Engineering Ethics: Exploitation and Worker Safety Issues

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Ethical Issues

The first ethical issue in the case study is exploitation. The working conditions described in the case meet all the five criteria Harris et al. (2018) described to qualify as exploitation. For example, the employers resources (money) are vital for workers; workers do not get fair compensation for their job, and exploitation is their only possible relationship because of their illegal status.

The second ethical problem is worker safety issues. According to The American Society of Civil Engineers (2020), engineers are obliged to foster public and workplace safety. In this case, this obligation is violated because workers do not have proper qualifications and medical insurance to cover possible health damage.

Issue Analysis

According to Harris et al. (2018), ethical issues can be resolved using imperialist or relativist solutions. An imperialist solution to exploitation would be to report the issue to the authorities. A relativist solution would be to continue working on the project without making any changes.

Rather than going to these extremes, Carlos can take another course of action. It is sometimes called the creative middle way (Zhu & Jesiek, 2020). Regarding exploitation, such a way would be for Carlos to ask advice from more experienced colleagues and help to legalize Ecuadorians. This is the best solution because it will help Carlos fulfill his moral obligation of challenging the companys practice and will not hurt Ecuadorians.

The extreme solutions to the safety issue would be similar to those in the above case. The imperialist solution would be to report safety violations to the authorities. The relativist solution would be to comply with the host countrys practices and continue working without changes.

Yet, the suggested solution for Carlos would be to take additional safety measures. For example, he can provide intensive training to Ecuadorians to teach them to perform the job safely. This is the best solution because it will not hurt Ecuadorians and reduce their health risks.

Summary

In response to the problem of exploitation, Carlos should get advice from trusted and experienced colleagues and help Ecuadorians with legalization. To address safety issues, he should implement safety measures by providing training to workers. These measures will respect the host countrys values and help Carlos challenge the companys practices.

Table

Outcome Positive or Negative? Affected party(ies)
Workers trained in safety Positive Workers
Workers legalization Positive Workers
Completed project Positive Workers, Carlos, the company

References

The American Society of Civil Engineers. (2020). Code of ethics. Web.

Harris, C. E., Pritchard, M. S., James, R. W., Englehardt, E. E., & Rabins, M. J. (2018). Engineering ethics: Concepts and cases (6th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Zhu, Q., & Jesiek, B. K. (2020). Practicing engineering ethics in global context: A comparative study of expert and novice approaches to cross-cultural ethical situations. Science and Engineering Ethics, 26(4), 2097-2120.

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