Ethics in Chemical Engineering

ChE 470

Dr. Sepideh FarajiDepartment of Chemical Engineering

California State University, Long Beach

• Generally, ethics is concerned with standards, rules, or guidelines for moral or socially approved conduct, or acting in the best interest of society.

• Ethics is about what is right and what is wrong.

• Not all standards or values are ethical standards. For example, individual choices of food or clothing are not ethical values.

What is ethics?What is ethics?

• For example, using a substandard grade of steel in the construction of a bridge would violate ethical standard.

-Because of the potential for safety hazards for people.

• But on the other hand, using an inferior brand of ketchup on one’s fries does not violate any ethical standard.

• Ethical standards should also be distinguished from legal standards.

What is ethics?What is ethics?

• A person’s behavior is always ethical when one:

A) Does what is best for oneself.

B) Has good intentions, no matter how things turn out.

C) Does what is best for everyone.

D) Does what is most profitable.

Question about ethicsQuestion about ethics

• This field of ethics examines and sets the obligations by engineers to society, to their clients, and to the profession.

• Engineering is a professional career that impact lives. When ethics is not followed, disaster often occurs.

• Engineering Ethics applies to every engineer and is very important.

Engineering ethicsEngineering ethics

• The Preamble of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Code of Conduct for Engineers (2007) states:

• “Engineers shall at all times recognize that their primary obligation is to protect the safety, health, property, and welfare of the public. If their professional judgment is overruled under circumstances where the safety, health, property, or welfare of the public are endangered, they shall notify their employer or client and such other authority as may be appropriate.”

Engineering ethicsEngineering ethics

• Engineers should follow their professional standard of ethics because:

A) It helps them avoid legal problems, such as getting used.

B) It provides a clear definition of what the public has a right to expect from responsible engineers.

C) It raises the image of the profession and hence gets engineers more pay.

D) The public will trust engineers more once they know engineers have a code of ethics.

Questions about Engineering ethicsQuestions about Engineering ethics

• Engineers should act ethically because:A) If they don’t, they risk getting demoted or fired.

B) The boss wants them to.

C) It feels good.

D) That’s the way responsible engineers behave.

• The first and foremost obligation of registered professional engineers is to:

A) The public welfare.

B) The employer.

C) The government.

D) The engineering profession.

Questions about Engineering ethicsQuestions about Engineering ethics

• As you know, a chemical engineer faces a lot of decision making problems. For example:

- what kind of pump needs to be used?

- how to keep the reactor hot?

- what to do with the liquid and gas waste?• He/she needs to determine if his/her decision

could adversely affect their associates, their business, and their community.

• American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) clearly shows code of ethics for chemical engineers on AIChE website.

Ethics in Chemical EngineeringEthics in Chemical Engineering

Members of AIChE shall:•Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public and protect the environment in performance of their professional duties.

•Formally advise their employers or clients (and consider further disclosure, if warranted) if they perceive that a consequence of their duties will adversely affect the present or future health or safety of their colleagues or the public.

•Accept responsibility for their actions, seek and heed critical review of their work and offer objective criticism of the work of others. •Reference: http://www.aiche.org/about/code-ethics

AIChE Code of EthicsAIChE Code of Ethics

• Issue statements or present information only in an objective and truthful manner.

• Act in professional matters for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees, avoiding conflicts of interest and never breaching confidentiality.

• Treat fairly and respectfully all colleagues and co-workers, recognizing their unique contributions and capabilities.

• Perform professional services only in areas of their competence.

Reference: http://www.aiche.org/about/code-ethics

AIChE Code of EthicsAIChE Code of Ethics

• Build their professional reputations on the merits of their services.

• Continue their professional development throughout their careers, and provide opportunities for the professional development of those under their supervision.

• Never tolerate harassment.• Conduct themselves in a fair, honorable and

respectful manner.

Reference: http://www.aiche.org/about/code-ethics

AIChE Code of EthicsAIChE Code of Ethics

• You are a quality control engineer, supervising the completion of a product whose specification includes using only U.S.-made parts. However, at a very late stage you notice that one of your sub-contractors has supplied you with a part having foreign-made bolts in it but these are not very noticeable, and would function identically to U.S.-made bolts. Your customer urgently needs delivery of the finished product. What should you do?

