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Employer Responsibilities. Under the OSH law, employers have a responsibility to
provide a safe workplace. ... Establish or update operating procedures and communicate
them so that employees follow safety and health requirements
HUMAN RIGHTS
a) Fundamental Freedoms
Freedom of conscience and religion ;
Freedom of thoughts,belief,opinionand expression ,including freedom of the press and other media
of communication;
Freedom of peaceful assembly;
Freedom of association.
b) Democratic Rights
Right to vote
PROFESSIONAL RIGHTS
The rights that engineers have as professionals are called Professional Rights. These professional
rights include −
The basic right of professional conscience.
The right of conscientious refusal.
The right of professional recognition.
Right of Professional Conscience
This is a basic right which explains that the decisions taken while carrying on with the duty,
where they are taken in moral and ethical manner, cannot be opposed. The right of professional
conscience is the moral right to exercise professional judgement in pursuing professional
responsibilities It requires autonomous moral judgement in trying to uncover the most morally
reasonable courses of action, and the correct courses of action are not always obvious.
There are two general ways to justify the basic right of professional conscience.
The exercise of moral reflection and conscience that justifies professional duties is
necessary, with respect to that duty.
The general duties to respect persons and rule-utilitarianism would accent the public good
of allowing engineers to pursue their professional duties. It requires autonomous moral
judgement in trying to uncover the most morally reasonable courses of action, and the
correct courses of action are not always obvious.
Right of Conscientious Refusal
The right of conscientious refusal is the right to refuse to engage in unethical behavior. This can
be done solely because it feels unethical to the doer. This action might bring conflicts within the
authority-based relationships.
The two main situations to be considered here are −
When it is already stated that certain act is unethical in a widely shared agreement among
all the employees.
When there occurs disagreement among considerable number of people whether the act is
unethical.
Right to Recognition
An engineer has a right to the recognition of one’s work and accomplishments. An engineer also
has right to speak about the work one does by maintaining confidentiality and can receive
external recognition. The right for internal recognition which includes patents, promotions, raises
etc. along with a fair remuneration, are also a part of it.
EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
PRIVACY
The right to privacy refers to the right of having a private life, off the job. It is the right to control
the access to and the use of information about oneself.
The examples of situations where the functions of employers conflict the rights of employees will be
when the job-related queries or any other tests conducted in a job, includes questions relating to
personal life such as alcohol usage or sexual conduct. The instances when a supervisor unlocks and
checks the desk of his subordinate in his absence or when the management questions about his likes,
dislikes or posts on social media regarding his personal opinions where it has nothing to do with the
company.Employers should
view the relationship with their employees concerning confidentiality that cannot break the
trust. The personal information in such cases is given based on the special professional
relation and trust. Intellectual Property Rights
, etc.
Equal Opportunity – Non-discrimination
The demeaning of a person based on trivial factors such as one’s sex, race, skin color, age or
political or religious outlook can be understood as Discrimination. Such a discrimination should
never be allowed at any workplace; this is where everyone has to be treated equally. These things
internally affect the person’s self-identity and self-respect which is pernicious within the work
environment, where the work itself should represent a person’s self-image.
Equal Opportunity – Sexual Harassment
In today’s world, there is an increase in the number of sexual harassment cases across the world.
This is quiet an unfortunate scenario. There were a number of cases where the charges were
levied since last two decades, which kept on growing. A definition of Sexual harassment is,
“The unwanted imposition of sexual requirements in the context of a relationship of unequal
power”. Sexual harassment is a display of power and aggression through sexual means. It takes
two forms, quid pro quo and hostile work environment.
Protection of IPR
Like the other rights, the intellectual rights also should be protected and supported. The IPR
(Intellectual property Rights) need to be protected in order to serve the following reasons
The creations and inventions are the paths which lead to the progress of human
development, either in technology or culture.
These inventions should be protected legally in order to develop the commitment and
interest for more creations.
These intellectual properties must be protected and promoted which indirectly promote
the economic growth that creates new jobs and industries, and enhances the quality and
enjoyment of life.
The Intellectual property rights are protected by certain measures like patents, trademarks,
industrial designs, copyrights, etc.
Intellectual Property Rights
Intellectual property right is a type of property right which allows the creators or owners of
patents trademarks or copyrighted works to benefit from their own work or investment. These
rights enable the right person to benefit from the protection of moral and material interests
resulting from the authorship of scientific, literary or artistic productions. These rights are
outlines in the article 27 of the Universal declaration of Human rights.
WIPO
The intellectual property rights are protected by an International organization called as the
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) which was established in 1970. This
organization was established to ensure the protection of rights of creators and owners of
Intellectual property across the world. The inventors and authors are therefore recognized and
rewarded for their ingenuity
Whistleblowing
Whistleblowing occurs when an employee or former employee conveys information about a
significant moral problem to someone in a position to take action on the problem and does so
outside approved organizational channels (or against strong pressure).
When the information is passed outside the organization, it is External Whistleblowing. When
the information is conveyed to someone within the organization, it is Internal Whistleblowing.
While conveying the information, if the individuals openly reveal their identity, it is Open
Whistleblowing; and if one conceals their identity, it is Anonymous Whistleblowing.
Concerns of Whistleblowing
It is generally believed to be permissible and obligatory to whistleblow if the following
conditions are met −
The actual or potential harm reported is serious.
The harm has been adequately documented.
The concerns have been reported to immediate superiors.
After not getting satisfaction from immediate superiors, regular channels within the
organization have been used to reach up to the highest levels of management.
There is reasonable hope that whistleblowing can help prevent or remedy the harm.
