Sharpening the Focus: Legal Context of Engineering Ethics

Practicing engineers, educators, students, professional organizations, and licensing boards are continually struggling with the application of ethical standards to the practice of engineering. Ethical dilemmas, by their very nature, are complex and usually involve conflicting regulatory, organizational, contractual, societal, and business practices. Resolution of ethical dilemmas can be complicated or impeded by engineers without a working knowledge of ethical requirements, coupled with an inability to distinguish among different sources of these requirements and their corresponding role in the professional and legal environments. Accordingly, engineers often are confronted with unexpected legal and professional consequences as a result of their decisions on ethical issues. This paper examines the sources of professional responsibility requirements for engineers, typical provisions, enforcement mechanisms, and the legal implications of engineering ethics in the professional liability context, and suggests some changes in the current approach to engineering ethics in both the formal education and professional development of engineers.