UNIT-III ENGINEERING AS SOCIAL EXPERIMENTATION

1. ENGINEERING AS EXPERIMENTATION
2. ENGINEERS AS RESPONSIBLE EXPERIMENTERS
3. CODES OF ETHICS
4. A BALANCED OUTLOOK ON LAW

1. ENGINEERING AS EXPERIMENTATION
 Experimentation is commonly recognized as playing as essential role in the design
process.
 All products of technology present some potential dangers and thus engineering is an
inherently risky activity. In order to underscore this fact and help in exploring its ethical
implications, engineering should be viewed as an experimental process.
 It is not an experiment solely in laboratory controlled conditions. It is an experiment on a
social scale involving human subjects.
 Before manufacturing a product or providing a project, we make several assumptions and
trials, design and redesign and test several times till the product is observed to be
functioning satisfactorily. We try different materials and experiments. From the test data
obtained we make detailed design and retests. Thus, design as well as engineering is
iterative process as illustrated in Fig. 3.1.

Fig 3.1 Design as an interactive process

 Several redesigns are made upon the feedback information on the performance or failure in
the field or in the factory. Besides the tests, each engineering project is modified during
execution, based on the periodical feedback on the progress and the lessons from other
sources. Hence, the development of a product or a project as a whole may be considered as an
experiment.
ENGINEERING PROJECTS VS STANDARD EXPERIMENTS
We shall now compare the two activities, and identify the similarities and contrasts.
A. Similarities
1. Partial ignorance:
 The project is usually executed in partial ignorance. Uncertainties exist in the model
assumed.
 There are uncertainties about the nature of the stresses the finished product will
encounter. There are uncertainties in the abstract model used for the design calculations.
The behavior of materials purchased is uncertain and not constant. They may vary with
the suppliers, processed lot, time, and the process used in shaping the materials (e.g.,
sheet or plate, rod or wire, forged or cast or welded).
 There may be variations in the grain structure and its resulting failure stress. It is not
possible to collect data on all variations. In some cases, extrapolation, interpolation,
assumptions of linear behavior over the range of parameters, accelerated testing,
simulations, and virtual testing are resorted.
2. Uncertainty:
 The final outcomes of projects are also uncertain, as in experiments. Sometimes
unintended results, side effects (bye-products), and unsafe operation have also occurred.
 Unexpected risks, such as undue seepage in a storage dam, leakage of nuclear radiation
from an atomic power plant, presence of pesticides in food or soft drink bottle, an new
irrigation canal spreading water-borne diseases, and an unsuspecting hair dryer causing
lung cancer on the user from the asbestos gasket used in the product have been reported.
3. Continuous monitoring:
 Monitoring continually the progress and gaining new knowledge are needed before,
during, and after execution of project as in the case of experimentation.
 The performance is to be monitored even during the use (or wrong use!) of the product
by the end user/beneficiary.
4. Learning from the past:
 Usually engineers learn from their own earlier design and operating results, as well as
from those of other engineers, but unfortunately that is not always the case.
 Lack of established channels of communication, misplaced pride in not asking for
information, embarrassment at failure or fear of litigation and plain neglect often impede
the flow of such information and lead to many repetitions of past mistakes.
 Here are a few examples:
 The Titanic lacked a sufficient number of lifeboats decades after most of the passengers
and crew on the steamship Arctic had perished because of the same problem.
 “Complete lacks of protection against impact by shipping caused Sweden’s worst ever
bridge collapse on Friday as a result of which eight people were killed.” Thus reported
the New Civil Engineer on January 24, 1980. Engineers now recommend the use of
floating concrete bumpers that can deflect ships, but that recommendation is rarely
heeded as seen by the 1993 collapse of the Bayou Cannot Bridge that cost 43 passengers
of the Sunset Limited their lives.
 Valves are notorious for being among the least reliable components of hydraulic systems.
It was a pressure relief valve, and a lack of definitive information regarding its open or
 shut state, which contributed to the nuclear reactor accident at Three Mile Island on
March 28, 1979. Similar malfunctions had occurred with identical valves on nuclear
reactors at other locations. The required reports had been filed with Babcock and Wilcox,
the reactor’s manufacturer, but no attention had been given to them .
 NASA uses the metric system while Lockheed Martin uses the English system when
building a satellite Courtesy of NASA
Cost of the lost orbiter: $125 million
Inflation-adjusted: $165.6 million
In 1999 a team of Lockheed Martin engineers used the English system of measurement,
while the rest of the team used the metric system for a Mars orbiter. The use of two
different measurement systems prevented the spacecraft's navigation coordinates from
being transferred from a spacecraft team in Denver to a lab in California.
The orbiter was then lost in space, and NASA was out $125 million. These examples
illustrate why it is not enough for engineers to rely on handbooks and computer programs
without knowing the limits of the tables and algorithms underlying their favorite tools.
They do well to visit shop floors and construction sites to learn from workers and testers
how well the customers’ wishes were met.
The art of back-of-the-envelope calculations to obtain ballpark values with which to
quickly check lengthy and complicated computational procedures must not be lost.
Engineering demands practitioners who remain alert and well informed at every stage of
a project’s history and who exchange ideas freely with colleagues in related departments.
B. Contrasts
The scientific experiments in the laboratory and the engineering experiments in the field exhibit
several contrasts as listed below:
1. Experimental control:
 In standard experiments, members for study are selected into two groups namely A and B
at random.
 Group A are given special treatment. The group B is given no treatment and is called the
