Ethical issues in engineering design - 3TU.Centre for Ethics and ...

Design of a bridge
engineering companies prefer to work according to codes that are assumed to be
in accordance with the current legislation. At the present engineers have limited
experience with the new European code compared to their experience with the
older NEN 6723 and 6788 codes.
There was another choice related to types of codes used. During the design
process for some of the concrete parts of the bridge a choice had to be made
between using different types of codes. If geotechnical codes are chosen over
construction codes or vice versa the chosen code has consequences for the
required material thicknesses of such concrete parts. According to the engineers,
having to make a choice between two types of codes is the exception, most of the
time it is obvious which type of code should be used. The engineers working on
the problematic concrete parts made their choice based on their design
experience.
There were ethically relevant issues concerning working conditions. The
legislation concerning working conditions seemed to be purely procedural. The
requirement to make a health and safety plan only requires that a plan is made,
what it should include is not mandated. It was therefore possible to act in
accordance with the responsibility assigned to the IBA and make a health and
safety plan in which every possible risk was indicated but no risk was reduced. It
was difficult to reduce risk in the preliminary design phase. Most of the
information needed to make a good risk assessment and to propose measures to
reduce the risk was not available. Later on in the design process, more
information would be available for example on the high voltage transmission
lines, however, extra information did not mean that the IBA would have to
change the design to reduce risks. The IBA could always indicate that it was the
building contractor’s responsibility to reduce the risks. A health and safety plan
could just be a list of risks that the contractor must include in his health and
safety plan while not reducing any of the identified risks or taking any
precautionary measures. This shifts the responsibility to the contractors and the
individuals working at the building site. According to the working conditions
decree this is where most of the responsibility and liability lies. If an accident
happens at a building site a contractor can be held liable. However, decisions
could be made in the preliminary design phase that deeply influence the
possibilities for building safely in the design process. Even though primarily the
responsibility lies with the contractor and the employees working on the
building site, the designing engineers could take on some responsibility for
working conditions during construction. Yet, because the requirements set out
in law are purely procedural, no safeguard is provided to make designing
engineers take on this responsibility. Whether or not designing engineers
should take on such responsibility for health and safety is an ethical question.
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