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Canadian Professional Engineering and Geoscience Practice and Ethics
This comprehensive textbook introduces engineers and geoscientists to the structure, practice, and ethics of their professions and encourages them to apply ethical concepts in their professional lives. It is a comprehensive reference for engineers and geoscientists in any branch of these professions, in any province or territory of Canada. The book is intended for practicing professionals, recent graduates, and senior undergraduates and is an excellent study guide for the practice and ethics part of the Professional Practice Examination (PPE) required for licensing in every province and territory.
496 pages, Paperback
First published December 11, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 20, 2020
Required reading for the NPPE exam.
11/19/20 Edit:
I have spoken to both APEGA (who prepares the NPPE) and the publisher and they have acknowledged my concerns and have passed them onto the authors for updating the 7th edition.
Originally this review was going to be the following:
Capitalizes Internet and explains how to perform a google search.
A lot of the advice no longer applies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Then I got to Chapter 10: Fairness and Equity in the Professional Workplace.
I'm going to say it now, if the associations who participate in the NPPE have any intention of being welcoming to women, this textbook needs to be desperately reviewed.
Also, due to COVID-19, my university library is closed and I was only able to access the 4th ed of the textbook. I, however, have no reason to believe there has been any significant change in the 6th ed.
The very first sentence of Ch. 10 is:
There are two main issues with this sentence which bar women and members of minority groups from being welcomed into any engineering association which requires the NPPE.
1. Women and members of minority groups are the subject of this sentence.
2. The sentence is in a conditional verb tense (may face).
For 1., by having women and members of minority groups as the active participants (ie. subjects) of this sentence, women and member of minority groups are responsible for the actions in the sentence (the special problems). "Weigh[ing] the conduct of [a] victim in judging the guilt of a defendant" [1] has been proven to affect judgements of guilt, resulting in lighter or no sentences for the defendant.
I am in no way responsible for the conduct of my co-workers on documents that they sign, stamp, and seal. Why am I responsible for my co-workers conduct when while distributing safety gloves I'm asked "I wonder how good these would be for groping" ? Why am I the active participant in this sentence? Why doesn't the first sentence of this chapter read: "Men and engineering culture perpetuate problems which prevent women and members of minority groups from entering and remaining in the workplace."
Before you dismiss me and excuse yourself from participating in this behaviour (another behaviour the textbook encourages), please think about your actions. At this point in your professional career, you've stood there silently while someone made a joke at a women or member of minority group's expense. You just read Ch. 10 and didn't have any objections to how it treats women and members of minority groups.
For 2., the issue with the conditional verb tense is that the burden of proof is placed on women and member of minority groups to prove that these issues happen. The textbook only states that these issues "may" happen, requiring women and members of minority groups to recount painful experiences [2] to be believed. Requiring this burden of proof, without regard for the health of women and members of minority groups, deters women and members of minority groups from reporting these incidents [3] . By stating that these issues are present, and do occur, the burden of proof is removed from women and members of minority groups.
The rest of the chapter is not an improvement from the first sentence. Andrews decided that the best approach to women and members of minority groups in the workplace was to convince men that we can have value and benefit them (because a woman invented changing tables). No one should need to be convinced that I have value.
A proposed solution is to remove Ch. 10 from this textbook and have supplementary content available written by women and members of minority groups. The supplementary content needs to be free or discounted to women and members of minority groups because there is no need to add to their financial burdens due to the gender wage gap [4] . The rest of the textbook needs to be reviewed for things like ensuring that the first mention of a female isn't negative (an unlicensed friend asking for a stamp as a formality) and not debating women's protected rights [4] .
Maybe then, women and members of minority groups will enter and remain in the engineering profession.
11/19/20 Edit:
I have spoken to both APEGA (who prepares the NPPE) and the publisher and they have acknowledged my concerns and have passed them onto the authors for updating the 7th edition.
Originally this review was going to be the following:
Capitalizes Internet and explains how to perform a google search.
A lot of the advice no longer applies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Then I got to Chapter 10: Fairness and Equity in the Professional Workplace.
I'm going to say it now, if the associations who participate in the NPPE have any intention of being welcoming to women, this textbook needs to be desperately reviewed.
Also, due to COVID-19, my university library is closed and I was only able to access the 4th ed of the textbook. I, however, have no reason to believe there has been any significant change in the 6th ed.
The very first sentence of Ch. 10 is:
"[T]he special problems that women and members of minority groups may face."
There are two main issues with this sentence which bar women and members of minority groups from being welcomed into any engineering association which requires the NPPE.
1. Women and members of minority groups are the subject of this sentence.
2. The sentence is in a conditional verb tense (may face).
For 1., by having women and members of minority groups as the active participants (ie. subjects) of this sentence, women and member of minority groups are responsible for the actions in the sentence (the special problems). "Weigh[ing] the conduct of [a] victim in judging the guilt of a defendant" [1] has been proven to affect judgements of guilt, resulting in lighter or no sentences for the defendant.
