Engineering Ethics
Ethics questions in the PEC EPE test judgement under pressure: whose interest prevails when an employer, a client and the public conflict, and what a professional is licensed to sign.
Core principles
- Public safety, health and welfare are paramount. When they conflict with cost, schedule or employer preference, safety prevails.
- Competence: an engineer signs, seals and certifies only work within their demonstrated competence. Stamping drawings you did not review or cannot evaluate is a disciplinary matter.
- Honesty: reports, test data and as-built records must be accurate. Falsifying or selectively reporting data is a serious violation, not a paperwork shortcut.
- Conflict of interest must be disclosed and managed, whether it is a financial interest in a supplier or a family relationship in a tender.
- Confidentiality of client information persists after the engagement ends, except where disclosure is required by law or necessary to protect the public.
- Bribery and improper gifts are prohibited; facilitation payments are not excused by local custom.
- Whistleblowing: report internally first where feasible, document everything, and escalate to the regulator or PEC when the risk is serious and internal channels fail.
Worked example
A site engineer is told to approve a pressure test record for a vessel that was tested below the specified hold time. The engineer does not sign, records the actual test conditions in the inspection log, notifies the quality manager in writing, and requests a retest. If the retest is refused and the vessel is scheduled for service, the next step is escalation to the client and the regulator. Signing and annotating the deviation does not transfer the liability.
Traps that cost marks
Accepting 'everyone does it' or 'it is normal practice here' as justification. Privileging loyalty to the employer over public safety. Treating a disclosed conflict as automatically resolved. Assuming a verbal instruction from a manager transfers professional responsibility.