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

Ethical issues in engineering design
7.5.2 Decision making on ethical issues
There was much discussion and communication between the engineers. Ethical
questions formed part of the responsibilities of the engineers working on the
trailer. The customer also had to make a lot of choices and is therefore also
confronted with ethical issues.
Decision making on ethical issues was done using internal CLC norms and
ideas on good design practice, such as the operationalisation of safety in the
form of a structurally reliable trailer. These internal norms include ideas, rules,
guidelines and handbooks about how to design and calculate a structurally
reliable structure. Examples of internal norms and ideas on good design practice
include the safety factors that should be used, the limit and ultimate load,
materials properties and what environmental influences should be accounted for
in the trailer design process. These ideas and norms were used in the case study
design process.
The internal norms and ideas on good design practice could be traced to the
design experience of the engineers and their education. A lot of the engineers
working in the CLC have the same educational background and parts of the
internal norms can be traced back directly to this background. Other parts of
these norms can be traced to shared experience in designing with composites.
The engineers used these internal norms without reflection as to whether or not
these norms were complete.
7.5.3 Regulative framework
In this case only a few elements of a regulative framework were used. There is an
extensive regulative framework for trucks and trailers. Trucks and trailers have to
be certified and checked before they are allowed on the roads. In the Netherlands,
the “Rijksdienstwegverkeer”, the Dutch governmental organisation for traffic, has
to certify trucks and trailers. Several European directives, amongst others
96/53/EC, 97/27/EC and 2002/7/EC, which specify mass, dimensions, turning
circle and manoeuvrability, pertain to transport with trailers in Europe. The rules
for maximum dimensions of trailers and loads on axles were taken into account
in the design process. For example, axles should be able to support a load of 9
tonnes. The 9 tonnes load is, according to the engineers, based on Dutch
legislation. At one point in the requirements a reference was made to European
regulation; the pneumatic springs of the trailer should comply with European
regulation. So given the complete regulative framework pertaining to trucks and
trailers, the engineers only abstracted some rules about maximum dimensions,
axle loads and European rules regarding pneumatic springs.
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