Mon, Dec 20, 1999 page2

• Ethics needed to ensure standards

  UNPROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOR Scholars emphasize the need for professional ethics and legal change after revelations that substandard construction contributed materially to the damage caused by the 921 quake

  • By Monique Chu / STAFF REPORTER
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  Scholars said yesterday that universities should offer courses on professional ethics and professional groups should establish a code of ethics to reduce unethical professional practices as exposed by the 921 earthquake that killed more than 2,200 people.

  But professional technicians said educational and moral solutions are not a panacea, adding that amendment to the laws are the key to solving the problem.

  "Examples of a lack of professional ethics were rampant in disaster areas," said Hwang Kwang-kuo (黃光國), a professor of psychology at National Taiwan University who presented a paper entitled "Reconstruction of Professional Ethics after the 921 Earthquake" at a seminar yesterday.

  

  Wu Chi-sheng is a survivor of the Tunghsing building in Taipei which collapsed during the 921 earthquake. Suffering from two crushed heels, he is unable to work. The Tunghsing building is thought to have been improperly constructed. Cases like Wu's have been a strong incentive to push towards enforcing professional ethics within the construction industry.

  PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING

  He said many lives could have been saved during the quake if it was not for these unprofessional practices.

  One example, said Hwang, was that of the many buildings that collapsed during the quake, many were found to have suffer from substandard work and inferior materials. The quake also exposed a common but illegal practice in the construction sector: many engineers were found loaning their licenses to construction firms without actually working for these firms.

  "Licenses have become marketable commodities," Hwang said. Chuang Chung-peng (2攭奮P), a member of the Taipei Civil Engineers' Association, told the Taipei Times that he agreed with Hwang.

  According to government regulations, construction companies employ full-time licensed civil and structural engineers and architects to work at construction sites. But to reduce costs, Chuang said, many firms preferred to borrow licenses from engineers rather than hiring them full time. "The loan of a license would only cost a firm about NT$200,000 to NT$300,000 a year," Chuang said.

  This unethical practice had serious repercussions, Hwang said. In the end, some construction work was done without qualified engineers on the building site.

  Hwang said there are two solutions to restricting these unprofessional practices. Universities should offer professional ethics courses to students and professional groups should establish a code of ethics -- measures which are still lacking in Taiwan.

  Hwang said that codes of ethics among professional groups were either totally lacking or, if they existed, were not binding, so they exercised little conformative pressure.

  Chuang agreed. "Our professional associations are like a club which arranges activities such as trips for members. They are incapable of acting as mechanisms to punish members, as their counterparts do in some advanced countries in the West," he said.

  While agreeing that education was important, Chuang said amendments to related laws was even more important in combating unethical professional practices.

  One solution could be in amending the current regulation which requires construction firms to hire licensed engineers, said Chuang

  "The regulations could be amended to allow proprietors, instead of construction firms, to hire engineers to supervise quality of work," he said.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Jokic’s 55 point pays off for Nuggets

  • 2

    China issues bounties for influencers

  • 3

    Pakistan to move T20 tri-series after bombing

  • 4

    Movie review: Russell Crowe and Rami Malek face off in the Nazi trial drama ‘Nuremberg’

  • 5

    China’s AI models pose risks, NSB says