Abstract
A lot of engineering codes of ethics globally press engineers to consciously put the interest of the public above of all other interests. This appears to operate counter the market ideology that the interest of the public will be attained by the persons chasing their self-interest. The latter ideology is what is in the spirit of sustainable development with its accent on the economic instruments and economic valuation to attain environmental protection (Anon 2008) found out.
Policies of sustainable development normally symbolize an economic determinism with regard to the technological changes. It evades ethical issues and assumes that economic and environmental purposes are compatible. Yet currently, engineers are struggling with ethical impasses created by day to day conflicts between the environmental and economic requirements of their profession.
In the past disagreement between public interest and self-interest was a rare predicament for the engineers because engineering purposes were more or less synonymous with the human development (Robert 2009). Presently, environmental concerns have established a divergence among employer interest, self-interest, public interest and professional interest. Yet how pragmatic is it to anticipate engineers to demonstrate higher ethical values than those generally anticipated by the community as a whole.
The contemporary engineering code of ethics compels engineers to consider the public interest before business interest and professional interest. At the beginning of the discussion, I will illustrate that business interest and professional interest was aligned and that the code of ethics have been established to serve the professional interest within this aspect. In the second part of this paper, with the use of Laura’s case study, I will demonstrate the alignment of professional interest and business interests and the disagreements between the public interest and self-interest are intensified by environmental controversies and how as a consequent of this the environment suffers inevitably.
Case study: Environmentally interest
According to Robert (2009), for a long time, a mixture of remnants of law, religious beliefs and a background of ethical egoism has fairly served western society. The living standards have grown and the nations have become powerful and wealthier. But in the contemporary times environmental concerns have developed a conflict among the employer interest, self-interest and the interest of the public. Laura’s case study will demonstrate some of the issues engrossed.
Laura who is working for Kentride Consulting Engineers is a graduate of Stoneybrook University and is a qualified environmental engineer. Her employer is engaged in civil engineering structure designing. Within the company, they are the 2 environmental engineers. Her responsibility is the examine the environmental effects of the organization’s projects and conduct appropriate liaison with a couple of stakeholders to make sure that the environmental concerns are sufficiently examined and checked both at the design and implementation stages.
In the past 7 months, she has been engaged on the Risdon Underpass Project. The venture is to outline a road underpass that will accommodate the Goldray Freeway below the Environmental Park of Risdon State for an estimated distance of 850 meters. This initiative has received a strong support from the Minister of Highways, Mr. Ted Power who perhaps by chance is an elected representative of the constituents where the project is meant for. According the statements made by the minister, the entire freeway is supposed to be finished in 5 years time period, however, twelve months since the work began, there are apparent signs that a lot of sections of the project are behind the time frame.
The Park is particularly a sensitive environmental site. It is a habitat to a huge colony of koalas and perhaps the single known site of the yellow throated giant earth worm. At the start, it was expected that underpass would be developed through the cut and cover system, in which case, the digging is done in the earth for the concrete passageway, the concrete passageway is developed, thereafter the tunnel will be covered with soil and reverted to its former condition. The environmental lobby factions rapidly pilled pressure on the Government and it was consented that the underpass will be excavated below the existing forest ground by the use of (TBM), tunnel boring machine.
The structural plan for the tunnel has located the tunnel top roof approximately 4 meters beneath the existing earth surface. The tunnel positioning was established after a series of test excavations long the tunnel alignment and the assessment of the environmental impact by Laura. Excavation indicated that the tunnel would be dug through a dense clay ground as appose to the rock. The assessment by Laura of home for the yellow throated giant earthworm established that the worm colonies occurred on a 1.5 meter depth.
On attending a workshop on invertebrate organisms she found that these worms could extend their existence to greater depth in the soil. This new development has brought a lot of concern to Laura since the yellow throated giant earthworm habit could be adversely affected if this information comes to be true and this passageway is located 4 meters beneath the ground surface.
Laura as convened a meeting and discussed this new development with her boss Keith, who has suggested that Laura as a matter of urgency investigates the matter further since if they information is accurate the project has to be redesigned before they proceed. The design manager Frank Cluey angered on hearing this new development and said that ‘the tunnel design was too advance to consider any redesign’ and that ‘if the colony of these bloody worms was wiped out, that was too bad!’
Later, the GreenWorld president Mr. Lou Bandock called Laura and complained seriously that Laura had provided them false information since. They have established that vibrations resulting from the TBM operating on dense clay soil could be harmful to the koalas’ health and that these animals would suffer from stress and eventually die. This environmental lobby group is organizing a protest tomorrow at the home of Ted Power.
