Ethics in Practice

Based upon a recent history of events, a close look is given to the meanings and the relationships between ethics, personal morality, codes of ethics and rules of professional conduct, and what is happening in the engineering profession. The behavior of some professional engineering societies versus their expectations of the behavior of their members is questioned as a possible double standard. It is suggested that codes of ethics have been, and can be, more than principles of behavior based on moral values that are good and right. It is demonstrated that it is the duty of every professional engineer to participate in the continuing development of enforced codes of ethics, and particularly rules of professional conduct adopted by their state boards of registration. This action is necessary to protect the public and themselves.