Ethics are the accepted moral principles, guidelines and rules that govern behaviors in the various professional fields. Engineering ethics are the moral principles that apply to the people who practice engineering. These ethics outlines how the engineers should conduct themselves towards the public, their clients and guides on how engineers should conduct themselves professionally. The Engineers are expected to uphold these ethics and shall be punished in case they fail to uphold these principles. Sherlock Holmes touches on the various ethical standards that the engineers need to meet. The story talks of a hydraulic engineer, Mr. Hertherley, who is hired by a German, known as Colonel Lysander Stark to fix their hydraulic machine on condition that he does not disclose their secret and that the work will be done at night. The Engineer goes to the Germans residence at night to fix the hydraulic machine (Basart & Serra, 2011, p.179). When the Engineers have known what the hydraulic machine is used for, the German tries to kill him, but Mr. Hetherley escapes.
According to engineering code of ethics, engineers should concern themselves with practices that are deceptive to the public. Notably, the Engineer was not telling the truth to Colonel Lysander Stark on how to fix the hydraulic as he later says that “I think that I should be better able to advise you as to your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it was used” (Doyle). From this, we can tell that the engineer had not given the best solution to Colonel Lysander Stark (Doyle, n.d). Alternatively, he was not honest on the solution that he had told the German. This implies that the code of conduct was breached hence the work done was substandard.
As per the engineering code of conduct number five, engineers are not allowed to receive money from external agents concerning the work that the engineers are responsible for undertaking the job. Mr. Hetherley accepts fifty guineas, and the German reacted on upon hiring a young man into their profession yet a head of department would have done similar work. Mr. Hetherley would have avoided this experience by acting according to the engineering code of ethics.
The engineer, Mr. Hetherley upholds an engineering code of practice that the engineers should offer the services in which they are experienced (Doyle, n.d). Mr. Hertherley accepts to go to check on the German’s hydraulic machine, a field in which he is competent.
Conclusively, Mr. Hetherley had taken into consideration, the engineering ethics outlined; he would have avoided losing both his thumb and the 50 guineas. Mr. Hetherly, at last, accepts his mistake and says that though he has lost his thumb and the fifty guineas, he has learned from the experience he has gone through.
References
Basart, J. M., & Serra, M. (2011). Engineering Ethics Beyond Engineers’ Ethics. Sci Eng Ethics, 19(1), 179-187. doi:10.1007/s11948-011-9293-z
Doyle, A. C. (n.d.). Short Stories: The Adventure Of The Engineer's Thumb by Arthur Conan Doyle. Retrieved from http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/AdveEngi.shtml
