2. Assigned reading:
o Harris, Prichard & Rabins, Engineering
Ethics: Concepts and Cases, Chapter 5:
“Responsible Engineers”
o CASES – 21,43,45,54
3. Most valuable attributes of an
engineer
o Character:
o Honesty & Integrity
o (virtues)
o Responsibility
o (reliability)
o Skills & knowledge:
o Technical knowledge
o Analytical skills
o Computation skills
o Communication skills
4. Responsible--definition
o Responsible: 1) liable to be called on to
answer; liable to legal review or in case
of fault to penalties; 2) able to answer
for one’s conduct and obligations; able
to choose for oneself between right and
wrong... (Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate
Dictionary)
5. Responsibilities of engineers
o Legal responsibilities: Not to cause
harm; to compensate when harm is
caused; to practice in accord with
Engineering Practices Act
o Moral responsibilities: To recognize and
discharge our duties and obligations;
understand and adhere to a Code of
Ethics
9. Ways in which harm is caused
o Intentionally--this is often criminal
o Recklessly--acting in a way that we
recognize might cause harm
o Negligently--by failing to exercise due
care
10. Engineering Practice
Moral Point of View
o Engineers are morally responsible for
harms they intentionally, negligently or
recklessly cause – Regardless of whom,
if anyone, is held legally responsibly
o In some instances, engineers may be
morally responsible for failing to report,
or even prevent, such behavior on the
part of others.
11. Three models of responsibility
o Minimalist or Malpractice model
o Reasonable Care model
o Good Works or Supererogation model
12. Minimalist or Malpractice model
of responsibility:
o Engineers have a duty only to conform to
accepted practice and fulfill only basic duties
prescribed by terms of employment.
o Those who would follow this model might be
most concerned with not doing anything
“wrong”.
o “That’s not my responsibility, someone else will
take care of that.” (Example: the Gilbane Gold case)
13. Reasonable Care Model of
Responsibility:
o Adhere to accepted standards of practice,
and...
o Take reasonable care to ensure that mistakes
are prevented and the public welfare is
protected
o Exercise and apply skill, ability and judgment
reasonably and without neglect
o keep abreast of evolving changes in knowledge and
practice
o recognize when minimal standards of practice
might not be sufficient to prevent a harm, and take
additional actions to prevent such a harm in those
cases
14. Characteristics of the
Reasonable Care model
o Concern for preventing harm, rather
than trying to prevent causing harm
o Oriented towards the future, toward
avoiding problems and protecting the
public
o Attitude of concern or caring
o Example: Roger Boisjoly’s actions before
the launch of the Challenger
15. Standard of Reasonableness
as seen by a normal prudent professional
o CABO TOMAR OIL SPILL EXAMPLE
o Bahia San Felipe, Chile
o Tanker ran aground on uncharted rock
o 70,000 BBL oil spill in Bay
o Tanker moved to fishing harbor for
unloading
o Should the tanker be boomed with oil
spill boom?
16. Standard of Reasonableness
o Insurance Company Advisors used
Minimalistic approach – refused to boom
ship - Said standard of reasonableness
for Chile in the absence of available
equipment was not to protect or clean up
the oil in the harbor.
o The Chilean argued for the reasonable
care approach – To prevent the harm
from happening in the harbor
17. Tort Law
o A common law civil wrong for which a court
will provide a remedy
o A tort arises from the existence of a
generalized legal duty to avoid causing harm
to others through act of omission as well as
commission.
o Every adult person is obligated to fulfill a duty
of care for the personal and property rights of
others while engaging in daily life.
18. Tort Law
o Nuisance
o Private
o Public
o Trespass
o To Person
o To Personal Property
o To Real Property
o Negligence
19. Tort Law
o Strict Liability
o Liability for damages without requiring a
showing of negligence
o A potential dangerous substance is anything
that if permitted to escape is certain to
injure others
o Courts interpret widely
o Elf Atochem discharge of arsenic in Bryan,
Texas
20. Good Works (Supererogation)
Model of Responsibility:
o “...above and beyond the call of duty.”
o Example: A local consulting engineer
offers to design a parking lot for a
church at her cost, with no charge for
her own time.
