Engineers Face Ethical Dilemmas

I am pleased to become a regular contributor of engineering ethics topics to the readers of Leadership and Management in Engineering. I first formally encountered engineering ethics topics about 25 years ago, when I was an undergraduate civil engineering student at the Missouri University of Science & Technology (S&T; formerly University of Missouri–Rolla). Dr. Paul Munger taught a course on engineering ethics that I found life changing (although I didn’t realize it fully at the time). The Hyatt Regency disaster in Kansas City had recently happened (Wikipedia 2012), and Dr. Munger was involved with investigating what role the engineers had in causing the disaster. Remember the situation? On July 17, 1981, there was a big tea dance party, and the hotel had a very elaborate skywalk that hundreds of people stood on to observe the party. The skywalk collapsed because the connections had been improperly designed. Communications between the engineers and the steel manufacturing vendor had also been poor; the steel manufacturer thought some design drawings were final when in fact they were preliminary. Also, the design engineers did not thoroughly check requested changes by the steel manufacturer before the changes were approved and constructed. There were more than 100 fatalities, and more than 200 additional people were injured (Wikipedia 2012).

I am currently an associate professor of civil engineering at Kansas State University. As I’ve conducted engineering ethics workshops on campus and around the country or taught one of my graduate-level engineering ethics courses, several students have mentioned to me that they had relatives at this tea party. The impact from this disaster is still strongly felt by hundreds of people who lost relatives or friends that day (Montgomery 2001).

The first fundamental canon in the ASCE Code of Ethics is, “Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public and shall strive to comply with the principles of sustainable development in the performance of their professional duties” (ASCE 2006). The relevant guideline is, “Engineers shall approve or seal only those design documents, reviewed or prepared by them, which are determined to be safe for public health and welfare in conformity with accepted engineering standards.”

The engineers involved were the first to admit they made changes without the adequate review that is required to fulfill the requirements of this first fundamental canon (Montgomery 2001). If the design changes had been checked, the engineers would have determined that the design was far from safe. The engineers were in a hurry to complete this fast-track project and didn’t take the time needed to review design changes. We all can relate to fast timelines, pressing deadlines, overbearing schedules, pressure from supervisors and clients to complete tasks, and so forth. No engineer wants to learn this hard lesson firsthand.

Dr. Mark Abkowitz (2008), professor of civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University, has studied what causes disasters. He determined 12 valuable lessons for engineers; the ones that have a key ethical aspect are as follows:

Communication errors definitely played a big part in the Hyatt Regency skywalk collapse. Even after it was constructed, inspectors on different occasions noticed deformation at some skywalk connections, but it was discounted (Abkowitz 2008). The rush to complete the Hyatt project reduced the time available for planning, and delays would cost engineers and contractors money. So shortcuts were taken in the design and review process, and a terrible disaster occurred. Two engineers had their licenses revoked, and about $140 million in total legal settlements were granted to victims and affected families. The city of Kansas City, Missouri, implemented a much more thorough review process. Keep these key lessons learned in mind when you face an ethical dilemma, and it will help you develop better solutions.

I first encountered engineering ethics firsthand while working for a state agency during my first engineering-related job. The engineering inspector I was assisting would often venture into the contractor’s supply trailers and ask, “Are you using this extension cord? Looks old. What about this power saw?” The contractor’s reply was, “We were going to throw that away. Go ahead and have it.” There was nothing wrong with any of the items the inspector requested; he was simply looking for gifts, and the contractor was hoping to gain favors by giving him valuable tools. This was unethical, and it was a bad example for me to observe. The whole office knew this was occurring, and nothing was done to stop it. Guideline C under Canon 6 in the ASCE (2006) Code of Ethics is, “Engineers shall act with zero-tolerance for bribery, fraud, and corruption in all engineering or construction activities in which they are engaged.” I could have reported the inspector’s conduct up the chain of command, but at the time, as a summer intern, I didn’t have the experience, understanding, or confidence to appropriately report misconduct.

After graduating from Missouri S&T, I attended graduate school at Iowa State University. I joined the faculty at Kansas State in 1994 and have taught courses and conducted research related to water resources engineering and engineering ethics ever since. Recently, a graduate engineering student in one of my engineering ethics courses stated, “I didn’t realize I may face ethical dilemmas in my engineering career. This class has been very eye opening.” Most often, we get very consumed by the technical aspect of our education and sometimes don’t consider other aspects until we face an ethical dilemma head on.

I am a licensed professional engineer (KS, MO, OK, AR) and periodically conduct expert witness activities. I have had hundreds of conversations with engineers on ethical dilemmas they have faced, and I have encountered several of my own. In this column, I plan to describe real engineering ethics dilemmas that our peers have faced, relevant guidance from the ASCE Code of Ethics, and my own opinions on potential solutions. I hope you find this column interesting, stimulating, and educational.