Engineering Ethics in Workplace Safety

This assignment analyzes the role of engineering ethics in ensuring workplace safety. It identifies key issues, such as unsafe environment and practices, that contribute to workplace hazards. The assignment also recommends training personnel and implementing safe operations to prevent accidents.

Running Head: ENGINEERING ETHICS 1
Engineering Ethics

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Executive Summary
The present report examines the issues of engineering ethics in the business organizations. The
engineering accidents refer to the industrial hazards, which can occur due to the negligence of
employees and or unsafe environments. It is the responsibility of the engineers to maintain the
wellbeing of society and make decisions, which can provide safety, health and the welfare to the
people. In 2001, the largest oil production sank due to a series of explosions in Brazil. It was a
result of engineering failure. The report has identified the issues in the incident and proposed
recommendations to address them. It has been proposed that the accident occur as the company
failed to provide training to the personnel, who will be handling the tanks. Moreover, there were
some issues in the security audits of the organization. The present report identifies the persistent
risk in project, as the lessons learnt are important for the future endeavors.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Responsibility of Ethics...................................................................................................................4
Engineering Accidents.....................................................................................................................5
Prevention of the industrial accidents..............................................................................................5
Ethical and Professional Code of Conduct......................................................................................6
Fundamental Principles of Engineering Ethics................................................................................7
Case Study of Engineering Ethics...................................................................................................7
Conclusion and Recommendations..................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The failure in engineering ethics can result in industrial accidents, which is hazardous for the
human lives. The engineering ethics is a discipline which can apply the moral principles to the
practice of engineering. The codes of engineering are applicable to the moral principles and the
obligations to the society. The engineers have a commitment for the ethical and professional
conduct towards the society. The engineers should have a responsibility of making decisions,
which can provide safety, health and the welfare of the public (Burges, 2017). It is also the
responsibility of the engineers to safeguard the interest of the public and make them aware of any
potential hazard or accident. In this regard, the present report will shed light on the engineering
ethics and its role in prevention of accident hazards.
Responsibility of Ethics
The engineering ethics identifies the engineering professionals should be committed towards the
society and they should focus on welfare and progress of the society. The motivation for the
engineering profession is to transform the mankind, increase the awareness towards the interest
of the society. The engineers should forbid any action, which is hazardous to the environment,
life or other rights of the human beings. It is the responsibility of the human beings to maintain
the prestige of the profession and maintain a professional demeanor regarding the ability,
honesty, and the social good (Han, 2015). The engineer and the employer must focus on
improving his knowledge regarding the profession, disseminate his knowledge, share his
experience and return the benefits and opportunities to his employer. The engineer should
conduct his responsibilities dutifully and provide recognition and material support.

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Engineering Accidents
An accident can be defined as an unwanted and unplanned event. There are several factors,
which results in the industrial accidents such as losses, and bodily injury to the people. However,
despite efforts from the government and other bodies, these kinds of accidents occur. The
accidents in the man-made constructions are caused by the human errors. They usually occur in
unsafe environment. All the major causes of industrial accidents can be categorized under unsafe
conditions and unsafe acts (Andrews, 2009). The unsafe conditions encompass the conditions
such as insufficient workplace lighting, excessive noise, extreme temperature and inadequate
protection. The unsafe acts encompass the unsafe acts which results due to employee negligence.
Prevention of the industrial accidents
The industrial accidents refer to any accident, which occurs in the industrial site during the
industrial operations. The primary causes of the industrial accidents are the negligence of the
workers, employee fatigue, faulty machinery and improper supervision. The industrial accidents
can be controlled by safety training, enforcement of the safety regulations and controlling the
production design of the products (Lynch & Kline, 2000).
The industrial prevention approaches revolve around the safety principles and policies of the
organization. The industrial accidents prevention procedures are associated with the safety of the
industrial site. If the contractors or subcontractors are not able to enforce the industrial rules,
their negligence can result in severe workplace accidents (Ghani, Kamruzaman, Sulaima &
Othman, 2014).
It is challenging for the engineers to prevent the industrial hazards. The terms engineering and
the risk goes hand in hand as several risks persist in the construction of the structures, products,
processes and the use of materials. The innovation and the invention of new products introduce

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an additional element of risk as there is lack of information about the operational performance of
the new products. The engineers can prevent this risk to a significant extent. In order to ensure an
appropriate safety level in the organization, the engineers can adopt several preventive steps. The
foremost measure in controlling the industrial accidents is anticipating or predicting all the
failure modes which can result in an accident (Harris Jr Pritchard, Rabins, James, & Englehardt,
2013). The engineer should consider all the operational experiences evaluating all the causes
such as the human or the design errors and considering them in the new product development.
The engineers are bound by the laws and the professional ethics to consider the risk in their
professional ethics. The engineers should be informed about the risks in the design, follow the
risk policies in an organization. It can be critiqued that there is no safe technology regarding the
risks and they cannot be completely eliminated. There are chances that different accidents occur;
however, they should be covered in an appropriate manner. There should be legal actions which
can control the product failures or the flaws in the engineering design.
Ethical and Professional Code of Conduct
It can be stated that safety is given a prominent place in all the engineering professional codes. It
is an important responsibility of the engineers to uphold the safety, health and welfare in the
public places. The entire national and the local bodies for the engineering conduct states that the
engineers should give the safety, health and welfare of the engineers’ paramount importance.
Most of the engineers should design the engineering structures within the accepted standards of
engineering (Schmidt, 2014). In the above case study, there were some issues in the training and
development and the security of the organization. If I would have been the engineer, I would
have makes additional efforts for training and development of the employees.

