I have been a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) for over five years and am slowly working towards becoming a Chartered Engineer. The Engineering Council is the gatekeeper to who can and can not become a Chartered Engineer and, subsequently, appends the Post-nominal titles of EngTech, ICTTech, IEng, and CEng after your name.
One pre-requisite for chartered status is that you shall promise to observe the code of conduct and the Statement of Ethical Principles. There are four fundamental principles:
- Honesty and integrity
- Respect for life, law, the environment and public good
- Accuracy and rigour
- Leadership and communication
I must wonder about the second: “Respect for life, law, the environment and public good.”
The Engineering Council further break down this requirement.
Engineering professionals have a duty to obey all applicable laws and regulations and give due weight to facts, published standards and guidance and the wider public interest.
They should:
- hold paramount the health and safety of others and draw attention to hazards
- ensure their work is lawful and justified
- recognise the importance of physical and cyber security and data protection
- respect and protect personal information and intellectual property
- protect, and where possible, improve, the quality of built and natural environments
- maximise the public good and minimise both actual and potential adverse effects for their own and succeeding generations
- take due account of the limited availability of natural resources
- uphold the reputation and standing of the profession
With agencies within the United Nations, a numbers of experts and rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, accusing Israel of genocidal acts against the Palestinian people during its invasion and bombing of the Gaza Strip organisations such as Elbit, the UK Airforce, and other defence industries it is hard to see how working for these organisations can still be considered compatible with the aims of the Engineering Council of the UK. The alignment is especially hard to see with the clauses “their work is lawful and justified” or relates to the “health and safety of others.” not to mention “minimise both actual and potential adverse effects for their own and succeeding generations”.
Without the Engineering Council re-assessing its ties to Defence, Fossil Fuels, and other industries that appear to contradict its ethical principles directly, it has to be asked if they have the right to be the gatekeepers for deciding who can become a Chartered Engineer in the UK.
Unfortunately, at this point in my career, becoming a Chartered Engineer is a prerequisite for progression, and paying my dues to the Engineering Council is the only way to achieve this registration.
