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Essay / Key Responsibilities and Code of Ethics in the Engineering Profession
Ethics is the formal study of morality. Morality is a behavior by which a person must act. An engineer's code of ethics describes the moral guidelines by which an engineer should act. The IEE lists 10 codes of ethics which can be summarized as follows: Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get an original essayPrioritizing the safety, health, and welfare of the publicAvoiding and disclosing real or perceived conflicts of interest to relevant partiesBe honest and realistic in making data-driven assertionsReject corruption in all its forms - Improve understanding of conventional and emerging technologiesMaintain and improve own technical skillsSeek, accept and offer honest criticism of technical work and acknowledge corrections and accept criticismTreat all people fairly, regardless of factors such as race, etc...Avoid harming others, their property, reputation or employment through false or malicious actionAssisting colleagues and co-workers in professional developmentA engineer is responsible for acting correctly and in accordance with the above code of ethics at all times. However, responsibility and morality, although similar, have different meanings. There are three main forms of an engineer's liability: Causal: The operator Role: Role or assigned task or virtue of the position Legal: Legal ramifications by which a person can be sued Legal liability and code of ethics are easily confused . Just because an engineer is not legally responsible does not mean that he or she is not morally responsible. Morals can be shared and focus on future actions. It should be noted that many of the ethics codes listed by the IEEE will not result in any legal ramifications. For example, a senior engineer's role is to transmit his expert knowledge to a young graduate engineer. Knowledge sharing is a key trait of a responsible engineer. This cannot be achieved without a willingness to learn. An engineer has the responsibility to continually strive to learn and it is a balance between learning and teaching that makes a responsible engineer. VW emissions scandal The Volkswagen scandal broke in September 2015, when the company admitted that nearly 600,000 cars sold in the United States had been equipped with it. with “defective devices”. These “defective devices” were actually a software system that turned on when the car was tested for emissions and turned off when driven down the road [2]. This led to VW cars emitting much higher emissions while being driven commercially, contrary to what VW claimed and what had been tested. The situation arose in early 2006 when Volkswagen realized it could not produce a diesel engine that would give customers the performance they wanted and meet strict U.S. emissions standards. . What is ethically worse than the fraud itself is the cover-up. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch stated that “VW covered up the facts, denied it, and ultimately lied” [2]. Engineers specifically stated that the device should absolutely not be used in the United States and some engineers raised objections to the device in late 2006 [1]. The software cover-up reached the highest echelons of VW, with former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn accused of.