Scribd
Upload
13 views

Podcast Script8 1

Uploaded by

elyoblliw
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
13 views

Podcast Script8 1

Uploaded by

elyoblliw
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

ENGR201 Professional Practice and Responsibility ©

Lesson 8 Podcast Transcript: Duties towards the Public

Duty towards the Public


In this podcast, we will discuss what is meant by the duty of engineers toward the
public.

This is a key duty for engineers who wish to practice the profession in Québec. Here the
term public is understood very broadly. When we use the term public, we usually mean
citizens. The meaning of public refers to the duty of engineers to the citizens of
Québec/Canada. But it also uses public in another sense to mean the opposite of
private. In that sense, public means the common good of people in Québec. Engineers
have a duty to safeguard the common public good in Québec. This duty to safeguard
the common public good is enforced through two duties – the first to humanity and the
second to protect life and environment.

Duty to Humanity
The Code of Ethics for engineers specifies that fundamentally “In all aspects of their
work an engineer must respect their obligations towards humanity.” This duty specifies
that, first and foremost, engineers exist to protect and respect humans. While this
obligation towards humans arises from many civil and criminal laws, fundamentally it is
governed by key legal frameworks in Canadian and Québec law – the Canadian Charter
of Rights and Freedoms and the Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. The
Canadian charter guarantees certain fundamental freedoms to humans living in the
country. These freedoms include fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of
conscience, religion, belief, expression, and association. In addition, the charter gives
rights, such as democratic rights, mobility right, legal rights, equality rights, and
language rights. In other words, in their work, professionals have a duty to not violate
the provisions of the Canadian charter and the Québec charter. One major implication
of this duty is to ensure that engineers do not engage in discrimination of any form.
Discrimination is a violation of the Canadian charter, especially the equality rights
specified in it. In turn, this means that no professional may refuse to provide services to
a person because of their race, colour, age, sex, religion, national origin or ethnicity of
such person.

© May not be copied or duplicated


without the permission of the owner. 1
Duties towards Life and Environment
The Code of Ethics also specifies that “In all aspects of their work, the engineer must
take into account the consequences of the performance of his work on the environment
and on the life, health and property of every person.” There are two aspects to this duty.
The first is to act in a manner to safeguard the environment, and the second is to be
mindful of the life, health, and property of every human. Safeguarding the environment
requires the engineer to be mindful of technological choices that do not promote the
pollution and eventual destruction of the environment and will further sustainable
development. The respect for life, health and property relates closely to the rights
mentioned in the Canadian charter.

© May not be copied or duplicated


without the permission of the owner. 2

You might also like