A new report, 'Engineering Ethics: maintaining society’s trust in the engineering profession', has been published ‘to ensure that ethical culture and practice become embedded in the engineering profession in the same way as health and safety considerations’.
Produced by the joint Engineering Ethics Reference Group, established in 2019 by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Engineering Council, the report includes a ‘roadmap’ of short-, medium-, and long-term actions to embed ethical best practice. At its heart is the need to retain public confidence in the ethical behaviour of engineers.
While reported public trust in engineers remains high, the Royal Academy of Engineering and Engineering Council say ‘the ever-growing expectations of society’, coupled with new advances in technology, mean that engineers ‘must continually evaluate how ethical behaviours need to improve and evolve’. They said: “Inevitably, there are tensions between profitability, sustainability, and safety that engineers seek to be aware of and need to balance.
The engineering profession has been working for many years on embedding ethical culture and practice into the profession, including operating sustainably, inclusively, and with respect for diverse views. Together, such behaviours make a profession aspirational and trustworthy, but require a culture of continuous improvement.”
‘Engineering Ethics’ marks the next step in this work, summarising progress to date, and recommending actions that reinforce benefit to society, while seeking to embed an ethical culture of continuous improvement.
Professor David Bogle FIChemE, FREng, Chair of the Engineering Ethics Reference Group, said: “Engineers act in the service of society, making decisions that affect everyone, from small-scale technical choices, to major strategic decisions that can affect the lives of millions, and even the future of our planet. We want to make sure that ethical practice is at the heart of all these decisions. Our vision is that UK engineering ethics principles and practice are regarded nationally and internationally as world-class, with ethics embedded in engineering culture such that society can maintain confidence and trust in the profession.
“Realising this goal will require collaborative action and shared responsibility, but this is essential to retain public trust and attract young people into the profession who truly reflect the diversity of society, and who will help achieve a sustainable society and inclusive economy that works for everyone.”
Grouped under five themes, the actions suggested by the report are all drawn from feedback from the profession. They are:
- Leadership and accountability – Maintain position and recognition as leaders in driving ethical standards and practice forwards, where leadership means encouraging behaviours that can be practised across all levels of the engineering profession, not just by senior members.
- Education and training – Support and maintain a consistent and coherent approach (across HE/FE/CPD) to improve the quality of how ethics is understood by those in the engineering profession.
- Professionalism – Engage with the profession to maximise adoption of professional values, ethics and practice. Encourage engineers to ‘Think ethics before action’. Maximise the number of professionally registered individuals in the engineering community to uphold ethical practice and increase the accountability of individuals against ethical standards.
- Engagement – Maximise engagement with society and industry to foster public awareness of ethics in engineering. Stress the centrality of ethics to the engineering profession, promoting debate, and learn how this may influence our ethical responsibilities.
- Governance and measurement – Understand ethical culture in the engineering profession, benchmark against and learn from other professions, and set targets and develop tools and guidance for future improvements.
The Royal Academy of Engineering and the Engineering Council have agreed to take forward the proposed actions with the support of the professional engineering institutions, with a new governance framework is proposed to manage this process. The Academy is also publishing 12 new case studies, designed for use in engineering education and for individual engineers, to illustrate ethical issues.