There has been intense public attention on and concern about our environment, with heightened awareness of the effects of climate change, brought into sharp focus by the CoP26 meeting in Glasgow. Climate change is here now and the effects will only get worse unless we act now. However, if we look forward there is a whole range of other challenges. For example, we will need to address and mitigate the effects of the world’s burgeoning population, which could grow by a third over the next 30 years.
Much interest has focussed on the ethical dimension of not just what we as engineers, scientists and technologists do, but how we do it. Indeed, ethics has been quoted as ‘the new hot topic’, attracting widespread public interest.
Social responsibility is an ethical framework and suggests that an individual has an obligation to work and cooperate with other individuals and organisations for the benefit of the community that will inherit the world we leave behind. Never has the old adage ‘Engineering is the link between Science and Society’ been more apt.
Nevertheless, ethics is much more than this. It is a vast subject area, encompassing amongst many other elements, professional ethics.
Most professionals have internally enforced codes of practice that members of the profession must follow to prevent exploitation of the client and to preserve the integrity and reputation of the profession. This is not only for the benefit of the client but also for the benefit of those belonging to that profession. Disciplinary codes allow the profession to define a standard of conduct and ensure that individual practitioners meet this standard. This allows those professionals who act with a conscience to practise in the knowledge that they will not be undermined by those who have fewer ethical qualms. It also maintains public trust in the profession, encouraging the public to continue seeking their services, whilst at the same time re- assuring clients, insurers and governments.
The various professional bodies, across the engineering and scientific spectrum are refocussing attention on their ethical credentials and in particular, how we educate young aspirants to those professions, a path well-trodden by our medical and legal colleagues.
You can read more on these topics by following the references below both from the recent feature in ‘New Civil Engineer’ and the Engineering Council/RAEng ‘Statement of Ethical Principles’, first published in 2005 and updated several times since.
https://www.engc.org.uk/professional-ethics
By John Beck, first published on the IESF British Section website in January 2022.