‘controlled group’. But they are placed in the same environment as the other group A.
This process is called the experimental control.
 This practice is adopted in the field of medicine. In engineering, this does not happen,
except when the project is confined to laboratory experiments. This is because it is the
clients or consumers who choose the product, exercise the control.
 It is not possible to make a random selection of participants from various groups. In
engineering, through random sampling, the survey is made from among the users, to
assess the results on the product. .
2. Humane touch:
 Engineering experiments involve human souls, their needs, views, expectations, and
creative use as in case of social experimentation.
 This point of view is not agreed by many of the engineers. But now the quality engineers
and managers have fully realized this humane aspect.
3. Informed consent:
 Engineering experimentation is viewed as Societal Experiment since the subject and the
beneficiary are human beings.
  In this respect, it is similar to medical experimentation on human beings. In the case of
medical practice, moral and legal rights have been recognized while planning for
experimentation.
 Informed consent is practiced in medical experimentation. Such a practice is not there in
scientific laboratory experiments. Informed consent has two basic elements:
Knowledge: The subject should be given all relevant information needed to make the
decision to participate.
Voluntariness: Subject should take part without force, fraud or deception. Respect for rights
of minorities to dissent and compensation for harmful effect are assumed here.
For a valid consent, the following conditions are to be fulfilled:
 Consent must be voluntary
 All relevant information shall be presented/stated in a clearly understandable
form Consenter shall be capable of processing the information and make rational
decisions.
4. The subject’s consent may be offered in proxy by a group that represents many subjects of
like-interests Informed consent when bringing an engineering product to market, implies
letting the customer know the following:
(a) The knowledge about the product
(b) Risks and benefits of using the product and
(c) All relevant information on the product, such as how to use and how not to use (do’s and
don’ts).
The relevant factual information implies, that the engineers are obliged to obtain and assess
all the available information related to the fulfillment of one’s moral obligations (i.e., wrong
or immoral use of a product one designs), including the intended and unintended impacts of
the product, on the society.
Still there exists a possibility of a large gap of understanding between the experimenter and
the subjects (public). Sometimes, the managements have not been willing to disseminate the
full information about the project or product beyond the legal requirements, because of the
fear of potential competitions and likely exposure to potential litigation.
People object to involuntary risks wherein the affected individual is neither a direct
participant nor a decision maker. In short, we prefer to be the subjects of our own
experiments rather than those of somebody else. If it is an asbestos plant or nuclear plant to
be approved, affected parties expect their consent to be obtained. But they are ready to accept
voluntary risks as in the case of stunts and amazing races.
In case of Koodangulam power project as well as the Sethusamudram Canal Project,
Tamil Nadu, several citizen groups including Fishermen Forums have responded. The
Central government was able contain many harsh apprehensions and protracted legal and
political battles, by providing all relevant information.
5. Knowledge gained:
 Scientific experiments are conducted to gain new knowledge, while “engineering projects
are experiments that are not necessarily designed to produce very much knowledge”.
 Engineering experiments at the most help us to,
(a) Verify the adequacy of the design,
(b) To check the stability of the design parameters, and
(c) Prepare for the unexpected outcomes, in the actual field environments.
From the models tested in the laboratory to the pilot plant tested in the field, there are
differences in performance as well as other outcomes.
2. ENGINEERS AS RESPONSIBLE EXPERIMENTERS
 Engineers are the main technical enablers or facilitators; they are far from being the sole
experimenters. Their responsibility is shared with management, the public, and others.
Yet their expertise places them in a unique position to monitor projects, to identify risks,
and to provide clients and the public with the information needed to make reasonable
decisions.
 From the perspective of engineering as social experimentation, four features characterize
what it means to be a responsible person while acting as an engineer: a conscientious
commitment to live by moral values, a comprehensive perspective, autonomy, and
accountability.
 Although the engineers facilitate experiments, they are not alone in the field. Their
responsibility is shared with the organizations, people, government, and others. No doubt
the engineers share a greater responsibility while monitoring the projects, identifying the
risks, and informing the clients and the public with facts. Based on this, they can take
decisions to participate or protest or promote.
 The engineer, as an experimenter, owe several responsibilities to the society, namely,
1. A conscientious commitment to live by moral values.
2. A comprehensive perspective on relevant information. It includes constant awareness
of the progress of the experiment and readiness to monitor the side effects, if any.
3. Unrestricted free-personal involvement in all steps of the project/product development
(autonomy).
4. be accountable for the results of the project (accountability).
a) Conscientiousness(Awareness):
 Conscientious moral commitment means:
(a) Being sensitive to full range of moral values and responsibilities relevant to the
prevailing situation and
(b) The willingness to develop the skill and put efforts needed to reach the best balance
possible among those considerations. In short, engineers must possess open eyes, open
ears, and an open mind (i.e., moral vision, moral listening, and moral reasoning).
 This makes the engineers as social experimenters, respect foremost the safety and health
of the affected, while they seek to enrich their knowledge, rush for the profit, follow the
rules, or care for only the beneficiary. The human rights of the participant should be
protected through voluntary and informed consent.

