İNŞ 239 LAW AND ETHICS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING Lecture Notes -1 Assist. Prof. Dr. Serkan Kıvrak

EXAMPLE You are in the process of evaluating electrical bids and your boss asks you to share the low bid to date with his preferred electrical subcontractor. What would you do?

EXAMPLE Your roommate, also a construction manager, works for a competing firm. Through him you have found out that they are being considered for the same project that your firm is bidding on. He has also shared some of the bid presentation material with you, which you perceive will weigh the bid in their favor. Do you tell your own bosses about this, potentially giving your firm the edge?

EXAMPLE During a sales visit, a sales representative offers you a coffee mug with his company’s name and logo on it. The value of the mug is 5 dollars. Can you accept this item? Does the answer to this question change if this item is a 350 dollar crystal bowl with the name of the company engraved on it?

EXAMPLE You are an expert in environmental works. Assume that you are a member of a team who is preparing an environmental standard. At the same time you are a manager of a construction company. A soft standard can facilitate your construction works. But, can this standard create problems for the society in the future?

EXAMPLE Two construction firms doing the same job; Firm A employs Turkish workers with 2000TL salary Firm B employs migrant workers with 500TL salary. The migrant workers are happy with their salary. Is Firm B right? Is the competition between the firms fair? Is this not a discrimination? Does this situation create a societal problem?

EXAMPLE Mr X is working as a cost control engineer in a consulting firm of a construction project. The contractor invites him for a free holiday in their holiday village. Mr X accepts the invitation and makes a holiday with his family. After the holiday he checks the progress payments and determine that there are some lack of works which are not completed by the contractor. What should Mr X do?

EXAMPLE You started as an engineer in a company. You observed that the company dispose the waste into a river near a village. A worker said that ‘it’s a usual work. We do this every time. And so far nothing happened’. What would you do?

A. Ask the company managers to stop this application otherwise you would report to the media B. Notify the environmental authorities about the situation C. Do not care. It’s not your job D. Resign from the company

Difficult problem!! In any case, you will be negatively affected. However, Answer B seems to be the best solution. Since benefit for the society comes first.

EXAMPLE You are working as a manager in a construction company. You realized that one of your subcontractors made corruption in another project. What would you do?

A. Do not care. It’s not your job. B. Cancel the agreement with this subcontractor. C. Notify the authorities about the situation D. Report to the media

Answer B is the best solution. You should not work with such companies.