Ethics

This weeks blogs is about Engineering ethics and how ethics apply to engineers in there every day life. So, ethics is a pretty hard subject to talk about because it really depends on the engineer and what they think is right and wrong and how they react to certain situations in which ethics is questioned. In class we looked over the different types of scenarios that engineers may come across and how ethics apply to engineers. There is the costume ethics, manufacture ethics, etc. Ethics encompasses many different subjects and how it effects engineers.
I guess the best way to approach this is to provide an example in which an engineer might be faced with and to tell how ethics applies.

So, say you are an engineer and you are working on a project for a company. The project you are working on is building a new facility for the company that hired your company to build it for them. You have scouted out various locations and the costumer and your company have agreed on one location. You are all set to build this new facility, the contract is signed and both sides are happy that this will be a successful venture. However, as you get ready to build, environmental engineers on your team come to you a tell you that the soil in which the company wants to build this new facility is unstable and could possible cause further problems for the costumer. The engineers do not know if indeed the building was built, if the unstable soil could cause problems, since they believe, that if they build a sturdy enough facility, the soil will not factor into problems for this new facility. However, you are unsure of this assessment. What should you do?

Should you tell the costumer about this soil defect and that it might cause problems for the costumer in the future, or should you keep quiet, since there is an uncertainty of the soil even making an impact on the facility. If you should tell them, there is a possibility that you will lose this consumer and the income that your company desperately needs to keep in business. What should you do?
This is an example of engineering ethics between the consumer and yourself. The ethics of it, is whether or not you should tell your costumer of problems that could impact them after the transaction between you is done. In this case it is a point about the soil and this causing future problems for the building (sink holes, mud slides, etc). At this point what you need to ask yourself is what is right and wrong. This is a difficult situation because if you do tell them and you lose this contract, you could lose your job, since the company needs the money that this contract will provide to keep afloat. If you don't you could end up with a guilty conscience if the soil in fact causes problems for the costumer. These are hard questions and ones that an engineer must ask, it is engineering ethics.

Another way you can approach this is if you don't tell, them and something happens, could you get sued and if you get sued is there a possibility that you can lose. This is a very harsh view, but it does get to the bottom of ethics. What is right and what is wrong. If you do get sued and lose, does this mean that your ethics are in question because you did not tell your costumer? It is a hard question to answer because ethics varies from person to person. It all depends on you and what you believe is right and wrong, and also if it is illegal or not.