Ethics also called moral philosophy is a system that is generally incorporated to maintain the

wellbeing of the human society. Ethics is subjective in terms of culture, religions, countries,
races and also individuality. Unlike law which infuses conduct into humans through the feeling
of fear and shame ethics try to achieve the same by inspiring the feeling of guilt among men and
women. Ethics and law while being mutually exclusive in some cases agree upon many aspects
in most cases. While law is stated in black and white ethics is usually grey which means that
although law is written in specific, interpreted and argued at courts, ethics are boundless and
vague. For this reason ethics is used in a society to guide the conscience of humans.
Almost all professional bodies, institutions etc. use a Code of Ethics which is a moral framework
to guide its members through dilemmas which law cannot have direct access to. However
breaching the code of ethics can often lead to litigation because of the fact that ethics and law
share common elements.
Institute of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) as the largest collaboration of professional engineers in
the country expects its members to abide by the IESL Code of Ethics (Code) to ensure that the
standards of the engineering profession is duly maintained and that the societal expectations
from an engineer is satisfactorily met. It consists of 8 main clauses and several sub-rules under
each main clause. In brief the main clauses are as follows
1. An engineer should give priority to the health and safety, public welfare and proper
resource utilization above the professional, employer or private interests when
discharging duties as an engineer.
2. An engineer should safeguard and uplift the honor and status of the profession without
compromising public interest.
3. An engineers reputation and stature should be built upon merit rather than biased
preferences or unfair competition.
4. An engineer should only discharge his professional duties only within his/her
competencies.
5. An engineer should be rationally loyal to his/her employer or client professionally while
safeguarding public interests.
6. An engineer shall only issue truthful statements objectively.
7. An engineer should continue to develop his/her professional competencies and willingly
assist juniors in the profession to develop theirs.
8. An engineer should focus on environmental sustainability while discharging their duties.
This report from here onwards critically analyses the possible impacts of IESL Code of Ethics in
light of infamous industrial disasters of the past.
Bhopal Gas Tragedy 1984
This is considered as one of the worst industrial disasters of the past. Bhopal is a city 200 miles
south of New Delhi. The plant was run by an Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide which is an
American multi-national. It manufactured a pesticide called SEVIN using an extremely toxic
chemical called Methyl Isocyanate (MIC). The accidental discharge of MIC fume into the
atmosphere at night caused the catastrophe by poisoning the neighboring residents of the factory.

Official reports reveal 3800 fatalities and 11000 disables with severe reportorial ailments owing
to this disaster. The plant held one of the largest storages of MIC in the world, about 130 tons of
it in three tanks. The man reason for the disaster was later identified as contamination of water
with this chemical which resulted in an explosive reaction and released 27 tons of toxic MIS
vapor and 14 tons of reaction byproducts was released for about 90 minutes according to the
Indian Government reports.
Separate investigations on this tragedy was launched by the Indian Government, Union Carbide
and scores of journalists each pointing out at fairly different explanations. The Indian
Government pointed at an employee failing to follow a safety procedure while flushing
equipment with water which resulted in leakage of water into the MIC tank. Additionally they
remarked that the valves were poorly maintained causing leakages, the cooling unit of the
chemical storage tank was turned off. In contrast Union Carbides investigation explained that an
employer has intentionally mixed water with the chemical without pondering on the
consequences as an act of mischief. On the contrary journalists pointed out at a wider spectrum
of causes considering the design of the plant, its location and day to day operations. First of all
MIC which is an extremely poisonous chemical was used a raw material. It was held in very
large tanks in large volumes. Another investigation by a group companies in the chemical
industry revealed that the equipment at the factory was poorly maintained or turned off including
a gas scrubber and a flare tower which could have destroyed the toxic product chemically and by
burning after its release. Their conclusion was that this event was a result of poor routine
management of the factory rather than a bad accident.
In the IESL Code of Ethics clause one the health and safety of the public is said to be paramount
above all other elements for an engineer. This should have been considered by the professionals
at the Bhopal plant from its design to operations. The factory was located amidst a heavily
residential area filled with slums. It was also rumored that a public alarm system for gas leakage
did not work. Additionally, it was also revealed that similar occurrences of minute scale have
occurred earlier which had been overlooked. These factors clearly violate the first clause. If the
imminent reason was a mistake of an employee it can lead to the fact that the engineer in charge
of him has not adequately trained and guided the worker which is a breach of clause no. 7. Most
importantly it is apparent that different investigations have come up with different explanations
for the event with Union Carbide trying to get away by putting the burden on a single employee.
This is a serious violation of clause number 6 about truthful statements. The professionals should
have provided genuine evidence objectively at investigations to avoid the occurrence of a similar
disaster in the future by helping to find out the actual root cause. In summary it is well apparent
that if the professionals had adopted the IESL Code of Ethics the effects of this tragedy could
have been minimized if not avoided in its entirety.
Chernobyl Disaster 1986
This is considered worst civilian nuclear disaster to date. Although the death toll was recorded as
31 it had many tragic aftermaths and continues to give out trouble for generations to come.
Chernobyl was a highly sophisticated nuclear power plant run by the then Soviet Union on land
now belong to Ukraine. At the time of the disaster the technicians was carrying out a test on one

