Engineers above the Law

Experiences over the last few years have given us the impression that the structural engineering profession is suffering from "ethical drift". An increasing number of engineers appear to be seeking recognition as "experts" via their pursuit and delivery of creative opinions that have no bases in long-established engineering principles. While such creativity may cause great and unjust harm to others, these experts are themselves insulated from harm by the apparently universal, though tacit, accommodation of the profession itself, which seems to have pre-judged all such opinionating as fair play and harmful to none. Moreover, the boards that license engineers and are charged with protecting the public have demonstrated that they are generally unwilling or unable to police the professionals under their control. The incredible extent to which engineers will bend the truth in order to provide "good" service to their clients or to protect their own interests is truly eye-opening and deserves a closer look by both the boards that govern our profession and the profession as a whole. In this vein, a number of case studies are presented that demonstrate the widespread problems with the ethics of the structural engineering profession.