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The engineers should ensure that they design safe, which relate to the public health and welfare.
These bodies also instruct the engineers that if their professional judgement states the engineers
should not indulge in the circumstances wherein the safety, health, property and the welfare of
the public is endangered.
Fundamental Principles of Engineering Ethics
There are some fundamental principles of engineering ethics, which emphasize on the integrity,
honor, and dignity of the engineering profession. It is important that the engineers use their
knowledge and skills to enhance the human welfare. The engineers should use the honesty and
impartiality while establishing the relations between the employer and the clients (Borenstein,&
Arkin, 2016). The engineers should strive to enhance the competence and prestige of the
engineering profession.
Case Study of Engineering Ethics
Although the engineering ethics are given the paramount importance in the engineering ethics,
there are several incidents in which due to the negligence of the engineers, financial loss and
human lives loss. In 2001, the largest oil production sank due to a series of explosions. There
were several causes, which lead to the failure such as mixture of a water, which leaked into an
emergency drain tank. It was a result of several underlying issues such as compromise in quality
as part of cost-cutting, poor design, component failure and the lack of training and
communication among the employees.
There was a significant role of the failure of the engineering practices in the engineering hazard.
The air pressure was very high, which occurred in the inner emergency tank of the organization.
The oil workers lacked training to handle the emergency and other issues. The operator does not

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make the employee familiar with the handling practices, which created challenges in handling
the situation. It can be critically analyzed that although efficiency and evaluation of performance
has been conducted in the organization. However, it cannot always guarantee the safety and
security of the organization and safe operations. Technically, there should a more thorough
analysis of the failure modes and identified modifications should be immediately applied to the
organization (Kline, 2001). The operating personnel should be trained and they should
understand the component, equipment, and they should affect the operations of the industry. In
the present case, the engineers should be responsible for maintaining the environment clean with
the invention of the new technology. There should be minimal possibilities for the environmental
damage and they should find a solution to a social problem with the modern technology. In
engineering practices, several situations are encountered, which results in ethical dilemma and
confronting situations. Therefore, the ethics in the study of moral issues, which can maintain the
operations of the organization engaged in engineering (Ghani, Kamruzaman, Sulaim, & Othman
2014).
There were several challenges in identifying the relevant information. There is limited
information availability on the internet. Moreover, there were issues in the authenticity of the
information; therefore, the information is collected from the authentic sources such as journal
articles or books.
Other than that, there are several other instances such as issues in testing, hazardous waste,
government engineers and public safety. The conflicting interest can occur due to several issues
such as issues related to engineers and the company owners.

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Conclusion and Recommendations
It can be concluded that the engineering ethics are very important in the maintaining the safety
and security of the employees. There are several reasons, which lead to issues in the workplace
accidents. The major causes of the workplace hazards are unsafe environment and the unsafe
practices. The accidents should be prevented through efficiency and the performance of the
engineering practices. In the present case, the engineering hazards can be prevented by the
continuous pursuit of the safe operations. There should be appropriate system engineering
outlook, which can prevent the engineering failures in the organization (Doorn, 2015). The
personnel must be trained to understand the operations and prevent accidental hazards.

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References
Borenstein, J., & Arkin, R. (2016). Robotic nudges: the ethics of engineering a more socially just
human being. Science and engineering ethics, 22(1), 31-46.
Burgess, R. (2017). The Different Source of Codes Ethics and the Implications of these
Origins. Journal of the Texas Tech University Ethics Center, 1(1).
Doorn, N. (2015). The blind spot in risk ethics: managing natural hazards. Risk Analysis, 35(3),
354-360.
Ghani, O. A. A., Kamruzaman, M. Z., Sulaima, M. F., & Othman, M. N. (2014). An engineering
ethics case study review: petrobras p-36 accident. The International Journal of
Engineering and Science, 3(6).
Han, H. (2015). Virtue ethics, positive psychology, and a new model of science and engineering
ethics education. Science and engineering ethics, 21(2), 441-460.
Harris Jr, C. E., Pritchard, M. S., Rabins, M. J., James, R., & Englehardt, E. (2013). Engineering
ethics: Concepts and cases. Cengage Learning.
Kline, R. R. (2001). Using history and sociology to teach engineering ethics. IEEE Technology
and Society Magazine, 20(4), 13-20.
Lynch, W. T., & Kline, R. (2000). Engineering practice and engineering ethics. Science,
technology, & human values, 25(2), 195-225.
Andrews, G.C. (2009). Canadian Professional Engineering and Geoscience: Practice and
Ethics. Cengage Learning.

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Schmidt, J. A. (2014). Changing the paradigm for engineering ethics. Science and engineering
ethics, 20(4), 985-1010.