QuestionQuestion

A) Say nothing and deliver the product with the foreign bolts included, hoping this fact won’t be noticed by the customer.

B) Find (or, if necessary, invent) some roughly equivalent violation of the contract or specifications for which the customer (rather than your company) is responsible. Then, tell them you will ignore their violation if they ignore your company’s violation.

C) Tell the customer about the problem, and let them decide what they wish you to do next.

D) Put all your efforts into finding legal loopholes in the original specifications, or in the way they were negotiated, to avoid your company’s appearing to have violated the specifications.

QuestionQuestion

• Most engineers probably believe that accepting small favors (such as inexpensive pens) from vendors is permissible.

• By contrast, most engineers probably believe that accepting large gifts or amenities is wrong.

• Ethics code says:

“ engineers shall not directly or indirectly give, solicit, or receive any gift or commission, or other valuable consideration in order to obtain work, and shall not make a contribution to any political body with the intent of influencing the award of a contract by a governmental body.”

Accepting Gifts and AmenitiesAccepting Gifts and Amenities

• Your company buys large quantities of parts from various suppliers in a very competitive market sector. As a professional engineer you often get to make critical decisions on which supplier should be used for which part. A new supplier is very eager to get your company’s business. Not only that, but you find they are very eager to provide you personally with many benefits (for example, free meal at an expensive restaurant, free vacation trip, or other expensive gifts ). What should you do?

Question about Accepting GiftsQuestion about Accepting Gifts

A) Do not accept any of the gifts that go beyond legitimate business entertaining, even if your company would allow you to accept such gifts.

B) Report all the gifts, etc., to your company, and let them decide whether or not you should accept them.

C) Accept the gifts without telling your company, because you know that your professional judgment about the supplier will not be biased by the gifts.

D) Tell other potential suppliers about the gifts, and ask them to provide you personally with similar benefits so you won’t be biased in favor of any particular supplier.

Question about Accepting GiftsQuestion about Accepting Gifts

http://youtu.be/u1BZ3MWpPuk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upUN460U56A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loXqK6D6lbk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upqVvyS8YMI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_ARzAMEnGo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df-N6_eUOGQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mte2goeUBJo

VideosVideos

• Work in groups.

• Discuss the lessons you learned from videos with your group mates.

DiscussionDiscussion

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set strict rules against air pollution in California. One of the main causes of pollution in chemical processing plants is due to fugitive emission of pollutants from piping elements.   Some chemical emission could be from vent nozzles during normal operation or due to an accident.

(1) Identify possible sources of emissions in the plant that you design.  Be honest because the professional opinion you provide is vital in the risk assessment plan your company will conduct even in the design phase of the plant. If emission is inevitable, state why (for example, we sometimes need to vent the inerts) and how to minimize or eliminate such inevitable emission.

(2) If one of the team members wants to save cost by installing cheap piping elements or process equipment that you know will not withstand the process condition or environmental condition, what will you do? Will you simply listen to that manager or team member?  How would you voice your objection?  How would you back up your objection with your professional knowledge?  Do you know how to get the support from professional organization or government agencies (such as OSHA, AIChE, ACE, ASME, any professional societies or even the legal system)?  List some of the sources of assistance available to engineering profession. You may use internet or our textbook to suggest possible solutions to this difficult problem.  Do you remember or hear about the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster?  It may provide a good clue for you.

HW #6HW #6

• When you leave this class today you must leave with the knowledge and conviction that you have a professional and moral responsibility to yourselves and to your fellow human beings to defend the truth and expose any questionable practice that will lead to an unsafe product or process.

ConclusionsConclusions

• Engineering Your Future by W. C. Oakes, L. L. Leone, and C. J. Gunn, Oxford University Press (2012).

• Ethics in Engineering by M. Martin and R. Schinzinger, McGraw-Hill (1996).

• The Power of Ethical Management by K. Blanchard and N.V. Peale, William Morrow (1988).

ReferencesReferences

• This project is supported by the Ethics Across the Curriculum Award through the Ukleja Center from Ethical Leadership at California State University Long Beach.

AcknowledgementAcknowledgement