What are the ethical Issues in this case study?
An environmental impact assessment which comprises economic analysis and scientific studies alleges to be an objective proposal environmental impact. Nonetheless, the aim of the objective proposal is illusory when people presume that science itself is constructed socially. This is worsened by the events of EIA preparation when the Kentride Consulting Engineers is at stake. Thus, it is inevitable that the goals and the values of Laura and her manager, can shape the content and conclusions by way of the scientific materials gathered, examined and presented.
In this project, the EIA was carried out by the proponents of the Risdon Underpass Project. Laura who is the engineer responsible for the environment impact assessment is thus, either indirectly or directly, employed by a party whose interests could differ in considerable ways from the interest of the public. The urgent aim of their employer would be to get an approval of the project to proceed though the project has been purported to be harmful to the koalas’ health and that these animals would suffer from stress and eventually die.
Since the EIA was rather carried out late in the design process of the project proponents the organization has definitely committed significant financial resources to the design and other operations of the project. According to the design manager Frank Cluey, there is a lot the has been put into the project and redesigning it cannot be an option. The EIA at this phase develops another impediment in the area of bureaucratic obstacles on the path to their end objective. But above this is the public interest that is scrutinized by the politicians, bureaucrats, and environmentalists.
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Value judgments
According to (David 2010), as expected the proponents of the project would want that the assessment findings emphasize the merits of the project to the community for instance to connect the major cities such as Adelorne and Briswin and to put down the demerits for instance the threat to the survival of Koala and endangered yellow earthworms.
The little expression by the GreenWorld president Mr. Lou Bandock and the presentation at the conference that Laura attended of possible severe environmental impact has obviously been amplified by the opponents of the project and are applied in their argument against the Risdon Underpass Project.
The level of judgment needed in incorporating an EAI raises the issue of whether Laura’s ethical stance has affected the outcome. At this point am not referring to outright omission or falsification (which apparently does occur occasionally), Am referring to the subtle judgment within the sphere of valid and legitimate choices. Without doubt there is a grey field between what can be agreed upon as scientifically trustworthy and utter deception which depends on the view point of Laura (see the diagram).
Engineers just like Laura have a legal responsibility to avoid the outer field of omissions, falsehood and purposeful distortions (David 2010). Hence, does ethical rationale simply apply to the grey field where Laura can escape with minimal distortions? Or does she have an ethical obligation, when working within the sphere of scientific credibility, so as to recommend judgments that favor environmental conservation and public interest. It is logical to expect individuals to be conscious of the manner they organize the scientific studies and to attempt not to be affected by the vested interests within that organization?
Conclusion
An ethical revolution is required to displace the staunch ethical egoism that rationalize the markets as the leading decision making instrument in our community. It is impractical to expect the engineers to demonstrate greater ethical conduct which is norm in their whole society in which they thrive in as (David, 2010) established. Sustainable development, with its rhetoric equity intergenerational, is in actuality a system of endorsing market decency and is insufficient to the solution of contemporary environmental concerns.
Following the new information that Laura has received from the conference presentation she is not suppose to carry out any further investigations, since if she truly did conduct an objective environmental assessment and the government approved the project then she simply need to stand by her findings. Who knows the interest of these lobby groups; their findings are just as important as Laura’s findings. According to me Laura should not panic because everyone is seeking his or her interest to be represented in this project in one way or the other. Laura has acted within her docket to rely any form of communication that she has received from all the concerned parties, in any case if she was not professional and perhaps omitting some facts she could have chosen not to inform anybody about these new developments.
Finally, on the impending protest they should just be left to demonstrate but Kentride Consulting Engineers company should make public their findings and recommendations of their EIA on the project to counter these groups seeking publicity out of these environmentally noble and sustainable project.
References:
Robert. Z, (2009). Mechanics of the Middle Class: Work and Politics Amomg Australian Engineers, University of California Press.
Edwin, L. (2010). The Revolt of the Engineers: Social Responsibility and the American Engineering Profession, The Press of Cape Western Reserve University, Cleveland and London.
David, N. (2009). Australia By Desiqn: Science. Technoloqy and the Rise of Corporate Capitalism, Alfred A Knopf, New York, Layton..
David, N. (2010). The Engineer in the Industrial Corporation, Columbia University Press.
Sharon, B. (2008).Engineers, Ethics and Etiquette’, New Scientist, 25 September 2009, pp. 36-41.
Anon, H. (2008). Was there unethical behaviour in tunnel project, Engineers Australia. University of California Press.
