Engineering Ethics: Do engineers owe duties to the

Engineering Ethics:
Do engineers owe duties to the public?
John Uff CBE QC FREng
Nash Professor of Engineering Law,
Kings College, London
Contents
Introduction 4
Codes of Conduct and the Institutions 5
Legislation governing safety and environment 7
Duties arising in contract 8
Limits on enforceability 9
Duties arising in tort 10
Ethical duties recognised by the law 11
Provisional conclusion as to public duties 12
Warnings of preventable disasters 13
Publication of relevant research and data 14
Can disclosure be restrained? 15
Consequences of unauthorised disclosure 16
Other means of securing disclosure 17
Amicus action by Institutions 17
Ethics in other roles of the Engineer 18
Conclusions 20
Acknowledgment 20