The new report - 'Engineering Ethics: maintaining society’s trust in the engineering profession' - has been published with the aim of ensuring that ethical culture and practice become embedded in the engineering profession in the same way as health and safety considerations.
The report has been 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.
While reported public trust in engineers remains high (a 2021 poll ranked engineers as the sixth most-trusted profession, behind nurses and doctors), 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...