Protecting Whistle blowers
Whistle blowing entails a substantial risk of retaliation which is difficult and expensive to challenge.
when carefully formulated and enforced, provide two types of benefits for the public, in addition
to protecting the responsible whistleblower. They are episodic and systemic. The episodic
benefits help in preventing any harm to the public in particular situations. The systemic benefits
are in sending a strong message to the industry to act responsibly or be subject to public scrutiny
once the whistle is blown.
Beyond Whistleblowing
The need for internal whistleblowing occurs when there is no openness or freedom to
communicate the odds within the organization. There should be direct access to the higher levels
of management, at least under certain special circumstances. A further better step can be the
involvement of an ombudsperson or an ethics review committee with genuine freedom to
investigate complaints and make independent recommendations to top management.
Ethical Issues Facing Engineers and their Professional
Frequently, and in many different countries, the engineering professionals are criticized for
a number of occurrences that took place and which adversely affected people or the environment.
Everything that engineers do affects the society and its development and, occasionally, the consequences
of these actions are not fully thought out, not anticipated, or not fully understood, but the results are
undesirable just the same. In order to meet the challenges of the time engineers must be properly
prepared to face the moral, legal and ethical ramifications of their actions. Engineering students are
interested in ethical issues as was demonstrated with a high level of
questions every single time the authors presented ethics in an engineering context as well as
product
liability issues.
THE BART CASE
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit public transportation system serving the San
Francisco Bay Area in California. The heavy rail elevated and subway system connects San
Francisco and Oakland with urban and suburban areas in Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Mateo
counties. BART serves 48 stations along six routes on 112 miles (180 km) of rapid transit lines,
including a ten-mile spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which utilizes diesel multiple-unit
trains and a 3.2-mile (5.1 km) automated guideway transit line to the Oakland International
Airport. With an average of 423,000 weekday passengers and 124.2 million annual passengers in
fiscal year 2017,[1] BART is the fifth-busiest heavy rail rapid transit system in the United States.
BART is operated by the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, formed in 1957. The
initial system opened in stages from 1972 to 1974. As of late 2019, it is being expanded to San
Jose with the Silicon Valley BART extensions
RESPONSIBILITIES TO EMPLOYERS
Respect for Authority. Respect for Authority Social psychologists have found that respect for authority
is a universal instinctive trait in human psychology. ... These individuals believe strong authority figures
are necessary to maintain social order and prevent society from devolving into chaos.safe workplace.
... Establish or update operating procedures and communicate them so that employees follow
safety and health requirements. Employers must provide safety training in a language and
vocabulary workers can understand.
Collegiality and loyality
University students’ experience of cross-disciplinary collegiality and interaction with research-
active teachers are explored using the results from two separate, but related, studies. In the first
study, variation in students’ understanding of collegiality and how it is experienced is investigated.
The second (quantitative) study explores the relations between students’ perceptions of collegiality
in their learning environment and their learning outcomes and satisfaction.
collaborative learning collegiality cross-disciplinary research-teaching
links student approaches to learning
Respect for Authority
Respect for Authority Social psychologists have found that respect for authority is a universal
instinctive trait in human psychology. ... These individuals believe strong authority figures are
necessary to maintain social order and prevent society from devolving into chaos.
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed
at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of
workers' compensation and rights for workers. The interests of the employees are commonly
presented by representatives of a trade union to which the employees belong. The collective
agreements reached by these negotiations usually set out wage scales, working hours, training,
health and safety, overtime, grievance mechanisms, and rights to participate in workplace or
company affairs
Confidentiality
Confidentiality involves a set of rules or a promise usually executed through confidentiality
agreements that limits access or places restrictions on certain types of information.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality involves a set of rules or a promise usually executed through confidentiality
agreements that limits access or places restrictions on certain types of information.
Legal confidentiality
Medical confidentiality
HIV confidentiality
Clinical and counseling psychology
Commercial confidentiality
Banking confidentiality
Public policy concern
conflict of interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in
multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against
another. Typically, this relates to situations in which the personal interest of an individual or
organization might adversely affect a duty owed to make decisions for the benefit of a third
party.
The presence of a conflict of interest is independent of the occurrence of impropriety. Therefore,
a conflict of interest can be discovered and voluntarily defused before any corruption occurs. A
conflict of interest exists if the circumstances are reasonably believed (on the basis of past
experience and objective evidence) to create a risk that a decision may be unduly influenced by
other, secondary interests, and not on whether a particular individual is actually influenced by a
secondary interest.
Occupational crime is crime that is committed through opportunity created in the course of legal
occupation. Thefts of company property, vandalism, the misuse of information and many other activities
come under the rubric of occupational crime.The concept of occupational crime - as one of the principal
forms of white collar crime - has been quite familiar and widely invoked since the publication of Clinard
and Quinney's influential Criminal Behavior Systems: A Typology. More recently, however, the term
occupational crime has been applied to activities quite removed from the original meaning of white
collar crime, and it has been used interchangeably with such terms as occupational deviance and
workplace crime. In the interest of greater conceptual clarity within the field of white collar crime the
argument is made here for restricting the term 'occupational crime' to illegal and unethical activities
committed for individual financial gain - or to avoid financial loss - in the context of a legitimate
occupation. The term 'occupational deviance' is better reserved for deviation from occupational norms
(e.g. drinking on the job; sexual harassment), and the term 'workplace crime' is better reserved for
conventional forms of crime committed in the workplace (e.g. rape; assault). The conceptual conflation
of fundamentally dissimilar activities hinders theoretical, empirical, and policy-related progress in the
field of white collar crime studies.
