ASCE Code of Ethics
Definition
The code of the American Society of Civil Engineers, structured around four fundamental principles (justice, sustainability, competence, and public safety) and supporting guidelines for professional conduct.
- Body
- American Society of Civil Engineers
- Structure
- Four fundamental principles
- Principles
- Justice, sustainability, competence, public safety
Common questions
How does the ASCE Code of Ethics bear on a structural failure investigation?+
An investigator assessing whether an engineer's conduct fell below professional standards often references the code's principles, particularly the public-safety and competence provisions, alongside the applicable technical standards to evaluate the engineer's judgement.
Is the ASCE Code of Ethics legally binding on its own?+
Not directly; it is a professional society's ethical code, but its principles frequently inform state licensing board standards and can be cited as evidence of the profession's accepted standard of care in litigation or disciplinary proceedings.
Related terms
- Confirmation Bias
- The cognitive tendency to search for, interpret, favour, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or...
- Hindsight Bias
- The tendency to view a past outcome as having been more predictable than it was, because the outcome is now known. In...
- NSPE Code of Ethics
- The ethical code of the National Society of Professional Engineers (US), built around six fundamental canons, the first of which requires engineers...
- Professional Registration
- A state-issued licence or registration that permits an engineer to offer engineering services to the public. In the US this is the...
- Whistleblower Obligation
- The duty, found in the NSPE and ASCE codes and some statutory provisions, to inform appropriate parties when an engineer becomes aware...