Engineering Practice

Science, Technology, & Human Values Lynch, Kline / Engineering Practice and Ethics

Engineering Practice and

Engineering Ethics

William T. Lynch

Wayne State University

Ronald Kline

Cornell University

Diane Vaughan’s analysis of the causes of the Challenger accident suggests ways to

apply science and technology studies to the teaching of engineering ethics. By sensitizing

future engineers to the ongoing construction of risk during mundane engineering

practice, we can better prepare them to address issues of public health, safety, and

welfare before they require heroic intervention. Understanding the importance of

precedents, incremental change, and fallible engineering judgment in engineering

design may help them anticipate potential threats to public safety arising from routine

aspects of workplace culture. We suggest modifications of both detailed case studies on

engineering disasters and hypothetical, ethical dilemmas employed in engineering

ethics classes. Investigating the sociotechnical aspects of engineering practice can

improve the initial recognition of ethical problems in real-world settings and provide an

understanding of the role of workplace organization and culture in facilitating or

impeding remedial action.

By now it is part of engineering folklore: the night before the tragic shut-

tle Challenger launch resulting in its destruction and the death of seven

astronauts, engineers had identified the danger but had failed to persuade

NASA to call off the flight. After Morton Thiokol presented its engineering

conclusion during a second teleconference that the shuttle should not

launch below 53 degrees Fahrenheit, managers at Marshall Space Flight

Center and Kennedy Space Center challenged the analysis and argued that

the recommendation amounted to introducing new launch commit criteria

on the eve of the flight. George Hardy, Marshall’s deputy director of science

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AUTHORS’ NOTE: We thank the friends and colleagues of Donald...