b) Comprehensive Perspective
 Conscientiousness is blind without relevant factual information. Hence showing moral
concern involves a commitment to obtain and properly assess all available information
that is pertinent to meeting moral obligations.
 This means, as a first step, fully grasping the context of one’s work, which makes it count
as an activity having a moral import. For example, in designing a heat exchanger, if I
ignore the fact that it will be used in the manufacture of a potent, illegal hallucinogen, I
am showing a lack of moral concern.
 One should not ignore his conscience, if the product or project that he is involved will
result in damaging the nervous system of the people (or even the enemy, in case of
weapon development).
  A product has a built-in obsolete or redundant component to boost sales with a false
claim. In possessing of the perspective of factual information, the engineer should exhibit
a moral concern and not agree for this design. Sometimes, the guilt is transferred to the
government or the competitors.
 Some organizations think that they will let the government find the fault or let the
fraudulent competitor be caught first. Finally, a full-scale environmental or social impact
study of the product or project by individual engineers is useful but not possible, in
practice.
c) Moral Autonomy
 Moral autonomy is defined as, decisions and actions exercised on the basis of moral
concern for other people and recognition of good moral reasons. Alternatively, moral
autonomy means ‘self determinant or independent’.
 The autonomous people hold moral beliefs and attitudes based on their critical reflection
rather than on passive adoption of the conventions of the society or profession.
 Moral autonomy may also be defined as a skill and habit of thinking rationally about the
ethical issues, on the basis of moral concern.
 Viewing engineering as social experimentation, and anticipating unknown consequences
should promote an attitude of questioning about the adequacy of the existing economic
and safety standards. This proves a greater sense of personal involvement in one’s work.
 If management views profitability is more important than consistent quality and retention
of the customers that discourage the moral autonomy, engineers are compelled to seek the
support from their professional societies and outside organizations for moral support.
d) Accountability
 The term Accountability means:
1. The capacity to understand and act on moral reasons
2. Willingness to submit one’s actions to moral scrutiny and be responsive to the
assessment of others.
 It includes being answerable for meeting specific obligations, i.e., liable to justify (or
give reasonable excuses) the decisions, actions or means, and outcomes (sometimes
unexpected), when required by the stakeholders or by law.
 The tug-of-war between of causal influence by the employer and moral responsibility of
the employee is quite common in professions. In the engineering practice, the problems
are:
a) The fragmentation of work in a project inevitably makes the final products lie away from
the immediate work place, and lessens the personal responsibility of the employee.
b) Further the responsibilities diffuse into various hierarchies and to various people. Nobody
gets the real feel of personal responsibility.
c) Often projects are executed one after another. An employee is more interested in
adherence of tight schedules rather than giving personal care for the current project.
d) More litigation is to be faced by the engineers (as in the case of medical practitioners).
This makes them wary of showing moral concerns beyond what is prescribed by the
institutions. In spite of all these shortcomings, engineers are expected to face the risk
and show up personal responsibility as the profession demands.
3. CODE OF ETHICS:

