A new report, Engineering Ethics: maintaining society’s trust in the engineering profession, seeks to ensure that ethical culture and practice become embedded in the engineering profession in the same way as health and safety considerations. The report was produced by the joint Engineering Ethics Reference Group, established in 2019 by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Engineering Council, and includes a roadmap of short-, medium- and long-term actions to embed ethical best practice. At the heart of the report is the need to retain public confidence in the ethical behaviour of engineers.

As one of the actions from this report, to support educational programmes, 12 initial case studies have been produced for undergraduate teaching. These were produced by the Engineering Professors’ Council (EPC) for the Royal Academy of Engineering.

While reported public trust in engineers remains high, the ever growing expectations of society coupled with new advances in technology mean that engineers must continually evaluate how ethical behaviours need to improve and evolve. Inevitably, there are tensions between profitability, sustainability and safety that engineers seek to be aware of and need to balance.

The engineering profession has been working for many years on embedding ethical culture and practice into the profession, including operating sustainably, inclusively and with respect for diverse views. Together, such behaviours make a profession aspirational and trustworthy but require a culture of continuous improvement.

'Engineering Ethics' marks the next step in this work, summarising progress so far and recommending actions that reinforce benefit to society while seeking to embed an ethical culture of continuous improvement. The report encourages all engineering organisations and employers to consider what they should be doing to embed ethical thinking more strongly in all that we do.

The report was launched at an online event chaired by Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE, RAEng Chief Executive, with panellists Professor David Bogle CEng FIChemE FREng, Chi Onwurah MP, Engineering Council Chairman Professor Chris Atkin CEng FRAeS FREng, Dr Ollie Folayan CEng FIChemE, co-founder of AFBE-UK and Maitheya Riva, early career representative from IOM3. The event is now available to watch on demand. For more information see www.engc.org.uk/ethics

Professor David Bogle FIChemE FREng, Chair of the Engineering Ethics Reference Group, said: “Engineers act in the service of society, making decisions that affect everyone, from small-scale technical choices to major strategic decisions that can affect the lives of millions and even the future of our planet. We want to make sure that ethical practice is at the heart of all these decisions.

“Our vision is that UK engineering ethics principles and practice are regarded nationally and internationally as world class, with ethics embedded in engineering culture such that society can maintain confidence and trust in the profession.

“Realising this goal will require collaborative action and shared responsibility. But this is essential if we are to retain public trust and attract young people into the profession who truly reflect the diversity of society and who will help achieve a sustainable society and inclusive economy that works for everyone.”

The actions suggested by the report are grouped under five themes and are all drawn from feedback from the profession, with the aim of fostering a culture of ethical debate and accountability. They will increase awareness of ethical issues within the engineering profession and improve engineers’ ability to both deal with, and call out, bad practice.

The themes are:

• Leadership and accountability
  Maintain position and recognition as leaders in driving ethical standards and practice forwards, where leadership means encouraging behaviours that can be practised across all levels of the engineering profession, not just by senior members.
• Education and training
  Support and maintain a consistent and coherent approach (across HE/FE/CPD) to improve the quality of how ethics is understood by those in the engineering profession.
• Professionalism
  Engage with the profession to maximise adoption of professional values, ethics and practice. Encourage engineers to ‘Think ethics before action’. Maximise the number of professionally registered individuals in the engineering community to uphold ethical practice and increase the accountability of individuals against ethical standards.
• Engagement
  Maximise engagement with society and industry to foster public awareness of ethics in engineering. Stress the centrality of ethics to the engineering profession, promoting debate and learn how this may influence our ethical responsibilities.
• Governance and measurement
  Understand ethical culture in the engineering profession, benchmark against and learn from other professions, and set targets and develop tools and guidance for future improvements.

The Royal Academy of Engineering and the Engineering Council have agreed to take forward the proposed actions with the support of the professional engineering institutions and a new governance framework is proposed to manage this process. The Academy is also publishing 12 new case studies, designed for use in engineering education and for individual engineers, to illustrate ethical issues.