I am in no way responsible for the conduct of my co-workers on documents that they sign, stamp, and seal. Why am I responsible for my co-workers conduct when while distributing safety gloves I'm asked "I wonder how good these would be for groping" ? Why am I the active participant in this sentence? Why doesn't the first sentence of this chapter read: "Men and engineering culture perpetuate problems which prevent women and members of minority groups from entering and remaining in the workplace."
Before you dismiss me and excuse yourself from participating in this behaviour (another behaviour the textbook encourages), please think about your actions. At this point in your professional career, you've stood there silently while someone made a joke at a women or member of minority group's expense. You just read Ch. 10 and didn't have any objections to how it treats women and members of minority groups.
For 2., the issue with the conditional verb tense is that the burden of proof is placed on women and member of minority groups to prove that these issues happen. The textbook only states that these issues "may" happen, requiring women and members of minority groups to recount painful experiences [2] to be believed. Requiring this burden of proof, without regard for the health of women and members of minority groups, deters women and members of minority groups from reporting these incidents [3] . By stating that these issues are present, and do occur, the burden of proof is removed from women and members of minority groups.
The rest of the chapter is not an improvement from the first sentence. Andrews decided that the best approach to women and members of minority groups in the workplace was to convince men that we can have value and benefit them (because a woman invented changing tables). No one should need to be convinced that I have value.
A proposed solution is to remove Ch. 10 from this textbook and have supplementary content available written by women and members of minority groups. The supplementary content needs to be free or discounted to women and members of minority groups because there is no need to add to their financial burdens due to the gender wage gap [4] . The rest of the textbook needs to be reviewed for things like ensuring that the first mention of a female isn't negative (an unlicensed friend asking for a stamp as a formality) and not debating women's protected rights [4] .
Maybe then, women and members of minority groups will enter and remain in the engineering profession.
January 22, 2014
Required reading for the National Professional Practice Exam in Alberta. A well written book.
December 4, 2016
For general knowledge, If you are new in the Canadian system.
November 11, 2023
Read the fifth edition from 2014. Generally good, brief, and straightforward to read.
Nelson the publisher removed the online website, which appears based on book references to have been quite extensive, completely within nine years of publication, which in my opinion in the day of cheap hosting and storage is a rip-off and severe disappointment. Not at all impressed with Nelson.
Nelson the publisher removed the online website, which appears based on book references to have been quite extensive, completely within nine years of publication, which in my opinion in the day of cheap hosting and storage is a rip-off and severe disappointment. Not at all impressed with Nelson.
April 7, 2021
Required reading for NPPE. Didn't like the way it discussed and often avoided issues around discrimination of women or BIPOC (though I read the 5th edition - hopefully will improve with newer editions!!).
December 21, 2024
After reading this ethics book, I can confidently say that I’m a geologist who is now morally rock-solid. No more digging for excuses— I’ve got integrity that's deeper than the core of the earth. Highly recommended for anyone looking to add a little more geologic wisdom to their moral compass!
December 4, 2017
A very well written book .. highly recommended for Engineers in Canada
April 8, 2018
Could be worse.
Currently reading
May 5, 2021Must for Engineering Professionals
March 26, 2012
I read this textbook as a requirement in studying for the Professional Practice Exam of Professional Engineers Ontario. It explains what the practice of professional engineering is in Canada and covers the codes of ethics that professional engineers must embrace. The text touches on differences in regulations and ethical codes across Canada, but the Alberta and Ontario codes are cited most often as models for the rest of the country.
The book is clearly written and includes easy-to-understand case histories and case studies. There's a lot of material here and I know I'll be reviewing it more than once.
I read this book on a Kobo Vox e-reader. You have to use the CourseSmart application, provided via the publisher, to read it. This app does not re-size the text to make it fill the screen. Instead, you get essentially a reproduction of a full printed page, which, depending on the size of your screen, can be quite small. The Vox lets me enlarge the text, but that enlargement is lost when you turn the page. Note that when you get an electronic copy of this book, you "rent" it for 6 months, after which it becomes inaccessible. You must have Internet access to read the book because the app downloads the pages as you read them; the book is not stored on your device (at least on Android devices).
The book is clearly written and includes easy-to-understand case histories and case studies. There's a lot of material here and I know I'll be reviewing it more than once.
I read this book on a Kobo Vox e-reader. You have to use the CourseSmart application, provided via the publisher, to read it. This app does not re-size the text to make it fill the screen. Instead, you get essentially a reproduction of a full printed page, which, depending on the size of your screen, can be quite small. The Vox lets me enlarge the text, but that enlargement is lost when you turn the page. Note that when you get an electronic copy of this book, you "rent" it for 6 months, after which it becomes inaccessible. You must have Internet access to read the book because the app downloads the pages as you read them; the book is not stored on your device (at least on Android devices).
August 14, 2014
Lots of information, some of which was confusing and contradictory. Required reading for the Alberta Professional Practice Exam, I think.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews