Engineering Scenarios
World Context: Engineering
The Engineering Ethics World represents a domain where engineers navigate complex ethical dilemmas requiring the application of abstract principles to concrete situations. In this world, professionals must balance their paramount duty to protect public safety against other obligations such as client confidentiality, employer loyalty, and professional integrity. Decision-making involves analyzing specific facts, identifying relevant ethical codes, resolving conflicts between competing principles through operationalization, and drawing analogies to precedent cases. The world encompasses scenarios involving safety assessments, environmental impacts, product integrity, confidential information, and professional conduct, all within organizational contexts that include established hierarchies, procedures, and economic pressures that influence ethical judgments.
Report Violation?
An engineer is hired to evaluate the structural integrity of an aging, occupied building that the client intends to sell. The contract specifies that the engineer's report must remain confidential. The client explicitly states that the building will be sold "as is" with no plans to repair or renovate any systems prior to sale. Upon conducting structural tests, the engineer determines the building is structurally sound. However, during the assessment, the client reveals that the building has deficiencies in its electrical and mechanical systems that violate applicable codes and standards. Although not specialized in these areas, the engineer recognizes these deficiencies could potentially harm the building's occupants and informs the client of this concern. The engineer must decide whether to maintain client confidentiality or to report the violation.
Scenario Development Tools
From Case Studies
Transform existing case studies into interactive scenarios for testing and analysis.
Manual Creation
Build scenarios from scratch with full control over characters, resources, and decision points.
Create Manual ScenarioAbout Scenarios in Engineering
Scenarios in the Engineering world represent ethical situations that require careful decision-making within this specific domain context. Each scenario provides:
- Characters - Stakeholders with specific roles and relationships
- Resources - Available assets and constraints
- Events - Timeline of what occurs during the scenario
- Decisions - Ethical choices that must be made
- Context - Domain-specific rules and guidelines
- Outcomes - Consequences of different decision paths
Ontology Integration
This world uses the engineering-ethics ontology to provide structured
domain knowledge, ensuring scenarios are grounded in formal ethical frameworks and domain expertise.