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EG0001 > Engineering Ethics > Flashcards

Engineering Ethics Flashcards

1
Q

What are the 3 boards that govern Engineers?

A

Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)
USA National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)
Singapore Professional Engineers Board

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2
Q

What is a profession?

A

A profession is a group that

  • claims special knowledge or expertise
  • warrants special privileges and trust from the public
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3
Q

What are 4 marks of a Professional Engineer?

A
  • Has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from an accredited school
  • Performs engineering work
  • Is a registered P.E. or given authority to certify work carried out
  • Acts in a morally responsible way while practicing engineering
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4
Q

What are the 4 interaction rules of behavior, how are they different from one another?

A

Etiquette: socially acceptable personal behavior
Law: System of rules and punishments established by authority to maintain a safe and orderly social environment
Morality: Personal rules of right and wrong
Ethics: The study of the morality of human actions

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5
Q

What governs the Singapore PEB and what are its key features?

A

Professional Engineers Act

  • establishment of PEB
  • registration of PEs
  • licensing of corporations, partnerships, LLP
  • regulating conduct of PEs
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6
Q

How to be a Professional Engineer?

A

Register with PEB

  1. Qualification
  2. Experience
  3. Examinations: Fundamentals of Engineering Exam, Professional Practice Examination
  4. Interview
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7
Q

What are the 6 fundamental principles of the USA NSPE Code of Ethics?

A
  1. Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of public
  2. Perform services in area of competency
  3. Issue public statement in an objective and truthful manner
  4. Act for employer or client as a faithful agent and 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.
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8
Q

What is the Paramountcy Principle?

A

Safety, Health and Welfare of the Public

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9
Q

Describe the case studies for the safety principle.

A

Ford Pinto
- 1978 Ford Pinto was hit from behind at 25mph, impact of collision caused fuel tank to rupture and burst into flames, 3 girls died
- Gas tank design was flawed, it met applicable federal safety standards but not accepted engineering standards
- The Pinto Memo revealed that Ford engineers were aware but chose not to change the design because of purely economic reasons
Consequences: Harmed people, ruined Ford’s reputation, surfaced the need to review government standards, standards differ from state to state and country to country, ethics is still needed

Therac-25

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10
Q

What does area of competence entail?

A
  • communicate clearly when accepting or interpreting assignments
  • obtain services of a specialist or expert if required
  • honesty with the client, employer and oneself
  • signing of documents only by those who prepared them or directly supervised the preparation
  • qualified person: professional integrity, protect public interest and safety
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11
Q

Describe the case study for Area of Competence princiiple.

A

Hotel New World Disaster

  • built in 1971
  • building collapsed fully in 1986 due to inadequate structural design and poor quality construction
  • before collapse: new installations on the roof, persistent cracks appeared on the walls weeks before collapse
  • 33 deaths, 17 survivors
  • architect plans drawn up by an unqualified draughtsman
  • construction of building had no professional supervision
  • no proper maintenance

Consequences:

  • Development and Building Control Division at the Ministry of National Development to conduct structural checks on all new buildings
  • regular spot checks and maintenance checks once every 5 years
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12
Q

What does avoiding deceptive acts entail?

A
  • no falsification of qualifications
  • no offering, giving, soliciting or receiving of any contribution to influence the award of a contract by public authority
  • do not deliberately deceive customers or clients
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13
Q

Describe the case study for the Avoid Deceptive Acts principle.

A

Volkswagen “Clean Diesels”
- VW installed software to cheat US emissions test in around 11 million cars worldwide
- Allows cars to emit up to 40 times the legally permitted amount of Nitrogen Oxide
- Marketed their cars as eco-friendly
Consequences:
- VW was fined
- Chief Executive resigned
- Environment effects are difficult to measure. 11 million cars worldwide, driven over the span of a few years, would have released an unhealthy amount of Nitrogen Oxide into the environment (irreversible effect)
- Other car brands have came under scrutiny
- Review of testing rules

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14
Q

What is Whistle Blowing?

A

It is the act of one who, believing that the public interest overrides the interest of the organization he serves, alerts the public to the organization’s maleficent activity

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15
Q

What laws protect Whistle Blowing and how?

A

In Singapore, there are no laws protecting Whistle Blowers but Whistle Blowers of certain offences are protected for example corruption.
UK Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998
Protected disclosures:
- qualifying disclosure made to employer or through internal procedures
- qualifying disclosure about a serious failure
- general qualifying disclosure
disclosure about health and safety matters

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16
Q

Describe the case study for Whistle Blowing.

