Ethics 4110

Week 1
What is a professional Engineer?
1. Any act of planning, designing, composing, evaluating, advising, reporting, directing, or
supervising
2. That requires the application of engineering principles; and
3. Concerns the safeguarding of life, health, property, economic interests, the public welfare or
the environment, or the managing of any such act.
If you meet all 3 criteria, you are an engineer and must be licenced

Software is considered one of the engineering disciplines since 2008 because it meets all 3 of
the criteria above

PEO ( Professional Engineers Ontario)

- Established in 1922
- In 1932 professional engineering act closed the profession for non qualified people
Currently Poe is “PEO is the licensing and regulating body for professional engineering …
operates under the authority of the Professional Engineers Act to serve and protect the
public interest.”
- 5 core values
o Accountability
o Respect
o Integrity
o professionalism
o Team work
Professional Engineering Act
- Defines the authority of PEO to regulate professional engineers
- Regulation 941 for guideline of implementing act

Professional Engineers
- Duties
o Society or public –guardians of public safety
o Employers/clients
o Colleagues, subordinates, employees
o Engineering profession
o Self
Engineers Canada: 10 core principles
[Link] undergraduate engineering programs.
[Link] and fostering working relationships between and among the regulators.
[Link] services and tools that enable the assessment of engineering qualifications, foster
excellence in engineering practice and regulation, and facilitate mobility of practitioners within
Canada.
[Link] national programs.
[Link] to the federal government.
[Link] monitoring, researching, and advising on changes and advances that impact the
Canadian regulatory environment and the engineering profession.
[Link] risks and opportunities associated with mobility of work and practitioners
internationally.
[Link] recognition of the value and contribution of the profession to society and sparking
interest in the next generation of professionals.
[Link] diversity and inclusivity in the profession that reflects Canadian society.
[Link] any word(s), mark, design, slogan, or logo, or any literary, or other work, as the
case may be, pertaining to the engineering profession or to its objects.

Week 2
Law
Intent
- Enforce rules
- Resolve disputes peacefully
- Enable public and social policies
Sources of Law in Canada
- Common law- made by judges from previous court decisions
- Legislation- existing law, overrides common law

Canada’s Justice systems

- Constitutional
o Executive, legislative and judicial.
o Principal of democratic government
- Executive Branch (government)
o Decision making branch
o Uk queen, executive power
o PM, ministers
- Judiciary (court)
o Interpreting and applying common law
o Ensures that dispute is settling
o Independent of political interference

Division of Power
- Federal government
 o National defence, criminal law, intellectual property, postal service, money,
interprovincial trade, international relations
o Territories: Powers are delegated under federal authority
o “Federal Enclave Doctrine” Federal law generally applies: e.g. First Nations
Reserves (subject to Indian Act)[3] , railway lands, military bases, airports,
federal buildings
- Provincial government
o Education, property, civil rights, health care, justice admin, prelim inquiries &
lesser criminal offences, family, youth, traffic, professions (i.e. PEO)
- Municipal government- property zoning and construction permits

Which organization makes which laws

- Judges: Common Law
o Law that is not written down as legislation
o Previous cases guide judges in making decisions
o Judges can announce new legal doctrines or change old ones
- Quebec: Civil code
o Has documented regulations which judges and government look at before
referring to old cases
Court Structure
- Superior court
o Serious criminal or civil cases, ones that involve large amounts of money
o Where PEO appeals go
- Provincial Administrative tribunals (like PEO)

Definition of litigation terms

- Litigation- lawsuit maybe costly and time consuming for both parties
- Plaintiff- party that is making an action or claim. In criminal it is crown bringing action
- Defendant- party defending action or claim made. In criminal is referred to as the
accused
- Appellant- party appealing decision of a lower court
- Respondent- party seeking to upholf lower court decision
- Privity of contract- legal relationship between 2 parties to a contract
- Indemnification- compensation for harm caused by another party
- Creditor- party to whom an amount is owing
- Debtor- party who owes that amount

Environmental Laws
Federal Legislation
- Canadian environmental protection act (CEPA 1999)
o Goal: prevent pollution, protect environment and human health
o Sustainable development
o Pollution prevention
 o Virtual illumination
o Ecosystem Approach
o Precautionary principles- threats of serious or irreversible damage should not be
used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent
environmental degradation
o Intergovernmental cooperation- avoids duplication with other governments
o National standards- national leadership to achieve ecosystem health and
sustainable development
o Polluter pays principal- companies that choose to pollute should pay the cost
they impose on society
o Science based decision making-Emphasizes the integral role of science and
traditional aboriginal knowledge (where available) in decision-making and that
social, economic, and technical issues are to be considered in the risk
management process.
- Nucleur energy and water project
o Environment assessment act (2012)- requirement for major projects under
federal Jurisdiction
o
- EEA completed July 2017
- Indian Act
o Company that provides engineering service must be licensed
o Individual providing engineering services, doesn’t have to be licensed

Week 3
Quebec Bridge collapse
- Opens in 1919 after 2 rebuilds
- Longest cantilever span at the time
- Quebec bridge and railway Co, Pheonex bridge company
- Theodore cooper had full technical authority and rarely visited the site
First collapse
- Bending in end piece and chords
- First collapse
o Maclure goes to new York to discuss with cooper, cooper sends telegram to not
add any load on the bridge
o Telegram is not read and the bridge collapses on august 7, 1907 killing 75 people
out of 86
o Design loads were underestimated and the span of the bridge has been
increased
o Design and communication deficiency due to cooper being ill and not coming to
the site
o Cleaning the failure took 2 years
- Second collapse
o fail of hoist to put the bridge part in the middle
 o killed 13 people and injured 14
o Bridge was finally completed in 1917
- Lesson: have adequate funding, employ competent professionals, monitor and control
work on the site

Week 4