Levantamento dos princípios éticos aplicados na Engenharia Química

Abstract

The set of moral values, rules and standards of an individual or a social group constitutes ethics. For a society to have sustainable and adequate progress, it is essential that the professionals who compose it act ethically. With regard to chemical engineering, the individual’s performance brings impacts related to inclusion, environmental sustainability, public safety, among others. However, for the actions and decisions of a chemical engineering professional to be in accordance with ethical principles, there must be at least instruction. Faced with the responsibility of work towards society, the chemical engineer must always seek the necessary knowledge and technique so that his performance promotes benefits and does not generate risks to nature, social differences, public health and other fields involved. In view of this, it is noted that there is little instruction on these aspects throughout the training of a chemical engineer and, in addition, there are few materials available in the literature that describe, in an objective and compiled way, the various criteria and paths for ethical work in the market, which includes current guidelines. Another problem is the absence of analysis of these concepts applied in practical and real cases, appropriate to the category of chemical engineering. Therefore, this work aims to describe actions that promote an ethical culture in the field of chemical engineering, through a bibliographic review of the fundamental ethical pillars of the profession and other relevant studies and reports published on this topic. With this, it is sought to educate and enable the understanding of actions and such ethical principles applied in chemical engineering, seeking to minimize negative impacts and anticipate possible consequences for society and the environment. Still, from the result of this work, it is expected to also have clear how to promote the concepts of ethics throughout the formation of the chemical engineer. As a result, chemical engineering professionals will have a greater understanding of how to apply ethical principles in engineering standards and practices. Moreover, this study, as well as its dissemination and use in the labor market, corroborates so that the vision of this sector is increasingly praised and well evaluated by society in general.