ECEN 491
Code of Ethics for Electrical Engineers
Students Name:
Ahad Alhebsi
Alia Alali
Instructor:
DR. Amjad Omar
Introduction:
Engineering ethics is to applied ethics and moral principles that we need it to apply to the practice of engineering. We are going to cover about Professional Responsibilities of an Electrical Engineer and The Impact of Low Frequency Magnetic Fields
Part One
Engineering is bound by a number of ethics and principles which should not be overlooked or violated. Any violation of these ethics would hold the engineer accountable for it and would endanger his/her reputation if not damage his/her professional future. World countries have developed these ethics each according to its culture, but there…show more content… Just imagine that an engineer is paid a large sum of money to do a project which might cause harm to the community. Even though it is harmful for sure, the engineer should decline to do the project and if he does, he will be liable for the costs of the damage that might result from his behavior.
Another principle is that engineers shall perform services only in areas of their competence. An electrical engineer for example should not accept an offer to design a chemical product out of his competence. He is morally and legally mistaken for that.
The other main principle is that engineers shall issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner. When an engineer is asked to write a report about an issue, he should do that honestly lest his/her report should be misunderstood or misinterpreted.
Another principle is that engineers shall act in professional matters for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees, and shall avoid conflicts of interests. An engineer should be straightforward and truthful. He/she should be plain and clear enough to avoid any conflict in interests. If one project conflicts with his interests, it is the interests of the client or the community that should have priority.…show more content… Redesigning the products to reduce the bad effects of these fields would increase expensive and reduce profits.
However, some other societies concluded, after reviewing the results, that there was no indication of harmful effects whatsoever. Yet, some critics argued that the societies who carried out the reviews had interests in reaching to these findings.
Heated discussions could be raised about the nature of engineers' job and their responsibilities.
As for the first point, the engineer whose job was to design a product with magnetic fields had to check how harmful the radiation could be. He had to report the case to the management of the company.
He/she should not proceed of the design if he felt, however slightly it might be, that the product should pose a threat to the environment, or the community in the neighborhood. Having failed to do so, he could then have not held paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public as dictated in the code of ethics.
In addition, if the engineer found that there was some danger to the local environment, he/she should report it to the higher