What is your personal ethics "quick test"? 2

[leanne]

I have to make decisions daily that affect my ultimate customer - the end users flying on & off aircraft carriers. Everytime I make a decision that affects my customer, I ask myself if it's the best decision that I could make on the customer's behalf & will I regret it later. Would I be willing to go up in the plane with hardware affected by my decision? Would it bother me if I saw a write-up of my decision in the newspaper the next day - or if my mother read about it in the paper? (even at my age, I still care about my mom's opinion)

So, what are your "quick tests"?

 

[BobPE]

a good quick test is:

Is it right or wrong?

If you can't answer that question, seek help or turn the problem over to someone that knows the answer...

As engineers, we can not afford to be wrong..If we are, the public suffers the consequences....

BobPE

 

[leanne]

Is it right or wrong?

I'm afraid I assumed this as a given - considering the question was about ethics. However, sometimes there is not a clear right or wrong answer. How do you make those decisions?

As engineers, we can not afford to be wrong

I believe we are in agreement here...If I'm not willing to go up the bird with my equipment on it, a pilot should not have to either.

 

[brad]

"Would this provide legitimate ammunition to someone out to get me? And would my actions be questionable enough to cause a neutral observer to have serious doubts about me, if this ammunition is used?"

Of course, the first question doesn't say much; if somebody's out to get you, they'll conjure something up. The second question is the one that makes me check myself. If I can't answer that question confidently, I often bring in somebody else whose opinion I believe in. I also then make sure I document what and why. (I admit that this is a pretty tough standard, but I'm fortunate that I don't have lives in my hands as directly as many others).

Brad

 

[JOM]

If you're not willing to go up in the plane and you would not ask someone else to do so, then perhaps that's the best test you'll come up with.

Is it always right vs wrong? You can't always give a guarantee. Perhaps it's about risk. The key thing is the people who are at risk need to be as aware as practicable of that risk.

Maybe it's a good thing to examine if your work has been compromised by factors imposed by others not so concerned with safety??? Management wants the job finished and installed by end of business today, no excuses! Does that eat into your time to test? At what point do you reject management's demands?

Maybe management should be sent up in the plane first
I'd like to see more of that.



Cheers,
John.

 

[HamishMcTavish]

Hi Leanne,

I think your test 'Would I be willing to go up in the plane with hardware affected by my decision?' is probably the best test, for you and probably your customer as well although they might not realise it. Say you fitted systems to civil aircraft and asked passengers about risks from systems, talking about probability of failure on demand, redundancy and diversity in systems would not make much impact on how they perceive the risks arising from your decision.

The problem with any decision based on perception of risk is that usually expert appraisal of risk does not accord with 'public' appraisal. I work on a nuclear licensed site, live about a 15 minute walk away and am concerned as much as anyone that the risks from decisions that I make are as low as reasonably practicable. However that does not stop the public demonstrating about discharge levels that are a minute fraction of the variation in background count across the UK.

The point, (I do get there eventually...) is that as engineers it is our DUTY to consider the safety of the end user even though some end users will never agree with the decision that you made. We have to be true to ourselves and our experience. If we are being pressurised to make a decision that we are unhappy with then we MUST walk away. If all engineers acted this way then eventually people would actually begin to trust us.

Regards, HM.

PS Get a clairvoyant with 20/20 hindsight to participate in your design process!

No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary - William of Occam

 

[patdaly]

Leanne, in most ways your answer to not do something you would not use is correct. One other thought, specifically to your case, you work on Military carrier aircraft, you must also consider how your equipment might affect the operational ability of the aircraft.
LOL I know I could never revert back to aircraft design, they would be bulletproof, hammerproof, and works of art, unfortunately, they would never leave the ground........

 

[PSE]

Some personal litmus tests.

Would I use it?
Would I let my family use it?
How long will it last?
What would happen if it fails?
Should I get an independent opinion?

Regards,

 

[RDK]

As a member of Scouts Canada for several years both as a youth and as an adult, my personal ethics test is “Would I stand in front of the troop and tell them what I did?”

Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[TheTick]

Perhaps there is a little confusion between ethics and morality. That subject could be a debate in and of itself.

Good and evil: wrap them up and disguise it as people.

 

[rhodie]

The question I ask myself most often: "How could I fix this if it breaks?"

It is really easy to design something beautiful and robust, but totally ignore what a pain it will be for the guy trying to fix it when it breaks.

I also ask myself "Does my (insert various areas of anatomy) smell?"

As far as ethics vs. morality:

From Dictonary.com:
ethics (used with a sing. or pl. verb):
* The rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession: medical ethics.

mo·ral·i·ty (m-rl-t, mô-) n. pl. mo·ral·i·ties:
* The quality of being in accord with standards of right or
good conduct.
* A system of ideas of right and wrong conduct: religious
morality; Christian morality.
* Virtuous conduct.
* A rule or lesson in moral conduct.

The proper question to ask is not "Am I doing anything wrong?" (abstract), but rather "Am I breaking any rules?" (concrete)

 

[plasgears]

My view is that engineering should be performed by qualified individuals, graduate engineers. ISO9000 spells this out very clearly. QS9000 is a little vague on the subject, and you will find a lot of promoted draftsmen working as engineers and engineering managers in the automotive industry.

My test is this: Is the mechanical design executed along classical engineering lines incl. load analysis, stress analysis, fatigue analysis, thermal analysis, dimensional range considerations, correct functional datums, thoughtful selection of materials, tested functionally under reasonable conditions, etc.

I cringe when I find that engineering designs are being created by other than qualified engineers.

 

[TheTick]

re: The question, "Would I fly in this plane?"

Military officers are trained professionals who are qualified to take some extraordinary risks. It is not a fair question to ask an untrained civilian whether he is willing to take the same risks.

Good and evil: wrap them up and disguise it as people.

 

[dik]

If you need a code of ethics, then you've likely gone too far!

 

[leanne]

Everyone has a code of ethics. Not all equal, but everyone has one...

 

[dik]

No... some of us are ethical! It's not something that you should have to quantify.

 

[TheTick]

Actually, sometimes ethics do need to be quantified.

Good and evil: wrap them up and disguise it as people.

 

[dik]

TheTick

Can you give me an example... something to 'chaw' on... I think a Code of Ethics is like a PR Department... If you need one, you're likely doing something wrong.

 

[TheTick]

dik:

Any time ethics are questioned in court.

See definitions in rhodie's post. By definition, ethics are quantified and shared.

 

[dik]

I've testified more often than I'd like to recall and never once been questioned about my ethics... might be a reason for that.