Ethics in engineering as in any business plays a major role in the professional aspects of the firm or company. The general purpose of engineers no matter what specific area of the field whether it be civil, mechanical, or chemical, is to protect the health, safety, and general welfare of the public. Engineering professional ethics are of great importance in valuing whatever projects they are involved with. Each decision or design implementation that is made by an engineer on a particular project must have the highest regard of importance to ensure that the specific subject matter had the complete and full attention that it deserved. Organizations have been evolved to help guide or examine the use of engineering method of ethics and many case studies have been reported involving these morals or ethics decisions and or designs.
The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) is an organization of seventy jurisdictional licensing boards that regulate the practice of engineering and surveying in the United States. The mission of licensing boards, in general, is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public, practically the same mission as an engineer. NCEES develops uniform examinations that are administered by member boards, which are designed to determine the minimum competency of candidates for licensure. Candidates are evaluated based upon these examinations, their education and their experience. Traditionally these examinations have focused entirely on technical competence. Only recently have any questions based on ethical standards and principles been included and then only on the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination. The Fundamentals of Engineering exam is not an exam to be taken lightly by any potential engineer that wants to be licensed because of the mission statement that the engineer would be responsible for, such as the lives of the general public.