PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN ENGINEERING
1) Tom was named the department manager of a large new chemical process unit which was to be designed and then constructed. Tom's responsibilities included forming the process unit staff, looking over the designers' shoulders to assure the plant was designed to be safe, operable and maintainable, and then starting the plant up after construction. During his previous experience Tom had noted that a new type of valve and valve operator could often be used in place of more common gate valves and their operators. In every case the new valve was less expensive and often gave a tighter shutoff than the gate valve. Tom convinced the project designer to add even more of these valves and operators to the design. This improved safety, because more flows could be shutoff more quickly in an emergency. After a large number of valves had been specified and purchased, the salesman of the valves visited Tom and invited him on a very nice fishing trip to South America. Tom had not known the salesman, Jim, prior to the visit. He also had no direct purchasing responsibilities; he had just wanted the valves for increased safety in the new process unit. Should he accept the fishing trip? 2) Stephanie Simon worked in an environmental company. Her boss was Adam Baines. An accidental chemical spill from the company took place. Stephanie made a report. Stephanie Simon knew Environmental Manager Adam Baines would not be pleased with her report on the chemical spill. The data clearly indicated that the spill was large enough that regulations required it to be reported to the state. Stephanie perceived Adam to be someone who thinks industry is over-regulated, especially in the environmental area. At the same time, he prided himself as a major player in maintaining XYZ's public reputation as an environmental leader in the chemical industry. "We do a terrific job," he often said. "And we don't need a bunch of hard to read, difficult to interpret, easily misunderstood state regulations to do it. We got along just fine before the regulators ran wild, and we're doing fine now." When Stephanie presented her report to Adam, he lost his temper. "This is ridiculous! We're not going to send anything like this to the state. A few gallons over the limit isn't worth the time it's going to take to fill out those damned forms. I can't believe you'd submit a report like this. Stephanie, go back to your desk and rework those numbers until it comes out right. I don't want to see any more garbage like this." What should Stephanie do