 Ethics is generally the discipline or field of study dealing with moral duty or obligation. This
gives rise to set of governing principles or values which in turn are used to judge the
particular conduct or behaviour.
 Code of ethics exhibits rights, duties and obligations of the members of a profession and a
professional society and it have to be adopted by engineering societies as well as engineers.
 Code of ethics provides a framework for ethical judgement for a professional. It serves as
a starting point for ethical decision making. A code expresses the circumstances to ethical
conduct shared by the members of a profession.
 Code is based on broad principles of truth, honesty and trustworthiness, respect for
human life and welfare competence and accountability.
 As a consequence, code of professional ethics is more than a minimum standard of
conduct, rather it is a set of principles which should guide professionals in their daily work.

MODEL CODE OF ETHICS:

To keep up these basic codes of ethics professional engineers shall ,
 Offer services,advice on or undertaking assignments only in areas of their competence
and practice in a careful and diligent manner.
 Act as faithful agents of their clients or employers.
 Keep themselves informed in order to maintain their competence,strive to advance the body
of knowledge within which they practice and provide oppurtunities for the professional
development of their subordinates.
 Conduct themselves with fairness and good faith toward clients , colleagues and others.
 Be aware of and ensure that clients and employers are made aware of societal
and environmental consequences .
 Report to their association and /or appropriate agencies any illegal or unethical engineering
decisions or practices by engineers or others.
ROLES OF CODE OF ETHICS:
The codes exhibit following essential roles:
 INSPIRATION AND GUIDANCE:
1) The codes express the collective commitment of the profession to ethical conduct and
public good and thus inspire the individuals.
2) They identify primary responsibilities and provide statements and guidelines on
interpretation for the professional and professional societies.
3) The engineering societies like AAES-American Association of Engineering
Societies,NSPE-National Society of Professional Engineers,IEEE-Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineering,AICTE-All India Council for Technical Education
etc.,have published codes of ethics.
4) Most of the technological companies like Microsoft,Texas Instruments etc., have set up
their own codes in order to take care of ethical problems while dealing with vendors
and clients.
 SUPPORT TO ENGINEERS:
1. The codes gives positive support to professionals for taking stands on moral
[Link] they serve as potential legal support to discharge professional obligations.
 DETERRENCE AND DISCIPLINE:
1. Code of ethics assist in formally analyzing unethical practices in a profession.
2. If the result of the analysis are found to be correct ,the professional engaged in such a
practice can be suspended or his membership can be terminated.

 EDUCATION AND MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING:

1) Ethical codes can be taught in the educational institutions , or circulate among the public
and officials for imparting the importance of moral issues and values.

