FLOOD03743

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: 25th Annual Celebration Hazards Research and Applications Workshop
• Date: 7/9/2000
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

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PPOO-21

Susan K. Tubbesing
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
499 14th Street, Suite 320
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 4510905/[phone]fax
[e-mail]

Ethics on the Web

The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute has created a new web-based program designed
to illustrate ethical issues related to the practice of earthquake engineering and earthquake risk
reduction. This program presents case studies, updated bimonthly, in an effort to raise
awareness of such issues, foster discussion, and assist members of EERI and others to better
recognize, understand, and apply ethical principles in their work.

The cases presented are based on situations that could occur during the course of common
practice, but the names of participants and specifics of the case have been changed or removed to
maintain anonymity. Following the description of the situation, site visitors are encouraged
to evaluate several possible actions and may add additional comments. The results of these
responses will be presented on the site during the subsequent bimonthly cycle.

This project grew out of an earlier effort, funded by the EERI Endowment Fund that culminated
in the publication of a White Paper on Ethical Issues and Earthquake Risk Reduction. This white
paper, based on the premise that ethics are important but often unacknowledged in earthquake
risk reduction, is intended as a resource to assist professionals to recognize, understand, and
apply ethical principles in their work. The paper addresses major paradigms of applied ethics,
including individual rights, fairness or justice, utilitarianism, the common good and virtue,
using examples that relate these paradigms to dilemmas that arise in earthquake risk reduction.

A small workshop was held as part of the project and observations and discussions from that
workshop are summarized in the paper. Some ofthe issues discussed at the workshop included
the duty to disclose threats to public safety, corporate and business constraints on the scope of
work and quality of services; conflicts of interest; whistle-blowing; academic freedom and
research funding; challenges to objectivity; the relative importance between protection of the
public and loyalty to clients, employers and colleagues; the difficulty in defining acceptable
risk and the influence of uncertainty on decision making; the implications of the changing nature
of technology and our understanding of seismic hazards; the interaction and differences between
law and ethical responsibility; and issues of cultural diversity and social justice. The paper also
contains recommendations for future directions for the broader earthquake community. The
white paper is available from EERI at the above address.

To visit the EERI ethics web site, please go to: www.eeri.org/ethicslethics.html. EERI welcomes
suggestions of additional ethical dilemmas for posting on the web site. For more information or
to submit a dilemma, please contact [e-mail].