Engineering Ethics

Engineers do not work in a vacuum but are guided by the policies of their professional organizations, specific job requirements, industry requirements, and regulations at various levels of government.  When an incident occurs, sometimes the different levels of responsibilities conflict with each other.  One might argue that a specific incident was due to a failure of government regulations, industry regulations, or the individual engineer.

In this week’s assignment, you choose from a list of engineering incidents that look at the questions of responsibility, blame, and guilt.  Make sure you thoroughly research the details of the incident that you choose.  You should answer the following questions:

·  What led to the incident?

·  What were the prior relevant obligations for each level of responsibility (individuals, firms, and government/regulatory agencies)?

·  Were there any obligations that were not properly fulfilled?

·  Who should bear the blame?

·  Was the incident handled appropriately?

You may choose from one of the following:

·  US Airways Flight 1549 (the “Miracle on the Hudson”)

·  Flint Water Crisis

·  Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster

·  Northeast Blackout of 2003

Write a one-to-two-page paper (not including title page or references, submit as a Word document).  Use Times New Roman or Calibri, font size 12, one-inch margins, double-spaced.  Don’t forget to cite inside the paper.  Be sure to include references at the end.