2) They also serve for the mutual exchange of views and ideas between public and
professionals with regard to the professional commitments and responsibilities.

 PUBLIC IMAGE ABOUT PROFESSION:

Having codes will boost up the image amongst the public. Codes can also motivate the
engineers to serve the public in an effective manner.

 PROMOTING BUSINESS INTERESTS:

Codes help to moralise the various dealings involved in business in order to get benefits and
to attain objectives.

 ADVANTAGES OF CODE OF ETHICS:

1) Set out the ideals and responsibilities of the profession.
2) Enhance the profile of the profession.
3) Motivate and inspire practitioners.
4) Improve quality and consistency.
5) Raise awareness and consciousness of issues.

 LIMITATIONS OF CODE OF ETHICS:

1) Whether such code is desirable or feasible.

2) Whether ethical values are universally or culturally relativistic.

4. BALANCED OUTLOOK ON LAW:

 The balanced outlook on law signifies the need of laws and regulations in directing
engineering practices.

 With the help of ethical conduct ,a balance is developed between individual needs
and desires against collective need and [Link] the ethical conduct can be
only applied with the help of laws.

 Engineers have to play an effective role in enhancing or changing enforceable rules

of engineering as well as in enforcing [Link] the codes must be enforced with the
help of laws.
CASE STUDY:

BABYLONS BUILDING CODE:

This code was developed by Hammurabhi, King of Babylon in the period of

[Link] builders of his time and all the builders were forced to adhere the codes of
[Link] are the essential features of law.

1) Householder dies due to poor quality construction; builder will be given death sentence.

2) Builders son has to be given death sentence,if the son of the house owner was killed in
destruction of the house.

3) If the householders slave dies for the above mentioned reason,builder have to give one
slave to the householder.

4) If the property damaged or destroyed,builder should replace or reconstruct the house.

The aspects of Babylons building code had a terrible impact on moral duties and
responsibilities of earlier builders.

UNITED STATES STEAMBOAT CODE:

 In united states alone between the years 1816 and 1847,more than 2500 people
were killed and 2000 people were injured due to the explosion of boilers in steamboats.

 Because of this in this year,a law was passed in order to make the provisions for
periodical inspections of safety of boilers and engines.

 But it is clear that this law was not effective due to the corruptions of the inspectors and
also their inadequate training regarding the safety checking.

 In 1865,the law enforcement had the serious setback by the sinking of riverboat due to
boiler explosion.

 Then,American society of mechanical engineers(ASME) formulated the standard

procedures for the regulation of the production of steam boilers and their application in
various fields.

INDUSTRIAL STANDARDS:

 Standards are designed and recommended by Organisations, Trades and professional

association for industrial applications.

 Standards are technical specifications that lay down characteristics of a product such as

1) Size
2) Quality
3) Performance
4) Safety
  The following points indicate some of the objectives and the functional role
of standards.
1) Public, clients and industrial producers are jointed benefits by standards.
2) With the help of designs, names, brands [Link] maintain a steady and balanced
competition in industries.
3) Standards focus on the measure of quality products.

PROBLEMS WITH LAW IN ENGINEERING:

 Increasing demand for enforcing legal restrictions in the field of
[Link] measures

 Minimal compliance.

 It is very difficult to update the laws in order to match with the rapidly
changing technology.

 Many laws remain useless in the form of non-laws.

 Some professionals also have to refer the standard with the readymade specifications as
a substituition for original thought.

PROPER ROLE OF LAW IN ENGINEERING

 If laws are effectively enforced, society will get benefits. Law gives a powerful support
to those who desire to act ethically in their activities.

 For eg, Rain water harvesting,poliodrops etc.

 All rules governing engineering practices should be formulated in such a way to assist
engineering professional to undertake responsible social experimentation.

 If the experimentation is strong,the rules should not try to cover all the possible outcomes
of experiments and they should not force the engineer to follow a rigid course of action.

 The Rules and regulations should be broad in nature, but at the same time they should not
be written firmly in such a way the engineer to be forced to be accountable for his decisions.