Engineering is a crucial part of society in terms of innovation and development, and for that reason it is important that a certain ethical standard is upheld by all engineers. The Statement of Ethical Principles co-authored by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Engineering Council serves as an excellent guideline as to how one can conduct oneself ethically as an engineer in the industry. It describes four key principles:
The first of the four ethical principles is to maintain honesty and integrity in professional environments. This includes being transparent and considerate and holding oneself to as high a standard as possible. It is important that the engineering sector maintains as much trust as possible from the public.
The second is to respect all relevant law and regulations, and to be mindful of the environmental impact and the wider impact on the public. Projects should be evaluated in terms of how the benefit provided outweighs any costs to the public and/or environment.
The third is to provide a service that is accurate and good quality. Engineers shouldn’t compromise the quality of their service in order to personally benefit themselves, such as taking on a particular project when they know that they won’t be able to complete in a responsible manner, in order to make money.
The final guideline is to maintain good leadership and communication skills, and to promote equality. Engineering is a discipline dominated by one demographic, and there are many areas where diversity could encourage different ways of thinking about the same problem, which is always the best way to approach a problem.
These principles are not just relevant to Engineering Professionals, but also to our group project. Adhering to the principles outlined helps us practice good habits for our future careers as engineers, and also ensures that the quality of our work is higher. Though our project doesn’t impact the public, it does impact the environment, and most crucially, each other. We should practice open communication within our group and ensure that the tasks are divided in such a way where we can all play to our strengths and not compromise the quality of the final product.
We should try to minimize economical and environmental wastage in our projects. Components and materials should always be reused when possible, in line with rule 15 of the IET Rules of Conduct “Members shall take all reasonable steps to avoid waste of natural resources, damage to the environment, and damage or destruction of man-made products.”.
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/swansea-ebooks/reader.action?docID=6187306&ppg=104
The page linked above is an eBook accessible on the Swansea University Online Library containing a series of debates surrounding several engineering ethical issues. Though not strictly relevant to our project, a section I found particularly interesting was the fifth (the link opens to this page), regarding the ethics of engineers whistleblowing. It discusses the loyalty an engineering professional owes to both their employer and to the public good and whether it is ethical to sever one of these loyalties in order to commit to another.
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