Engineering Ethics

The practices and activities carried out by engineers contribute significantly in enhancing the quality of life of humans. However, unethical or wrong decisions, practices and activities by engineers may also be detrimental or harmful. For this reason, there are established ethical principles that play the role of guiding the decisions, practices and activities carried out by engineers. While some engineers strive to adhere to the established principles, there are numerous incidences that have occurred in the past as a result of failure by engineers to adhere to the principles. A good example is the TV Antenna Collapse incident that led to deaths and significant harm and damage. This paper argues that professional bodies that establish and enforce adherence to ethical principles by engineers, such as ASME, should take specific actions in order to prevent such incidents in the future.

DISCUSSION

TV Antenna Collapse is an incident in which a television tower that was 1800 ft. tall collapsed as it was being constructed, leading to death of five workers of the company that was doing assemblage. The incident occurred on December 7, 1982 in Missouri City. Prior to the incident, the TV station gave the role of designing and constructing different sections of the tower to Antenna Engineering Inc. However, the role of assembling it was given to Riggers, Inc (Robinson 52). The tower was designed in a way that it had twenty sections, and the last two sections on top had microwave baskets. Using the rotation assemblage method, Riggers Inc. did not face difficulties when mounting the first 18 sections. However, the company’s technicians found it difficult to mount the last two sections using their approach because of the microwave baskets (Robinson 52).

Workers for Riggers Inc. enquired from Antenna Engineering Inc. whether they could remove the baskets first in order to mount the two sections, but Antenna Engineering Inc. rejected and warned that Riggers Inc. would be held responsible for any damage that may occur afterwards as a result of the changes. Antenna Engineering Inc had faced stern measures in the past after interference with the baskets during assemblage led to harm and damages (Robinson 53). Riggers Inc. solved the issue through attaching a channel steel with a cable at the end that would rotate in a way that the baskets would not be interfered with. Riggers Inc. had technicians who could hardly understand engineering tasks and did not have even one engineer. For this reason, they asked Antenna Engineering Inc. to asses whether the solution they made was good since the latter had engineers. However, Antenna Engineering Inc. did not intervene. The collapse occurred as technicians for Riggers Inc. were mounting the last section, a process that was being filmed. After the incident, it emerged that Riggers Inc. used insufficiently sized bolds to attach the channel steel, which could not hold heavy weight. The use of those bolts was the key cause of the incident (Robinson 53).

Evidently, the two parties involved in designing and assemblage of the tower failed to adhere to ethical principles that guide their professions in one way or the other. Riggers Inc. failed to adhere to the principles by proceeding to build a channel steel without approval from knowledgeable engineers, hence putting workers at risk. However, the engineering ethical principles apply to practices and decisions of Antenna Engineering Inc. rather than Riggers Inc. since the latter did not have even one engineer. The issue is related to ethical principles outlined by ASME and NSPE Code, which are meant to guide engineers to make the right decisions that can hardly lead to or contribute to harm.

The written and unwritten laws of ASME and the NSPE Code require engineers to give paramount importance to the safety and welfare of the public or the users and protect them from harm that may result as a result of use of faulty design or materials (Harris 108). Evidently, the design that Antenna Engineering Inc. used to make the last two towers with baskets was faulty and prone to damages during assemblage. Antenna Engineering Inc. knew that the design was faulty and intentionally put the users at risk. Thus, Antenna Engineering Inc. failed to adhere to the aforementioned ethical requirements. In addition, failure to disclose to Riggers about the problem and to offer assistance implies that Antenna Engineering Inc. did not adhere to the ethical principles contained in ASME’s laws and the NSPE Code, which state that engineers should always act in honest manner and embrace integrity (Harris 91). Also, Antenna Engineering Inc. failed to adhere to an ethical principle contained in ASME’s laws that requires them to enhance the usefulness, reputation and honor of their profession (Harris 150)

A stringent action against the engineers Antenna Engineering Inc. may not be an effective long-term remedy to the issue. Rather, ASME and other involved bodies should take actions that enhance adherence of all engineers to ethical standards in order to prevent similar cases in future. AS stated in the NSPE Code, all activities and practices carried out by engineers, as well as their decisions, should be guided by ethical standards. In this regard, it is imperative that all engineers given sensitive engineering tasks be registered with ASME. ASME should provide all members with ethical principles that guide the engineering profession and ask them to read, understand and follow them strictly. ASME should also outline the forms of punishments that can be applied to engineers who intentionally fail to adhere to the standards. In doing so, ASME will be in a position to achieve its Vision 2030 that is aimed at eliminating such accidents.

Conclusion

Overall, it is apparent that Antenna Engineering Inc. failed to meet important ethical standards that guide the engineering profession. The implication of the issue is that the ASME and other involved bodies should take actions that enhance adherence to the ethical principles by all engineers.

Works Cited

Harris, Charles Jr., Michael Pritchard, Michael J. Rabins, Ray James and Elaine Englehardt.

Engineering Ethics: Concepts and Cases. New York: Cengage Learning, 2013. Print