21. EXXON VALDEZ EXAMPLE
o Before the spill-minimalistic
o Clean Seas Capability-Reasonable Care
o After the Spill to Reopen the Alyeska
Terminal-SERVS Organization – Good
Works
o Organized in 45 days +/-
o Extensive response capability
22. A hypothetical scenario...
o Suppose an airline maintenance engineer
contacts an airframe manufacturer with a
question about a new maintenance
procedure that his crews have proposed,
indicating that his crews have
experimented with this procedure and
have demonstrated that it can significantly
reduce maintenance time and costs.
23. A hypothetical scenario
cont’d...
o The procedure in question involves the removal
of jet engine & pylon as a unit for replacement
of a spherical bearing which served to support
the engine/pylon.
o The manufacturer’s recommended procedure is
to remove the engine, then the pylon.
o Maintenance personnel wish to remove the
engine & pylon as a unit, supporting the engine
with an engine stand mounted on a forklift,
positioned at the cg of the engine/pylon unit.
25. Engine and pylon assy...
13,477 lb (pylon + engine)
1,865 lb (pylon)
6 ft
26. In pairs, discuss and answer
the following questions...
o How would the manufacturer respond if
he follows...
o minimalist model of responsibility?
o reasonable care model?
o good works model?
o What responsibilities do you think the
airframe manufacturer’s engineer has?
How should he/she respond to this
request?
27. The case isn’t hypothetical...
o In 1979, improper servicing procedures
during maintenance of a American Airlines
DC-10 caused undetected fractures in the
bulkhead supporting the pylon.
o Eight weeks later on 25 May, during takeoff
from Chicago O’Hare, AA Flight 191 lost the
No. 1 engine from the left wing, severing
hydraulic control and power lines near that
pylon, causing loss of control, crash, and
273 deaths.
28. DC-10 case, continued...
o American Airlines maintenance crews were
using forklifts to remove the DC-10 engines
for pylon mounting bearing replacement, a
shortcut that reduced service efforts by 200
man-hours per engine.
o McDonnell-Douglas (the manufacturer)
knew that AA and Continental were using
this non-standard procedure, and suspected
that this might increase the risk of airframe
damage.
29. DC-10 case, continued...
References:
NTSB Report on the 1979 Chicago Crash
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20594, December 21,
1979
(found on web at...http://www.rvs.uni-
bielefeld.de/publications/Incidents/DOCS/C
omAndRep/OHare/NTSB/COPY/ohare-
full.html)
30. How should we view our
professional responsibilities?
o The reasonable care model is the best model
for engineers.
o Codes demand it (“...accept responsibility in
making engineering decisions consistent with
the safety, health and welfare of the public, and
to disclose promptly factors that might
endanger the public or the environment…”,
IEEE Code of Ethics)
o Public expects it (Principle of Proportional
Care: When people have a greater ability to
harm, they have a greater obligation to prevent
harm.)
31. Some Impediments to
Responsibility
o Self-interest
o Fear
o Self-deception
o Ignorance
o Egocentric tendencies
o Microscopic vision
o Uncritical acceptance of authority
o Antagonism toward outside regulation
o “Groupthink”
o Cumbersome business organizations
32. Impediments to responsibility
1. Self interest
o Engineers are, like others, people with
with personal hopes and ambitions not
restricted to professional ideals. e.g.
money, fame, glory, etc…
o Sometimes our concern for our own
interests temps us to act contrary to the
interests of others, even contrary to what
others expect of us as professionals
33. Impediments to responsibility
1. Self interest
o Taken to extreme, concern for self-
interest is a form of egoism--an exclusive
concern to satisfy one’s own interests,
even at the possible expense of others.
o Popularly characterized by “looking out
for number 1”
o Be careful, we all get tempted!
34. Engineering Responsibility
The Graham Estate Case
o In 1956 George Graham passed away
and left his estate to his hometown - the
Town of Cherokee, Oklahoma
o In today’s money the value of the estate
would be about $700,000
o The city’s of Cherokee wastewater
drained into the newly constructed Fort
Gibson reservoir
35. Engineering Responsibility
The Graham Estate Case
o P.E. John Green was hired by the city of
Cherokee to design and supervise the
construction of a new wastewater
treatment plant
o Engineer Green’s fee was to be based on
a standard minimum percentage of the
construction cost set by the state
engineering profession--a practice no
longer allowed
36. Engineering Responsibility
The Graham Estate Case
o Generally accepted design for cities of
this size and situation in Oklahoma at
the time would have been a series of
faculative oxidation ponds at a cost of
approximately $300,000
o Engineer Green instead designed an
extensive secondary wastewater
treatment plant that most engineers
would consider unusual for this situation
37. Engineering Responsibility
The Graham Estate Case
o Engr. Green expected the cost of this
plant to be $1,000,000 to financed with
Graham estate funds and a 30% Federal
grant through the Oklahoma Health
Dept. and the U. S. Public Health Service.
o Unfortunately the project ran $300,000
over budget and the City of Cherokee had
to make up the project deficit.