A

Goldstein and EBASCO
- EBASCO is a nuclear power plant construction contractor
- Goldstein identified safety problems to SAFETEAM, an internal compliance program established by EBASCO
- He was immediately fired
Consequence:
- Congress amended the federal nuclear whistleblower law to give more protection to internal whistleblowers

17
Q

When should one exercise External Whistle Blowing?

A
  1. Harm to public is serious and considerable
  2. Concerns have been raised to superiors
  3. No satisfaction from immediate superiors and have exhausted other channels of communication including going to the board of directors
  4. Possess convincing documented evidence
18
Q

What is the Socratic Method?

A

It is a form of

  • cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals
  • based on asking and answering questions to
  • stimulate critical thinking
  • and to draw our ideas and underlying presumptions
19
Q

What were Socrates’ values

A

One should not worry about public opinion but only listen to wise and expert advice.
One should only concern oneself with behaving well.
One should be guided by reason.
One should understand justice.
Human choice is motivated by an inner desire for happiness.

20
Q

What was the argument between Crito and Socrates?

A

Crito: Socrates should escape prison
- His death will reflect badly on his friends
- Aiding his enemies in wronging him unjustly
- By dying, he would be abandoning his sons and leaving them without a father
Socrates:
- the law of Athens is like his parent, breaking the law is unjust
- he can try and persuade the law but not break it
- by living in Athens, he is agreeing to the social contract of subjecting himself to the law

21
Q

What were the considerations of Oppenheimer’s Dilemma and the consequences of the Atomic Bomb?

A
  • Ending the war with a bomb vs Letting the war continue
  • Former will have less lives lost
    Consequence:
  • Massive death and destruction
  • Ensuing arms race and threat to civilization, The Cold War
  • Radiation in the environment
  • Long term health effects such as increased rates of cancer and chronic illnesses amongst survivors, affecting generations
22
Q

Analyze the Bhopal Plant Disaster.

A

The Green Revolution came about because some chemical corporations, that lost their market after the world war ended, claimed that if farmers used synthetic chemicals as fertilizers they could increase food production, and if they used chemicals as pesticides they could protect their crops from being damaged by different insects. Union Carbide used a combination of bribery and false promises of the ‘Green Revolution’ to convince authorities to permit their actions in Bhopal.
- Union Carbide built a pesticide manufacturing plant 2 miles from the city center of Bhopal by persuading the India government to classify their plant as general instead of hazardous.
- The location was selected for economic reasons: railway system, central location in India, large lake as water source, sufficient electricity and labor
- 1984, a leak caused 10,000 gallons of Methyl Isocyanide to be released into the environment, forming a toxic cloud of gas
- Killing more than 10,000 people and injuring more than 200,000
Cause: Cost-cutting led to poor plant design, construction and maintenance
- Use of ordinary steel instead of stainless steel, and made a few big tanks rather than many smaller tanks, also laid off many workers
- Leakage of water due to valve not properly closed
- Refrigeration unit was faulty but not repaired
- Alarm was not set properly
- Flare tower not functioning
- Scrubber was not activated
Consequence:
- Deaths and injuries (children born after also suffered physical growth effects)
- Animals died too
- Environmental harm: Toxic chemicals continue to contaminate the soil and groundwater

23
Q

Analyze the Challenger Disaster.

A

1986 Challenger exploded due to failure of O-ring
- killed 7 astronauts
Cause:
- pressure from congress to launch on time
- pressure from competitors like Russia and European Space Agency
- Engineers at Morton Thiokol who were tasked to build the space shuttle opposed the launch but the company’s general manager and vice president overrode their opinion. NASA was not informed about the internal disagreement in Morton Thiokol hence did not know the risk of launching.
Consequence:
- Deaths
- NASA and Morton Thiokol’s reputation fell

24
Q

Analyze the Nicoll Highway Collapse case.

A

2004
Cause:
- Structural engineer was tasked with the job instead of a geotechnical. Said engineer did not seek the expertise of a knowledgeable party.
- Engineers did not understand the complexity of a soil’s condition and how it varies (drained vs undrained)
- Under design of waler connection in the strutting system (10-50% underestimation of forces)
- Under design of diaphragm wall
Consequence:
- 4 people died
- Gas, water and electricity cables snapped, power went out in the Marina and Suntec City area
- Nishimatsu Construction Company was fined and barred from further contracts
- Project director fired

25
Q

Give an example of a good ethical decision.

A

The Delaying of the Chandrayaan-2 launch

26
Q

How to apply Socratic Method to ethical issues in engineering?

A
  • Situation
  • Consequences if whistle blow
  • Consequences if do not blow
  • Course of action

EG0001 (6 decks)

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