Week 2

Question 1

What is meant by responsibility as accountability?

Answer 1

The trust relationship between engineers and the public

Engineers must be reliable in every aspect of their profession

Question 2

Name two kinds of responsibility

Answer 2

• Obligatory responsibility

- Blame responsibility

Question 3

What are the implications of obligatory responsibility for engineers?

Answer 3

• Follow regulatory prescriptions (design and safety)
• Follow technical requirements
• Act so that the public will trust engineers as a whole

Question 4

What are the obligatory responsibilities of engineers?

Answer 4

• Specialist knowledge and competence

- Commitment to excellence in service delivery

Question 5

What is blame responsibility in the sense of engineering?

Answer 5

A reaction to an event which had occurred, usually in during which some people were injured or killed. This is retrospective of who was responsible, what responsibilities were fulfilled and not, and the extent to which faults, disasters and malpractice occurred.

Question 6

What are the three causes of harm for which a person or organisation can be legally responsible?

Answer 6

• Malicious intent
• Reckless action
• Negligent action

Question 7

Under which two circumstances can an engineer legally be held responsible for negligent action?

Answer 7

• When there exists a legal obligation to conform to certain standards of conduct
• If you did not conform to the standards of conduct
• If there exists a close causal connection between your failure to conform to standards and the harm caused
• If there was actual harm or loss of property

Question 8

What is strict liability?

Answer 8

Requires compensation or repairs for harm caused without any attribution of fault or blame. Only applies to organisations

Question 9

One cannot be held responsible for negligent action of reasonable care was exercised. What is reasonable care based on?

Answer 9

• Specialist knowledge of engineer
• Social expectation that the knowledge will be applied in a way that is beneficial to society
• Expectations of codes of ethics

Question 10

List four important impediments to responsible engineering

Answer 10

• Many people working on one project
• Self interest
• Blind spots (intentional or not)
• Group mentality
• Workplace culture
• Chain of command