38. Engineering Responsibility
The Graham Estate Case
Six months after the City of Cherokee
project was complete Engineer Green
was on his way to a meeting on another
project in western Oklahoma
He was called on to answer for his actions
by a higher authority when his car went
over a hill at 100 MPH and encountered
an 18 wheeler going 50 MPH
39. Engineering Responsibility
The Graham Estate Case
o Did Engineer Green really think the City of
Cherokee needed such an elaborate waste
water treatment plant ?
o With another engineer and a 30% federal grant
the city would have spent only $210,000 and
would have saved $490,000 of the grant plus
the $300,000 overrun for other projects.
o Was he just inflating the cost to maximize his
engineering fee?
o Was he serving his client or himself?
40. Impediments to Responsibility
2. Fear
o Many potential fears
o Fear of acknowledging mistakes
o Fear of losing one’s job
o Fear of punishment
o Fear of the fate of whistleblowers
o Fear of being unable to find alternative
employment
41. Impediments to Responsibility
3. Self-Deception
o Definition: An intentional avoidance of truths
we would find it painful to confront self-
consciously
o We deceive ourselves into believing something
is OK by some rationalization
o I’m not really doing this just for myself
o Everyone takes shortcuts once in a while, etc.
o Example: bribing a city council to get a project
in order to save the jobs of your employees
42. Impediments to Responsibility
4. Ignorance
o An obvious barrier to responsible action
is ignorance of vital information
o Sometimes engineers take on design
problems in areas in which they are not
sufficiently competent and avoidable
problems can result
o An engineer put an aluminum liner in the
Texas A&M nuclear reactor when most Civil
engineers would know that concrete and
aluminum are not compatible materials
43. Impediments to Responsibility
5. Egocentric Tendencies
o Failure to view actions or projects from
alternative viewpoints
o It is a special form of ignorance
o Example from India--we may think what a
community needs is a new water or wastewater
system. The people may be perfectly happy
with water from a nearby ditch, but what they
really want is a school or health care.
o Product developer vs. user problems
44. Impediments to Responsibility
6. Microscopic Vision
o Can’t see the forest for the trees
o Shoemaker example--knows a lot about
shoes but may be ignorant as to how
they are going to used in different
circumstances
45. Impediments to Responsibility
7. Uncritical acceptance of authority
o Engineers are to exercise independent,
objective judgment in performing their
duties
o Engineers also have a duty of fidelity to
their employers and clients
o Most engineers are not their own bosses,
and they are expected to defer to
authority in their organizations
o These responsibilities can conflict
46. Impediments to Responsibility
7. Uncritical acceptance of authority
o Stanley Milgram found that a
surprisingly high percentage of people
are inclined to defer uncritically to
authority
o Engineers who implement improper
actions dictated by their firm’s superiors
can be held legally responsible for their
actions
47. Impediments to Responsibility
8. Groupthink
o Groupthink--a situation in which groups
come to an agreement at the expense of
critical thinking
o Engineers tend to work and to deliberate
in groups and can be vulnerable to
groupthink
48. Impediments to Responsibility
8. Groupthink symptoms
o An illusion of invulnerability of the group
to failure
o A strong “we feeling” that views
outsiders as adversaries or enemies and
encourages stereotypes of others
o Rationalization that tends to shift
responsibility to others
o An illusion of morality--the group can do
no wrong
49. Impediments to Responsibility
8. Groupthink symptoms
o A tendency of individual members toward self–
censorship resulting from a desire not to
“rock the boat”
o An allusion of unanimity, considering silence
of a group member as consent
o An application of direct pressure on those who
show signs of disagreement – often exercised
by the group leader
o Mindguarding, excluding differing views by
preventing their introduction-particularly by
outsiders
