Chapter 10 — Engineering ethics and safety
Lesson map
Lesson 10 published. Map, example, EX028.
flowchart TD
N0["Learning outcomes"]
N1["10.1 Ethics in data work"]
N2["10.2 Vulnerable customers"]
N3["10.3 Honest reporting"]
N0 --> N1 --> N2 --> N3
N3 --> EX["Worked example"]
EX --> Q["Exercise EX028"]
Logical drawing
flowchart LR
N0["Learning outcomes"]
N1["10.1 Ethics in data work"]
N2["10.2 Vulnerable customers"]
N3["10.3 Honest reporting"]
N0 --> N1 --> N2 --> N3 --> Q["EX028"]
[Learning outcomes]
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v
[10.1 Ethics in data work]
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v
[10.2 Vulnerable customers]
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v
[10.3 Honest reporting]
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v
[Worked example] --> [Exercise EX028]
Learning outcomes
You will (1) apply engineering ethics to data decisions; (2) consider safety impacts of poor data; (3) handle conflicts of interest.
10.1 Ethics in data work
Engineering codes ask engineers to hold public safety and welfare paramount and to act honestly within their competence. Kofi applies these duties to data. A wrong pressure sensor reading could cause operators to reduce pressure and leave a hospital without water, while a wrong water quality reading could hide contamination. Data governance therefore has safety consequences, and engineers who manage data share responsibility for those consequences even when they never touch a pipe. Kofi writes these duties at the top of his course notebook as a reminder of why his data work matters.
10.2 Vulnerable customers
Tidewater keeps a priority services register of customers who depend on water for medical equipment or need help during interruptions. Kofi recognises that this register includes health information and must be accurate, secure and used only for its purpose. An out-of-date register could mean a customer on home dialysis is not contacted during an outage. He recommends a yearly confirmation with each registered customer and strict access limits, balancing safety with privacy. Only the incident team and customer support can open the register, and every access is logged.
10.3 Honest reporting
Kofi's supervisor at Tidewater asks him to present only the leakage estimate within the regulatory target, omitting the higher estimate that accounts for sensor drift. Kofi recognises a conflict between pressure to look good and his duty to report honestly. He presents both estimates, explains the drift and recommends calibration. Prof. Varga supports him and notes that regulators rely on utilities' data, so selective reporting can mislead public decisions. The supervisor later thanks him, because the regulator's audit asks about sensor calibration that very year.
10.4 Competence and limits
Kofi is asked to approve a change to water quality data processing. He recognises that he lacks the chemistry knowledge to judge whether the change could mask contamination, and he refers the decision to a qualified water quality scientist. He records the referral in the decision log. Prof. Varga explains that knowing the limits of one's competence is an ethical duty, especially when data decisions can affect public health and safety. The scientist approves a revised change after adding a check that flags readings above the safety threshold.
Worked example
Kofi connects data errors to safety, protects the priority services register, reports both leakage estimates despite pressure and refers a water quality decision beyond his competence.
Synthetic case. Cases are synthetic.
Errors and limits
Ethical pressure is often subtle; record decisions and reasons.
Exercises
- EX028 — Safety example. Give a safety consequence of bad data. Rubric: 3 = wrong pressure reading leaves a hospital without water;; 2 = mentions harm;; 1 = vague;; 0 = none.
- EX029 — Register care. What did Kofi recommend for the priority register? Rubric: 3 = yearly confirmation and strict access;; 2 = both;; 1 = one;; 0 = none.
- EX030 — Competence. Why did Kofi refer the water quality change? Rubric: 3 = lacked chemistry competence;; 2 = partly correct;; 1 = vague;; 0 = none.
Continue studying — lesson 10 (chapter 10 of 50)
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