Protecting the Public Is the Bedrock of ASCE's Code of Ethics

Abstract

Protecting the public Is the foundation of ASCE's Code of Ethics. When the Task Committee on the Code of Ethics embarked on its effort to develop the new ASCE Code of Ethics, it began by compiling a list of the moral principles that the committee felt to be the most critical to the practice of engineering. As this list took shape, it became apparent that nearly all the principles defined in the existing code, such as competence, truthfulness, and integrity were still highly relevant to today’s engineering practice. Chief among these essential principles was the engineer’s duty to the public. In addition, the directive to hold the public paramount seemed to be placing its focus on the engineer’s state of mind, and the committee held that the new code would benefit from a more action-centric expression of this ethical obligation.