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Bernie C. Romero: Blanchard and Peale (1988)

The document provides three ethics checks and three case studies for an engineer to consider. It asks the engineer to write their thoughts on resolving each case study situation. The three ethics checks are: 1) Is it legal? 2) Is it balanced and fair to all parties? 3) How would it make you feel about yourself? The three case studies involve: 1) Reducing the thickness of a pressure vessel's material. 2) Dumping hazardous chemical waste in a river. 3) Accepting a bribe in the form of a vacation in exchange for choosing a specific pump supplier.

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Bernie Romero
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658 views2 pages

Bernie C. Romero: Blanchard and Peale (1988)

The document provides three ethics checks and three case studies for an engineer to consider. It asks the engineer to write their thoughts on resolving each case study situation. The three ethics checks are: 1) Is it legal? 2) Is it balanced and fair to all parties? 3) How would it make you feel about yourself? The three case studies involve: 1) Reducing the thickness of a pressure vessel's material. 2) Dumping hazardous chemical waste in a river. 3) Accepting a bribe in the form of a vacation in exchange for choosing a specific pump supplier.

Uploaded by

Bernie Romero
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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BERNIE C.

ROMERO
CE 55A -CE Laws, Contracts, Specifications and Ethics
WS 9:00 – 10:30 am
CE 5A

ASSIGNMENT No. 1:

Three "ethics checks" to help individuals decide what is right:

1. Is it legal? Will I be violating either civil law or company policy?

2. Is it balanced? Is it fair to all concerned in the short term as well as the long term?
Does it promote win-win relationships?

3. How will it make me feel about myself? Will it make me proud? Would I feel good
if my decision was published in the newspaper? Would I feel good if my family knew about
it?

Blanchard and Peale (1988)

Instructions: Consider the situation presented in the case study and write your thoughts on
what you would do to resolve the issue.

1. An Engineer is required to design a “Pressure Vessel” using a specific “Design Code” that
requires a material thickness of 20mm. The designer is asked to reduce the thickness of the
material in order to reduce costs for the customer who is planning to buy a large number of
these vessels. What does he do?
- As an engineer, one must comply with standards set by the design codes. He should
strictly follow the required thickness to ensure that the vessel will perform as required and will
not compromise safety. Additionally, pressure vessels should be designed according to its
intended purpose, if the material used is thinner than required, result is the vessel can only hold
less pressure than what the required thickness can provide. If thinner vessel is constructed and
loaded with pressure that exceeds what the vessel can hold, tendency is it will burst or explode.
Thickness of the material is crucial in the design of such vessel and should be the least priority
to alterations if possible. Nonetheless, the engineer could also evaluate if he could modify the
design of the vessel to accommodate thinner material without compromising the required
performance. Otherwise, he should stick to what the code dictates and propose other measures
to decrease the cost of the design without altering its thickness. -162 words

1. An Engineer is responsible for the disposal of “Hazardous Chemical Waste” and due to the
high costs involved is asked by the CEO to arrange to have the materials dumped in the river
that runs past the outer perimeter of the factory. Does he comply?
- He must not comply! Firstly, it is illegal to dump waste in the river. There are
regulations that will be violated if such waste is disposed in the river. By the fact that it is
hazardous, it could destroy many living organisms and could inflict tremendous damage to the
environment. This could also lead to the contamination of water that could compromise safety
of anyone with access to it. Secondly, hazardous chemical wastes are handled and disposed
according to the standards set by organizations that regulate the disposal of hazardous wastes.
There are proper protocols that should be followed to ensure that this type of wastes will end
to where they should be. It is highly not ethical to just dump it where you want without
considering the effects of such actions. Lastly, as an engineer, one should value the
environment over technological advancements. Additionally, the actions of an engineer will
reflect to its professional standard, and violating certain laws or regulations will deem an
engineer as unethical professional. -170 words

3. During the design of a pumping station a particular type of pump is specified for the task.
There are 3 possible suppliers with some minor technical differences that would not have a
significant impact on the effectiveness of the design, but the one supplier is a little more
expensive than the other two. This supplier offers the Engineer a free 10 day holiday in
Mauritius if he buys the pumps from them. What does the Engineer do?
- As an ethical professional, the engineer must refuse to these kinds of offers. Aside
from violating code of ethics, it’s like valuing your personal gains more than of your services.
The engineer should not compromise the overall integrity of the station over his personal
gains. Although the pump is of minor technical difference to what is required, still it could
impose damage the station and further cause safety hazard to operation and personnel as well.
Furthermore, the offer is clearly a form of bribery which is not tolerated in an ethical career.
May it be small or simple, compromising engineering design over something that is for your
advantage is not a way to practice the profession. Nonetheless, the engineer could evaluate the
implications of utilizing lower cost pump to the performance of the station. But if budget is not
an issue, the engineer should go for the pump that is most suitable for the station no matter the
cost. -159 words

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