Engineering Ethics: Professional Practice, Case Study, and Analysis

This essay delves into the critical importance of ethics in engineering professional practice, emphasizing the establishment and adherence to ethical standards within organizations. It highlights the significance of occupational health and safety policies in ensuring the well-being of workers, employers, and the public. The essay provides a literature review of related topics and presents a detailed case study of the Bhopal disaster, examining its causes, consequences, and ethical implications. The analysis includes findings related to poor management, inadequate safety protocols, and the resulting human and environmental impact. The essay concludes with recommendations for improving ethical practices, enforcing safety regulations, and preventing future disasters. It stresses the need for compliance with labor laws and international standards to protect workers and ensure a safe working environment. The essay also underscores the importance of regular audits and well-defined ethics concerning worker safety and well-being.

Ethics: Engineering Professional Practice 1
ETHICS: ENGINEERING PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
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Ethics: Engineering Professional Practice 2
Ethics in the Engineering Professional Practice
Introduction
Ethics in the organization are principles set by an organization management system to guide in
its smooth running without being bias to any individual. The code of ethics set determines the
employee's discipline and tolerated behavior in an organization. The higher the ethical standards
the more the workers are encouraged to meet the level. In the engineering professional practice,
a code of ethics for occupational health and safety is vital in ensuring the social, physical and
mental well-being of the workers, employers, and the public is fully protected and satisfied. The
occupation health safety covers on prevention of injuries and other work-related diseases, and the
actions to be undertaken in case an impairment resulting from working conditions (Grammeno,
2009). The engineering professional is a very interesting career as it entails the creation of, state
of the art structures that meet top quality designs, inventions of great scientific and technological
projects that help in making the world a better place and improves the work processes and
procedures.
Literature review
In the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 2006 held at
Geneva by International Labor Office, they recognized the need to protect workers against
injuries, sickness, diseases which arise from their workplaces. The International Labor office
conveyed that there is need to reduce and eliminate the occupational injuries and diseases which
lead to poor productivity in work, lack of motivation among workers to achieve high yields, the
poor relationship between the workers and employers as well as loss of life and ability to work
among employees (Saul, Kinley, & Mowbray, 2014).
According to Quinlan, Bohle, & Lamm (2010), a good organizational management system
should ensure the occupational health safety policy is a key principle in order to achieve

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maximum productivity. In engineering occupation, health safety is very vital as the sector
involves being exposed to dangerous work activities that can cause injuries and death to the
workers as well to the public as a whole. The Occupational Health and safety policy in the
organization should involve the worker's information contribution, assessment of the areas or
activities that can pose a risk to the workers and the general public, review and monitor the
policies effectiveness and the actions or compensation to be carried out in case such an incident
occurred (Reese, 2008).
In engineering sector work hazards are of different categories ranging from; lifting, mechanical,
pressure, explosion, fire, falling, noise, and sound, temperatures, electrical, harmful and toxic
gases, radiation, chemical, biological, automation, ergonomic, psychological factors and
confinement in an enclosed structure (Friis, 2015). All these are hazards that are to be considered
while implementing an occupational health and safety policy. The hazards are bound to affect the
various stakeholders involved that are the; workers, employers, the public, the regulatory and
governing authorities and insurance or compensation providers.
According to Barnett-Schuster (2008), the occupational health and safety are important in
improving the economy through minimizing the costs spent during compensation of injured or
sick workers, the cost resulting from time lost from absent employees and cost related from
damage caused by the hazards. Legal matters are also improved through provision of workers'
rights to work at safe conditions while providing detailed statements and rules on compensation
and action to be taken in case of a hazard. The occupational health and safety also ensure more
employee responsibility and protection of morals and ethics in the sector (Barnett-Schuster,
2008).

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Case study
In the occupational health and safety field, we focus on Bhopal disaster which was the worst
industrial accident in the world. The disaster which happened at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh in
India involved the leaking of a harmful chemical in 1984 (Quinlan, Bohle, & Lamm, 2010). The
fateful accident resulted from methyl isocyanate gas which is very dangerous gas escaping from
an insecticide plant. The gas leak resulted to a health and safety hazard that affected not only the
employees and employers but also the general public who neighbored the plant leading to an
estimated death toll of 15,000 to 20,000 people (Whitbeck, 2011). The gas leak also leads to
other problems such respiratory disorders, blindness and eye problems and other diseases to half
a million survivors.
Findings
The disaster investigation proved that the plant was understaffed and there existed poor standards
on operations and procedures safety. Other findings were that there existed a poor management
system, the firm lacked a health and safety culture, poor design in the plant engineering, lack of
adequate staff training, poor responses to past reported incidents, negligence to monitor and act
upon the audit results carried out and lack of preparedness in case an emergency occurred. The
catastrophe also led to other indirect harmful effects such chronic diseases and birth defects from
contaminated water and soil in the region which lasted long (Burke, Clarke & Cooper, 2011).
The state's Supreme Court ordered compensation of the affected people and the supply of clean
water in the affected region. The owners of the plant were convicted in 2010 due to negligence
that resulted in the disaster. The case led to survivors striking and demonstrating demanding for
proper compensation and fair handling of the case.

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Conclusion & Recommendations
Organizational ethics play a major role in the growth and development of a certain sector. In our
case of the Bhopal disaster, there lacked ethics governing on the occupational health and safety
policy which resulted in many demise and suffering, loss of property, high costs of
compensation, chronic diseases and birth defects as well as industrial actions and strikes. The
governing bodies and authorities of any given nation have the mandate to ensure that all sectors,
corporations, and industries have been clearly laid down and implemented codes of ethics.
The international and national authorities should ensure that all industries and individuals in the
engineering sector comply with the established Acts and laws pertaining labor and workers
protection. The authorities should also ensure the Acts are revised often effective governing and
fairness in the sector. Assessments and audits on occupational health and safety should also be
carried out on the firms to ensure there are better working conditions of the employees and
protect disasters from occurring. All firms should also have well written out and known ethics
regarding the worker's well-being and safety.

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References
Barnett-Schuster, P. C. 2008. Fundamentals of international occupational health & safety law.
Aberdeen, Scotland: Aberdeen University Press Services.
Burke, R. J., Clarke, S., & Cooper, C. L. (Eds.). 2011. Occupational health and safety. Gower
Publishing, Ltd.
Friis, R. H. 2015. Occupational health and safety for the 21st century. English print.
Grammeno, G. 2009. Planning occupational health & safety. North Ryde, N.S.W: CCH
Australia.
Quinlan, M., Bohle, P., & Lamm, F. 2010. Managing occupational health and safety. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Reese, C. 2008.Occupational Health and Safety Management: A practical approach, 2nd
Edition. CRC press.
Saul, B., Kinley, D., & Mowbray, J. 2014. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural rights: Commentary, cases, and materials.
Whitbeck, C. 2011. Ethics in engineering practice and research. Cambridge University Press.