Legal and Ethical Responsibilities of a Professional

Abstract

The construction industry involves many players, including construction workers, engineers, government officials, clients, and the community at large. Without a proper set of rules or regulations to follow, one or more of these parties may be left at a disadvantage in the course of a construction project or after the completion. To ensure the interests of all these stakeholders are taken into account, a number of values that are universally accepted have been proposed in the codes of conduct drafted by mainstream institutions such as the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers. This essay discusses the relevance of these values, particularly in the context of civil engineering dissertation help.

Legal and ethical responsibilities of being a professional in the construction industry

Introduction

Professionals in the construction industry need a variety of skills in order to properly handle their work - including skills in design, supervision, installation, and maintenance. On top of the technical knowledge required of these professionals, it is important for them to understand the ethical and legal obligations of the project.

Ethical responsibilities

Ethics refers to universally accepted standards of behaviour that control how professionals handle others in the course of their duty. Another term that can be used in place of ethics is codes of conduct. Professionals interact on a daily basis with the client, colleagues, bosses, and the community in general. They are expected to exhibit certain standards of behaviour as they go about their duties. These standards of behaviour are usually based on human values and belief principles. The most important values that professionals should uphold include integrity, honesty, responsibility, transparency, accountability, equity, confidentiality, fairness, loyalty, lawfulness, and respect for life (CIBSE., 2014).

Legal Responsibilities

The legal responsibilities of professionals entail carrying out their duties in a manner that adds value to both the clients and the society in general. Durin the course, and after completion of a construction project, the community around the project site should be able to take pride in the project because of how it has benefited them. No construction project should cause harm to society. As such, the professionals in any construction project are tasked with some corporate social responsibility. This is a model of running businesses in a manner that is sustainable and that adds value to the social and economic lives of all the stakeholders involved, and also the environment (CIBSE., 2014).

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Ethical and legal responsibilities of being a professional in the construction industry

How it applies to sustainability

Sustainability refers to the use of resources in a sparing manner that ensures good quantities of the resource in question remain for use by future generations. Sustainable development is a multi-faceted issue that comprises numerous aspects such as environmental quality, financial stability, socio-cultural factors, Gross Domestic Product, and health and safety. For all this to be realized, the professionals in the construction industry must consciously uphold the universally accepted codes of conduct. If they are honest, full of integrity, accountable, fair, responsible, and transparent, they will not deplete the resources at hand knowing that the coming generations will suffer (Walker, 2005).

How it applies to health and safety

All construction projects should ensure that all the stakeholders remain healthy before, during, and after the construction project. WHO defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. On the other hand, safety refers to freedom from risk or danger. In this connection, construction workers should at all times be provided with an environment that prevents them from contracting diseases or exposes them to the risk of injury. It is the duty of construction managers to ensure the construction sites adhere to high standards of health and safety. This can best be achieved if they fully understand their ethical responsibilities (Walker, 2005).

Conclusion

If not regulated, the construction industry can cause great harm to the workers and society in general. Construction workers can contract respiratory diseases due to dust or get critically injured as they operate construction equipment. The surrounding communities may suffer from environmental pollution. Future generations may be affected by the depletion of resources. To avoid all these negative impacts, professionals in the construction industry must purpose to abide by the codes of conduct.

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References

CIBSE. (2014). Maintenance Engineering and Management - A Guide for Designers Maintainers Building Owners and Operators and Facilities Managers - CIBSE Guide M (2nd Edition). [Place of publication not identified]: CIBSE.

Code of conduct for all parties engaged in construction procurement. (2003). Brooklyn Square: Construction Industry Development Board.

McGinn, R. (n.d.). The ethical engineer.

Opentextbc.ca. (2020). Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – Business Ethics. [online] Available at: https://opentextbc.ca/businessethicsopenstax/chapter/corporate-social-responsibility-csr/ [Accessed 5 Jan. 2020].

Walker, P. (2005). Cracking the code: the genesis, use and future of the Code of Conduct. Disasters, 29(4), pp.323-336.