fallow the Code of Ethics for Engineers, for example the Space shuttle Challenger disaster that happened in January of 1986. There were issues with parts and conflicts

The first fundamental canon of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Code of Ethics states that engineers “hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.” The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) takes it a step further by amending the NSPE canon and adding that chemical engineers “protect the environment in performance of their professional duties.” These ethical standards were placed in order to prevent contaminations to maintain a healthy work environment, and prevent the general public and environment from being harmed. The “Aberdeen Three” case is an instance of three knowledgeable and high ranking engineers, as well as the United States army, disregarding the safety of the public or their

Remember to always follow safety procedures. This schedule is intended to improve team work and communication. In this schedule there is enough time to complete transportation services in a timely manner and for no reason should you feel in a rush. At some point, there will possibly be obstacles that may throw you off schedule, such as unexpected road emergencies, traffic, running late etc. Please use your best judgment to ensure that the safety of yourself and others are not compromised.

This accident exposed a large amount of lethal defects occurred on those engineers who were involved in this collapse of the bridge. According to Stage 1 Competencies and Elements of Competency(3. 1), a lack of professional accountability can be easily seen throughout above issues. Professional Engineers are needed to be responsible for the reliability of products they created and designed within a variety of severe environments. They are needed to test how the bridge would likely to work over and over under a variety of complex circumstances within the test stage of building the bridge.

Regarding the issue of the rights of construction workers and the casualties and fatalities that happens on site, we need to really understand the fine line between ethics and the law. Under the Australian Code of Practice for safe design of structures, it states that while “designers may not have management and control over the actual construction work they can discharge their duty by consulting, co-operating and coordinating activities,

With the constant discovery of scientific principles and new engineering designs, the responsibility often lies in the hands of engineers to decide what is in the best interest of the public. Millions of people around the world use products and structures developed by engineers, every day. Before accepting work from a client, it is important that engineers have a good understanding of their own personal limitations. If work is accepted that they are “not competent to perform by virtue of [their] training and experience” , there is a clear disregard for public welfare and potential for a serious safety hazard. It is again evident that the

When engineers design a product many things go in to the decision making process when it comes to selecting materials, design, and the manufacturing processes. One concern that has always been in the decision making process is trying to make sure the outcome will always be ethically good, although this isn’t always the case. Try as they might, no person is perfect, and accidents do happen. When engineering disasters happen there are many factors that may be involved, such as human factors, design flaws, extreme conditions, and materials failures. When these things do happen it is important to look at the ethical aspect of each part of the failure and

Industrial Engineers often face the ethical dilemma of attempting to balance costs with quality and safety. Company management pressures Industrial systems engineers to design processes that are cost efficient, time constrained, and produce a high quality output. This puts the engineer in a tricky balancing act in which they are trying to make every stakeholder happy. Taking risks in order to create cost efficient solutions is not specific to only industrial engineers but applies to all disciplines of engineering, making this topic a relevant discussion. However, this conflict is especially true in a manufacturing setting where industrial engineers thrive, machine operators are often overworked, companies make products in high stakes, large batches, and the range of quality acceptance is growing ever smaller. A relevant example is the engineer who was designing a chemical plant in Mexico. In order to achieve the correct viscosity of the paint stripper, the engineer asked the plant operator to babysit the chemical mixture and manually release the valve when necessary. Engineering management’s decision puts the plant worker at a safety risk in order to achieve a tighter quality and standardization of the chemical stripper production process. Ultimately, this resulted in the catastrophic death of the plant worker and the destruction of the plant.

Engineers are trusted individuals which the public has set high standards for. The public relies on engineers to efficiently, and accurately determine the safety of all products they create. Engineers are required to follow safety procedures in order to ensure the quality of the products they create. However, are these procedures enough to ensure the safety of the public? Or can additional actions be taken in order to improve the safety of a product? If so, to what extent should engineers be required to take matters into their own hands and ensure the safety of products, in return reducing the number of injuries and fatal accidents?

Ethics can be dangerous to your career. The danger may come not from your own ethics but from the ethics of people around you and the organization of which you are a part. Employees have various moral decisions to make. Many of these decisions should be made on the basis of our moral obligations, but sometimes the morally preferable action could require courage and be performed beyond the call of duty. One defense against involvement in wrongdoing is vocalizing when there are unethical practices being made. While being prepared for organizational challenges that will inevitably test your personal values, moral beliefs, and commitment may be doing the right thing, is it ethical when one’s job is on the line?

This guide is available as an abridged published document, and as a full set of case studies available online, including an in-depth discussion of the place of ethics in engineering. It is our intention to update and add to the case studies over time, reflecting the changes in technology and society that affect engineering ethics. Ethics, like engineering, is a practical subject, and its exercise is in debate and discussion. We hope that these case studies are used to stimulate discussion between engineers, to help individuals, and the profession as a whole, to advance their understanding of the ethical issues in engineering. How to use this guide The purpose of this guide is to supplement the SEP with discussions, clarifications and illustrative personal experiences that will bring the ethical issues in engineering to life. The guide is also intended to

Several cases have led to an awareness of the importance of ethics within the engineering profession as engineers realize how their technical work has far-reaching impacts on society. The work of engineers can affect public health and safety and can influence business practices and even politics.’’(Fledderman,2004)

To the ASME, improving the general welfare of society through the utilization of the specialized skills of engineers is highly stressed. One must consider the possible consequences of actions and decide the best course of action to benefit the safety and health of the public. The ASME