of its four nuclear reactors. One of the operators did a mistake which drastically reduced the
reactors power output. This caused high radiation build up in the reactor which could not be
properly displaced and increased the amount of steam generated and in turn a power surge
occurred. The situation sounded warning alarms. They were switched off and water was
discharged to cool down the reactor before resuming the test amidst danger. During the test
another massive power surge occurred to control that graphite control rods were lowered.
However the technicians had not known that sudden insertion of the rods increases the power
further. The massive amount of steam generated by this enormous power surge could not be
borne by the heavy safeguards of the reactors and collapsed the whole reactor. The explosion
which was measured to be 400 times as the Hiroshima atomic bomb released 8 tons of
radioactive debris to the atmosphere. The fire lasted for 15 days. 115000 people were evacuated.
The officials build sarcophagus immediately encasing 200 tons of fuel to prevent further leakage
of radioactive material. However until the plant was decommissioned in the year 2003 the rest of
the three reactors continued to work. A new massive steel confinement structure covering the
initial sarcophagus is scheduled to be put up in 2017 as precaution to any possible future threats.
The Chernobyl disaster unlike the Bhopal tragedy opens up into some different aspects of ethical
dilemmas. According to clause number 1 of the IESL Code of Ethics the health and safety of the
public should not be jeopardized. Although this accident created huge damage to life, property
and the environment it quite apparent that the officials have acted in a responsible manner to
minimize the grave consequences at their best. Evacuating residents, drafting enough support to
the site through air and land, allocating adequate financial and non-financial resources for
disaster management, building sarcophagus and building a new confinement recently are
ethically responsible actions to ensure the health and safety of the public. However continuing
the unharmed three reactors which are in close proximity to the disaster site for 13 years since
the tragedy questions the fact whether the decision makers has adequately considered the health
and safety of the workers. This can be a breach of clause no.1 although lack of information fail to
give a conclusion. Another allegation is that officials fail to disclose promptly and tend to cover
up subsequent health issues in the aftermath of the disaster. It can lead to a breach of clause no. 6
of the Code. It can also be concluded that design engineers should take sustainability of the
environment and the living things more seriously as per clause number 8 of the Code in
designing crucial and dangerous engineering marvels like these to minimize tragic consequences
in the event of an unfortunate circumstance.
References
Engineering Channel. (2015). Bhopal Disaster - YouTube. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH5LPwdVnqI&t=450s
Radio Free Europe. (2016). The Chernobyl Disaster: How It Happened - YouTube. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5ptI6Pi3GA
The Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka. (n.d.). The Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka - Code of
Ethics. Retrieved January 12, 2017, from http://www.iesl.lk/page-1541842