In these paper, we are going to discuss on the importance of ethics in the construction

industry and suggesting the ways to promote ethical practices. But first, we are going to get a
slight information of what is ethics in term of engineering practice. Ethics is the study of the
characteristics of morals, and involves the moral choices made by individuals as they interact
with other persons. Engineers need to be aware of ethics as they make choices during their
professional practice of engineering. Engineering ethics will be defined as the rules and
standards governing the conduct of engineers in their roles as professionals. Engineering
ethics is the study of moral issues and decisions confronting individuals and organizations
engaged in engineering. The study of related questions about moral ideals, character, policies
and relationship of people and corporations involved in technological activity. Most
engineering educational institutions include discussion of ethics in their curriculum; in fact
the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) has mandated that
engineering educational programs include ethics in their undergraduate curriculum. Some
institutions require a specific course in engineering ethics, others require their students to take
a Humanities course (such as Philosophy) on ethics and morals. Even in University of
Malaya, the engineering student are compulsory to take the Moral and Ethics for Engineers
course in order to fulfill the requirement to graduate.
However, what make the ethics is so important? It is important for engineering students to
study engineering ethics so that they will be prepared to make sometimes difficult ethical
decisions during their professional careers. The ethics can be said to be more crucial in the
case involving construction industry. There are many case study of catastropic engineering
failure involving construction industries such as Kansas City Hyatt Regency walkway
collapse and Teton Dam failure. Even in Malaysia, there are many failures in construction
industries that have taken many lives of the public such as the Highland Tower tragedies in
the early of 1990s and the most recent tragedy of the collapse of the MRT railway block in
Kota Damansara that causing 3 death of the general worker. If we take about construction
industries, we cannot run away from the fact that we are constructing facilities that will be
used by the publics and any wrongdoing of us in making the judgement will put many lives at
stake. As an engineer, we have to be aware that we have the obligation to protect the public
health, safety and welfare. Engineers are responsible for their professional actions and tasks
corresponding to their competencies and qualifications while carrying both individual and
shared responsibilities. We can take the case of Citycorp Centre Building in New York for
our evaluation. Structural Engineer Bill LeMessurier faced a big design problem when he
worked on the design of the building. The 900 feet bank would rise from 9-storey high

columns. In usual case, the column will be positioned at the corner, but due to some problems
that involving limitation of space, the column was designed to be in a manner that one at
the centre and the other at the center of each side of the tower. While LeMessurier designed
welded joints, the contractor, Bethlehem Steel changed them to bolted joints. Recalculation
was not done to check what the construction change would do.
Wind Tunnel Tests proved that the diagonal wind loading with a return period of 16 years
can lead to the failure of the critical bolted joints and therefore the building. LeMessurier was
deeply troubled. Then he told himself that only he has the information that nobody else in the
world had and he has the power to effect extraordinary events that only he could initiate.
Later, he explained the problem to his client Citicorp. The building was strengthened by
welding two-inch thick steel plates over each of the 200 bolted joints. Despite the fact that
nothing happened as the result of the engineering gaffe, the crises was kept hidden from the
public for almost 20 years. LeMessurier was criticized for insufficient oversight leading to
bolted rather than welded joints and for keeping the engineering insights from his peers for
decades. However his act of altering Citicorp to the problem inherent in his own design is
now used as an example of ethical behavior in several engineering textbooks. The brave
action of LeMessurier should be taken as an example by everyone. It does not matter what
will happen to us when we revealing the truth as long as we really take serious and fulfill our
responsibility. There is a quote by Plato saying Good people do not need laws to tell them to
act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws .
In Malaysia, the ethical practice among the professional can be said as low in term of bribery
compared to the develop countries around the world. One of the way to promote ethical
practice is to increase the salary of the person that hold the key in decision making of the
construction so that they cannot easily take bribe from the other. Then, the existing law
should be modified so that anyone who take bribe will get a maximum punishment, we can
take Singapore as an example where there is no one dare to take bribery. The ethical course
also need to be made as compulsory and a requirement for the engineer to renew their Green
Card in every 3 years for an example so that they always have the idea of the ethical practice
in their mind. In the course, they should be exposed that the knowledge and conviction that
they have a professional and moral responsibility to themselves and to the fellow human
beings to defend the truth and expose any questionable practice that will lead to an unsafe
product or process. They should keep in mind that professional obligations require them to
act on the basis of adequate knowledge, uphold the reputation and trustworthiness of the
practice of engineering. In term of the conflict of interest where there is an involvement of

the employer, the engineer should refer to the hierarchy of ethical obligation where the safety
of the public is the primary and the ethical obligation to employer and client is secondary. So,
they should try their best to avoid the conflict of interest and if it is not possible, they should
know what is the right way to `whistle-blowing. For the employer themselves, they should
be aware that unethical practices may cost their reputation and possible lost of their business.
They will not only affect themselves but also the others that partnering with them. They may
be taken disciplinary action if there are any injuries and loss of lives. So, they should ensure
there are no unethical practices by their employees if they do not want to put their business
reputation at stake. There is a Japanese proverb saying that The reputation of a thousand
years may be determined by the conduct of one hour. The other way that the employer can
do to promote the ethical practice is by training the employees by holding regular sessions on
ethics and how to approach ethical dilemmas among staff. The other way is by rewarding the
staff based on their ethical behaviour. Provide rewards for solid ethical behaviour to a
employees will make the others to strive to do the same. The more you reward employees for
sound ethical decisions, the more likely the masses will follow suit. Last but not least, the
upper staff should lead by example. The lower staff always tend to follow the behaviour of
the upper staff, like the management team for an example. By holding the manager to a
higher ethical standard, the lower staff will automatically follow company examples set forth
for them by management employees.