The Ethical Issues Inherent in Any Engineering Design

Abstract Technology is the basic contributor to the successful development of mankind. Therefore, people involved into the technological development are responsible for people in some way. They make decisions regarding the products people are to use, the ships, the cars, the airplanes, trains, and many other things people use every day. More to say, engineers have to carry the major responsibility for people and their life, considering the above-said. The design practices are necessary to be discussed. The discussion of design practice should appropriately contribute to engineering ethics analysis. It should provide the detailed background, using which it is easy to understand why ethical issues is a serious part in engineering design and how engineers are able to manage these issues. The paper should add more information regarding the moral responsibility of engineers in design processes. The primary aim of the paper can be summarized as follows: To provide a contribution to evaluation on the moral responsibilities of engineers in engineering design processes. Keywords: technology, design practice, ethical issues, moral responsibilities, engineers. Introduction Technology has been affecting mankind during the entire history of its development. In some sense, human life depends on technology. Thus, the story of the roll-on/roll-off (ro/ro) passenger and freight ferry the Herald of Free Enterprise that happened on March the 6th, 1987 is the example of such tragic dependence (BBC, 2012). This ferry capsized outside the Zeebrugge harbor due to the human mistake that however, was provoked by technological issue. Water filled the ship very quickly and this lead to the death of 150 passengers and 38 crewmembers (BBC, 2012). The disaster happened because of the following reason: the inner and outer bow doors were not closed as they should have been when the ship left port. The man in charge of this issue (the assistant bosun) should have closed the doors (BBC, 2012). Unfortunately, he was sleeping. The technological problem was in the inability to see from the bridge the current state of the bow doors. There were no warning lights to signal about a problem (BBC, 2012). Such situation has occurred before at least two times with the ships of the same company. There were no tragic consequences but the problem was before it had led to the death of innocent people. It is clear that it was human error provoked by the pressure to depart quickly. However, it is also obvious that the aspect of ship design was the root of the problem that led to disaster. The same story happened with another ro/ro ferry, the Estonia. The main point is that the design of the ship was the problem. It was engineering problem. Therefore, technology has a serious influence on people. The employment of new technologies and products leads to new possibilities and new risks. In other words, decisions engineers and designers make during design processes directly influence the possibilities and risks of products. Thus, these decisions are connected or ethically relevant. As it can be …