EGR 402 03/10/2006 15:04:00

The Engineer as a Responsible Experimenter

In General-
• Who other than engineers can assume responsibility for
engineering projects?
• Avoiding responsibility diminishes the engineering profession.
• Avoiding responsibility encourages “scape goating”

The willingness of engineers to assume responsibility for the work, indeed, to

be responsible work, is inextricably a part of the answers to these questions.

Engineering projects that went awry (in some cases disastrously)

• Tacoma Narrows
• Titanic
• Hindenberg
• Comet, Electra, DC 10
• DDT
• Love Canal
• Asbestos
• Aswan Dam
• Bhopal
• Kansas City Hyatt
• Harder Hall, Campus Center
http://cems.alfred.edu/courses/ces120/ethics/disasters.html
Engineering Disasters
• Denver Airport Baggage ystem
• Breast Implants
• California Mudslides
 • Chernobyl &3 Mile Island
• Challnger Appolo 13
• Thalidomide
• Hancock Building
• Pinto, GM Trucks, Samari
• Waste Management
• Amtrak Train Off Bridge
• California Freeways
• Hubble Space Telescope
• Pentium Chip
• Biosphere
• Edsel
• Internal Combustion Engine

Engr as an Experiment
Experimentation is recognized as an essential role in the design process.
Preliminary tests or simulations are conducted.
- Materials and processes
- Test and qualification of new hardware
Similiarities to standard experiments

Learning from the past

• Engineers learn from previous tasts, mistakes and from other
engineers. Lessons learned. Previous experience
• Possible reasons that no lessons are learned and lead to failure
- Lack of good communication channels
- Not asking for help
-Pride, Bull headed
-Embarassment
-Technical incompetence
-Fear of failure, litigation-
-Organization or corporate structure

Lessons learned
- Points out problems
• Management
• Design inadequacies

Contrasts with Standard Experiements

Experimental Control
Informed Consent
Knowledge Gained

Engineers Responsibility
Conscientiousness
- People act responsible to the extent that they conscientiously commit
themselves to live according to moral values.
• Sensitivity to full range of moral values and responsibilities relevant
to a given situation and develop skills and expend effort to reach
the best balance possible
• Conscientiousness- open eyes, ears, and mind are required to
recognize a given situation, its implications and who is involved and
affected.
Contemporary Working Conditions
Etc…
• Relevant Information
- Conscientiousness is blind without relevant factual
information. Moral concern involves a commitment
to obtain and assess all available information
pertinent to meet one’s moral obligations.
 Grasp the extent of ones work and implications
 Examples:
  - weapons developmnt
 - built in obsolescence
 - high energy requirements
 etc.
Moral Autonomy (Def)
o – People are morally autonomous when their moral conduct
and principles of actions are their own. Moral beliefs and
attitudes should be held on the basis of critical reflection
rather than passive adoption of the particular conventions of
ones society, church or profession. This is often what is
meant by “authenticity” in one’s commitment to moral values
o
• Accountability (def)
o Responsible people accept moral responsibility for theory one
actions
o Being willing to submit ones actions to moral scrutiny and be
open and responsive to assessment of others
o Areas of concern/driving factors
 Fragmentation of work in large projects
 Fragmentation drives lesser accountability
 Pressure to move forward with the design to meet
schedules
 Law suits and litigations
Balanced Outlook on Law
• Moral concerns
o Minimal compliance
o Loop holes in the Law or regulations
o Regulations and De-regulations
o Interpretation of the Lawand or Government regulations
• Industry Complaints
o Updates and changes in the Laws
o Government Agencies and controls
o Balance ones family and your own interests with work and its
responsibilities.
Industrial Standards (Welcomed by industry)
• Why
o Standards consist of explicit specifications
o Standards are established by companies for in-house use
o Standards help the manufacturers, clients and public
o Examples: ISO (International Standards Organization)
• http://www.onlineethics.org (barrer of bad news)
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