Conduct and Ethics in Engineering Practice Related to the North American Free Trade Agreement
NSF Grant Number SBR-941-3323
Murdough Center for Engineering Professionalism, Texas Tech University
Jimmy H. Smith, Project Director and Principal Investigator Patricia A. Barrington, Project Coordinator and Manager
Background
The NAFTA Forum on Engineering Practice has eighteen official representatives, six from each country. The representatives from the US are designated by the United States Council for International Engineering Practice (USCIEP); the representatives from Canada are designated by the Canadian Council for Professional Engineers and the representatives from Mexico are designated by several Mexico organizations: FECIC, CICM, CIEES, CONIQQ and CIME.
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The Project
The provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) include requirements for addressing the practice of the professions across the borders of Canada, Mexico and the United States. These requirements include "conduct and ethics." Among the various issues being considered under the NAFTA, the issue of conduct and professional ethics is an essential element in implementing the NAFTA. In fact, the ethical aspects of international engineering practice may be the thread that holds the process together in future engineering endeavors. Thus, the objective of this project was to address the professional conduct and ethics aspect involved in the engineering relationships among the three countries.
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Phase I
Organize the research team and the advisors- Phase I of the work involved organizing a research team from the three nations. The team consisted of six (6) individuals, two from each of the three nations, designated by the respective nations, assisted by a group of seven (7) advisors. One of the team members from each country also served on the eighteen member NAFTA Forum on Engineering Practice.
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Phase II
Determine the issues to be considered-
Phase II of the project involved determining the critical issues. At the first meeting the team determined what each nation
believed were issues that should be included in the study, and prepared an outline of a brief status report on the meeting. The following issues were considered important in the study: The diversity of cultures; The responsibility of engineers to clients, governments, and the public; The understanding and expectations of the public regarding engineering practice; The understanding and expectations of the governments regarding engineering practice; The definition and mutual understanding of "protecting the health, safety and welfare of the public"; The nature of a set of standards and criteria related to professional conduct and ethics; and the nature of disciplinary action for non-conformity with those standards.
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Phase III
Develop preliminary report to NAFTA Forum on Engineering Practice - A preliminary report was prepared and a request for suggestions was presented by the team at the NAFTA Forum on Engineering Practice.
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Phase IV
Refine list of issues and conduct research on the issues identified The team continued its deliberations on ethics and enforcement issues. A list of vital elements in the codes of ethics from all three nations was refined so the team could focus their attention on the elements in common. Several codes from each nation were studied. The list below shows the types of issues considered and compared among the ethics codes from each nation.
Issues considered:
- Values of truth, honesty and trustworthiness
- Honorable ethical practice
- Safety, health and welfare of the public
- Protection of the environment
- Promotion of health, safety in the workplace
- Work only in area of competence
- Perform only careful diligent practice
- Act as a faithful agent
- Confidentiality
- Conflict of interest (- avoid - disclose)
- Continuing competence of individual
- Advance the body of knowledge
- Opportunities of advancement of subordinates
- Fairness, courtesy & good faith toward clients, colleagues
- Including avoidance of unfair competition
- Credit where due
- Accept-give honest and fair professional criticism
- Clear presentation of consequences if engineering decisions/judgments are overruled/disregarded
- Whistleblowing in the public interest
- Report illegal/unethical engineering decisions/practices to appropriate agencies
- Be aware of societal/environmental consequences of actions/project
- Inform clients/employers of consequences of actions/projects; Interpret engineering issues to public objectively/truthfully
- Dedication to profession
- Service to society
- Wise resource use and conservation
- Wise energy use and conservation
- Eliminate adverse environmental impacts; Comply with environmental laws
- Try to do better than environmental laws
- Accept only agreed fee; Adequate compensation;
- Be familiar with applicable standards, regulations, and codes; Override confidentiality (Law Code)
- No fraudulent connection
- Cooperate with proper investigative authorities
- Sign only the work you did or supervised
- Coordinating responsibility
- No kickbacks, bribery
- No deception in soliciting professional work and
- No undue political influence.
