Question

In roughly 300 words, provide an analysis of the ethical scenario presented below. Be sure to explain how the ethical codes identified in the problem relate to the scenario, as well as any relevant connections to other case studies, concepts, or ethical theories discussed in class. Finally, provide a clear and explicit answer to the question raised in the scenario.

Scenario:

Engineer A is a senior engineer for a firm overseeing a large construction project. Engineers Y and Z are employees of the firm responsible for different components of the project, both reporting directly to Engineer A. While working on the project, Engineer Y observes an apparent safety violation in Engineer Z’s portion of the project. While the violation does not represent an immediate safety hazard, failure to address the issue could impact the overall safety of the project once completed. Engineer Y does have the relevant expertise to accurately identify the safety violation, but Engineer Y is not responsible for the portion of the project directly. Nevertheless, Engineer Y reports the safety violation in their next meeting with Engineer A.

Later, Engineer Z issues a complaint against Engineer Y, claiming that Engineer Y was overstepping their authority by reviewing Engineer Z’s work when it was not their responsibility to do so. Engineer Z claims that Engineer Y should have mentioned the issue to Engineer Z first, before reporting to the violation to Engineer A.

Question:

Was Engineer Y ethically permitted to report the safety violation to Engineer A?

NSPE Code of Ethics References:

II.3.a Engineers shall issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner. a. Engineers shall be objective and truthful in professional reports, statements, or testimony. They shall include all relevant and pertinent information in such reports, statements, or testimony, which should bear the date indicating when it was current.

III.7. Engineers shall not attempt to injure, maliciously or falsely, directly or indirectly, the professional reputation, prospects, practice, or employment of other engineers. Engineers who believe others are guilty of unethical or illegal practice shall present such information to the proper authority for action.

III.1.a Engineers shall acknowledge their errors and shall not distort or alter the facts.

III.1.b. Engineers shall advise their clients or employers when they believe a project will not be successful.

Answer 1

Ethics is the concept of justice to be followed by each and every one especially in their profession. Ethics teaches a person how to live in the society by avoiding the use of unauthorized rights and rules that causes public issues. According to the passage,persons Y and Z are appointed in different domains of the project. So Y should be focussed in his section while Z should focuse in his own section of the project. Now due to lack of safety measure in Z's section of the project, Y has reported the safety violation to their head A directly. According to ethics, the work done by Y is not right. The safety violation caused in Z's project might be caused with or without the knowledge of him(Z). Case 1:After observing that the project is violating from safety measures, person Y should have reported about it to Z first if the violation was formed without the knowledge of 'Z'. Y should have given sufficient time for Z to clear the problem. If the problem was cleared by this means, there would have been no problem.

Case 2: After observing the safety violation in Z's section, Y should have spoken about it to Z. If Z was not calm enough to listen to Y and if this violation was created by Z for some purpose, then Y should have reported to 'A' about the problem.

Y has violated both these cases and directly reported to A without analysing what actually happened. This is truely against ethical rules. As Y does not have any rights to alter or change the safety section in Z's domain,he(Y) also does not have the rights to directly report to the head A without the knowledge of Z.

This paves way for unemployement of Z as he was reported of safety violation in his section.

Even when Y truthfully reported the problem to his higher authority,the way approached by him was totally unethical. This may lead to many probems on Z where as mentioned before he can be unemployed for wrong doing or some other action may be taken on Z.

According to ethics, any employer should not be responsible for creating problem for other employers. Y has created unjustice for Z and has reported untruthfully to A about the problem. This must have not been done.