When reading through the RAE ‘Statement of Ethical Principles’, it is split into four sidtinct sections:
- Honesty and integrity
- Respect for life, law and the public good
- Accuracy and rigour
- Leadership and communication
Commitment to honesty and integrity will be incredibly important to my future career as an engineer because these values allow for a great deal of trust to be formed when working within a team. Maintining respect for life, law and the public good ensures that during my work, I ensure that the work I carry out is safe. This also applies to the result of said work to ensure that they are both safe to use, lawful and provide some benefit to the public. This works in synergy with the ‘Accuracy and rigour’ section, as acting with care and attention to detail will be an essential part of my future career as an engineer. Sufficient attention to detail will allow for risks to be mitiagted. The final section is ‘Leadership and Communication’, maintaining effective communication with both felliw engineers and the public allows for the previous sections to be consistetly kept in check. This includes being honest and objective in any statements made and promote public awareness of progress in the field.
In the ‘Code of Ethics for Professional Engineers’ provided by the NSPE many of the above sections are similar if not completely the same. However, in the rule of practise section it states that “Engineers shall perform services in their area of competence”, this is essential to the appropriate functioning of the engineering field as the less competence one has in a certain area the lower the atteniton to detail and thus lies a greater risk for failure and potential harm for others.
Link : Code of Ethics | National Society of Professional Engineers
Comments are closed