At the conclusion of the Mexico City meeting, the first draft of a set of Principles of Ethical Conduct in Engineering Practice under the NAFTA was developed.
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Phase V
Develop recommendations for consideration by the three nations- During this phase of the project, the draft recommendations were refined based on oral and written comments from the Forum members and others in attendance. The following final conclusions and recommendations were included among other matters related to engineering practice in Canada, Mexico, and USA and were presented to the US Free Trade Commission by the NAFTA Forum on Engineering Practice in June 1995 in Washington DC. The Mutual Recognition Document was signed and presented to the US Trade Commissioner, Mickey Kantor.
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Conclusions and Recommendations
Principals of ethical conduct in engineering practice under the North American Free Trade Agreement- The privilege of practicing engineering is entrusted to those qualified and who have the responsibility for applying engineering skills, scientific knowledge and ingenuity for the advancement of human welfare and quality of life. Fundamental principles of conduct of engineers include truth, honesty and trustworthiness in their service to society, and honorable and ethical practice showing fairness, courtesy and good faith toward clients, colleagues and others. Engineers take societal, cultural, economic, environmental and safety aspects into consideration, and strive for the efficient use of the world's resources to meet long term human needs.
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In the practice of engineering:
- Engineers shall hold paramount the health, safety and welfare of the public in the practice of their profession.
- Engineers shall practice only in their areas of competence, in a careful and diligent manner and in conformance with standards, laws, codes, and rules and regulations applicable to engineering practice.
- Engineers shall examine the societal and environmental impact of their actions and projects, including the wise use and conservation of resources and energy, in order to make informed recommendations and decisions.
- Engineers shall issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner. If representing a particular interest, the engineer shall clearly identify that interest.
- Engineers shall sign and take responsibility for all engineering work which they prepared or directly supervised. An engineer may sign work prepared by others, but only with their knowledge and after sufficient review and verification to justify taking responsibility for that work.
- Engineers shall act as faithful agents for their employers or clients and maintain confidentiality; they shall avoid conflicts of interest whenever possible, disclosing unavoidable conflicts.
- Engineers shall ensure that a client is aware of the engineer's professional concerns regarding particular actions or projects, and of the consequences of engineering decisions or judgments that are overruled or disregarded. An employee engineer shall initially express those concerns to the employer.
- Engineers shall appropriately report any public works, engineering decisions or practice that endanger the health, safety and welfare of the public. When, in an engineer's judgment, a significant risk to the public remains unresolved, that engineer may ethically make the concerns known publicly.
- Engineers shall commit to life-long learning, strive to advance the body of engineering knowledge and should encourage other engineers to do likewise.
- Engineers shall promote responsibility, commitment, and ethics both in the education and practice phases of engineering; they should enhance society's awareness of engineers' responsibilities to the public and encourage the communication of these principles of ethical conduct among engineers.
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References
- Code of Ethics, Canadian Council of Professional Engineers Guideline, Canadian Engineering Qualifications Board, Ottawa, Ontario
- Code of Ethics for Engineers, National Society of Professional Engineers, 1993
- Code of Professional Engineering Ethics, World Federation of Engineering Organizations, October 1993
- Code of Ethics, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., 1990
- Code of Ethics, The American Society of Civil Engineers, October 1980.
- Codigo de Etica Profesional, Colegio de Ingenieros Civiles de Mexico, A.C., , translated to English by Carlos O. Ruiz, P.E.
- Codigo de Etica Professional del Ingeniero Civil, Federacion de Ingenieros Civiles de la Republica Mexicana
- Colegio de Ingenieros Mecanicos & Electricistas, excerpt from manual on ethics
The results of this project are also at http://www.coe.ttu.edu/ethics/nafta.htm
More essays and projects can be found in the additional sections of the OEC listed below.