Canons of Professional Conduct

1. Engineers offer services in the areas of their competence and experience, affording full disclosure of their qualifications.

2. Engineers consider the consequences of their work and societal issues pertinent to it and seek to extend public understanding of those relationships.

3. Engineers are honest, truthful, ethical, and fair in presenting information and in making public statements, which reflect on professional matters and their professional role.

4. Engineers engage in professional relationships without bias because of race, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, attire, or disability.

5. Engineers act in professional matters for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees disclosing nothing of a proprietary or confidential nature concerning the business affairs or technical processes of any present or former client or employer without the necessary consent.

6. Engineers disclose to affected parties any known or potential conflicts of interest or other circumstances, which might influence, or appear to influence, judgment or impair the fairness or quality of their performance.

7. Engineers are responsible for enhancing their professional competence throughout their careers and for encouraging similar actions by their colleagues.

8. Engineers accept responsibility for their actions; seek and acknowledge criticism of their work; offer honest and constructive criticism of the work of others; properly credit the contributions of others; and do not accept credit for work not their own.

9. Engineers, perceiving a consequence of their professional duties to adversely affect the present or future public health and safety, shall formally advise their employers or clients, and, if warranted, consider further disclosure.

10. Engineers seek to adopt technical and economical measures to minimize environmental impact.

11. Engineers participate with other professionals in multi-discipline teams to create synergy and to add value to their work product.

12. Engineers act in accordance with all applicable laws and the canons of ethics as applicable to the practice of engineering as stated in the laws and regulations governing the practice of engineering in their country, territory, or state, and lend support to others who strive to do likewise.

Ex. 11. CASE STUDY. Working in groups, discuss the following Ethical Conduct Case. Decide which Canons of Professional Conduct have been violated and answer the question at the end of the text. You can also use the References at the end.

Facts:

Engineer A is a graduate engineer in a company’s manufacturing facility that uses toxic chemicals in its processing operations. Engineer A’s job has nothing to do with the use and control of these materials.

A chemical called "MegaX" is used at the site. Recent stories in the news have reported alleged immediate and long-term human genetic hazards from inhalation of or other contact with MegaX. The news items are based on findings from laboratory experiments, which were done on mice, by a graduate student at a well-respected university’s physiology department. Other scientists have neither confirmed nor refuted the experimental findings. Federal and local governments have not made official pronouncements on the subject.

Several colleagues outside of the company have approached Engineer A on the subject and ask Engineer A to "do something" to eliminate the use of MegaX at the processing facility. Engineer A mentions this concern to her manager who tells Engineer A, "Don't worry, we have an Industrial Safety Specialist who handles that."

Two months elapse and MegaX is still used in the factory. The controversy in the press continues, but since there is no further scientific evidence pro or con in the matter, the issues remain unresolved. The use of the chemical in the processing facility has increased and now more workers are exposed daily to the substance than was the case two months ago. Question:

Does Engineer A have an obligation to take further action under the facts and circumstances? What would you do if you were him?

References:

Section II.1. - Code of Ethics: Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public.

Section II.1.a. - Code of Ethics: If engineers’ judgment is overruled under circumstances that endanger life or property, they shall notify their employer or client and such other authority as may be appropriate.

Section II.2. - Code of Ethics: Engineers shall perform services only in the areas of their competence.

Ex. 12. Working in groups, discuss the following situation from the ethical point of view and decide what your actions should be in these situations. Refer to Canons of Professional Conduct in Exercise 10 to support your decision.

1. I was told that I could hire a consultant to take care of getting all the permits we need from a foreign government. He requested $40,000 and said that he would use the money to ‘help move the process along.’ Since we don’t really know where the money is going, do we have to worry about it?

2. It is the last week in the quarterly reporting period. My boss wants to make sure we meet our numbers for the quarter, so he asked me to record an unconfirmed sale now that won’t be finalized until next week. I guess this won’t hurt anyone – should I do what he says?

3. Every week we are required to test chemical discharges that are produced when we make a particular product. The tests always come out the same, so sometimes when work is very busy we skip the tests and do them a day or two later if we can. Then, when we do the missing tests, we just back date the results. Since this helps manage our work-flow, is this really wrong?

4. A former Company A employee who worked on my team recently contacted me to request that I provide copies of some materials we worked on during his employment. In the course of this conversation, I learned that this former employee has copies of several binders and CDs with Company A materials and data we used in a project. I told this employee that I would get back to him/her. What should I do now?

5. I have just joined Company A as a new employee. My prior employer is one of Company A’s largest competitors. Can I share some important confidential marketing information that I developed while working for this competitor?

6. A personal friend is a candidate for a job with your company and you will potentially be involved with the hiring decision. What should you do?

7. You provide engineering services to clients in the fields of reservoir engineering and reserves analysis and reporting and are paid for your time and reasonable expenses. Your client wants to be provided a signed report showing that their fields contain a certain level of reserves. You receive data necessary to make an evaluation along with the client’s own reserves estimate which is really the target they wish to see. Should you take on this consulting project?

Grammar

Ex. 13. Study the following information.