Engineers and the New Zealand environment : professional responsibility

Abstract

The study report describes the general character of the conventional engineering process and the potential for environmental concerns to be actively addressed in professional engineering practice in New Zealand.

Hydro-electric development of the Lower Waitaki river is examined in terms of the way that the planning for this particular project has changed since the 1970s, and how national legislation and professional engineering policy has influenced the development process. The Waitaki case study then is used to examine the potential for professional engineers to exercise increased responsibility towards the environment.

Engineering responsibility may be defined in national legislation (legal responsibility), guided by a professional code of ethics or corporate policy (professional and corporate responsibility), or founded on an individual's ethics and their personal evaluation of the 'right' course of action (moral responsibility). The responsibilities set by national legislation and the engineering profession are found to be inadequate to ensure that future development of the environment will occur at a socially acceptable level. Further to this, the report concludes that there should be formal structures within the engineering profession to enable an engineer's sense of moral responsibility to be accepted as professional opinion.