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Introduction: When Machines Fail Because Morals Do

In mechanical engineering, failure is not just a technical anomaly — it is often an ethical one. While bolts and bearings hold systems together, it is ethics that holds the profession itself intact. Yet, increasingly across India, we’re witnessing a systemic erosion of engineering morality in real-world projects. From inflated procurement to compromised safety checks, the absence of ethics has begun to corrode more than just machinery — it threatens lives, economies, and the profession’s future.

This article delves into why fundamental ethics in mechanical engineering are not optional but essential — and how the cost of ignoring them is dangerously high.

The Ethical Foundation of Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical engineering is governed by a simple but powerful principle: design and deliver systems that are safe, efficient, and in service of humanity. The ethical codes embedded in institutions like the Indian Society of Mechanical Engineers (ISME) and ASME aren’t ceremonial guidelines. They are safeguards against misuse, malpractice, and mechanical disasters.

Core Ethical Tenets Include:

• Prioritizing public safety and welfare

• Honesty in design and reporting

• Avoiding conflicts of interest

• Fairness in procurement and project execution

• Lifelong commitment to competence and responsibility

But what happens when these values are bent — or worse, ignored?

When Ethics Collapse, So Do Projects — And People 1. Safety Breaches: Cutting Costs, Costing Lives

When mechanical engineers skip safety tests or use substandard materials, the results can be catastrophic.

Example: In a factory boiler explosion in Uttar Pradesh (2023), it was revealed that the pressure relief valve was never tested during installation — a direct violation of engineering protocol. Seven workers lost their lives.

Ethical Violation: Neglecting safety in favor of project deadlines or cost savings.

2. Fake Maintenance: A Paper Trail of Corruption

Engineers overseeing machinery maintenance sometimes forge service reports to pocket funds or avoid effort.

Case: A failed pump system in an irrigation scheme in Karnataka led to crop failures across 20 villages — maintenance logs were fabricated, and no real servicing had taken place in over 18 months.

Ethical Violation: Dishonesty, failure to uphold duty of care.

3. Collusive Procurement: Engineering for Greed

When engineers draft tenders that are biased or technically manipulated to favor one vendor, it warps market fairness and inflates project costs.

Evidence: A material handling system in a public steel plant saw inflated prices because the specification was tailored to a single vendor, excluding more affordable, competitive suppliers.

Ethical Violation: Conflict of interest, undermining public trust.

The Larger Cost of Ethical Decay

•  Infrastructure Integrity Loss
  • Structures built on unethical decisions may not last — leading to more public funding on repairs, rebuilds, and emergency responses.
•  Industrial Accidents Rise
  • ​From oil refineries to textile mills, cutting ethical corners in design and maintenance often leads to fire hazards, mechanical failures, and fatalities.
• Devaluation of the Profession
  • ​When ethical lapses become routine, they stain the reputation of all mechanical engineers, including those who are honest. It discourages talent and erodes public trust.
• Economic Drain
  • ​Inflated contracts, failed systems, and lawsuits due to technical fraud drain taxpayer money and slow national industrial progress.

Ethics Are Not Impractical — They're Structural

Some argue that ethical standards are idealistic in today’s competitive, client-driven environment. But in truth, ethics are as practical and structural as any physical component.

“An engineer without ethics is like a bridge without a foundation — it may look fine for a while, but it will collapse under real pressure.”
— A retired PSU Mechanical Project Head, quoted anonymously

How to Reinforce Ethics in Mechanical Engineering ? Curriculum Overhaul

• Engineering ethics should not be a side-topic but a mandatory, graded subject in all mechanical engineering programs.

• Case studies of ethical failures should be taught to highlight real-world consequences.

Institutional Accountability

• Public projects must involve third-party audits.

• Engineers must be held personally accountable for certification reports and safety clearances.

Cultural Change Within Firms

• Whistleblower protections and anonymous reporting mechanisms should be in place.

• Ethical performance should be part of annual appraisals, not just delivery metrics.

Industry Oversight & Media

• Transparency portals for mechanical tenders and certifications

• Investigative journalism in engineering and infrastructure sectors should be encouraged and protected.

Conclusion: Build with Integrity, or Prepare to Rebuild with Regret

The wrench in an engineer's hand can either tighten a system to perfection or loosen it toward disaster — depending on whether ethics is guiding the hand. Mechanical engineers play a foundational role in shaping India's infrastructure and industry. Upholding ethical standards isn’t just a moral duty — it’s a professional necessity.

If we want our systems to work without failure, we must first ensure that our engineers do not.

In a country where infrastructure and industrial development remain central to progress, the role of mechanical engineers in public and private sector projects is crucial. However, beneath the surface of innovation and execution lies a web of vulnerabilities. Mechanical engineering projects — from factory setups to large-scale government tenders — are increasingly at risk of corruption.

This article explores how these technical projects become gateways for unethical practices and highlights specific stages where mechanical engineers, if not monitored, may manipulate processes for personal or institutional gain.

Procurement — the heart of every mechanical project — often becomes a tool for corruption. Engineers responsible for defining technical specifications may deliberately list oversized, overpriced, or unnecessary equipment.

Case Insight: A municipal water treatment project in Madhya Pradesh reportedly included motors 25% higher in capacity than required, allegedly to inflate procurement costs and secure vendor kickbacks.

Common Tactics:

• Specifying only one brand/model in tenders

• Falsifying technical justifications

• Receiving bribes or “commissions” from vendors

Fabrication contracts involve high-value metalwork, piping, and structural manufacturing — areas ripe for malpractice. Welders, contractors, and site engineers may collude to skip steps or use lower-grade materials while billing for full specs.

Example: In an industrial estate project in Gujarat, several load-bearing frames collapsed due to substandard welding, later found to have bypassed non-destructive testing (NDT) stages entirely.

Red Flags:

• Unrecorded or forged test reports

• Reduced metal thickness

• Fake or unchecked inspection tags

Mechanical systems like HVAC, boilers, and conveyor systems require routine maintenance. This ongoing service often becomes a grey area of exploitation.

Observation: An audit of a public sector manufacturing unit revealed payments made for routine bearing replacements — with the same bearings still intact.

Corruption Modes:

• False maintenance logs

• Inflated spares billing

• Recycling old parts as new

With rising energy costs and green mandates, mechanical engineers lead many retrofitting and energy audit projects. But these too can be gamed.

Example: In Maharashtra, a factory claimed a 30% reduction in energy consumption via motor replacements. An RTI probe revealed no such replacements had occurred — only old labels were replaced.

Corrupt Practices:

• Falsified energy reports

• Misleading ROI calculations

• Claiming subsidies without actual work

Testing and quality assurance (QA/QC) phases offer engineers authority to approve or reject components. This gatekeeping role is vulnerable to misuse.

Incident: A pressure vessel in an Odisha plant was certified fit without a hydro test — later bursting during trial, injuring workers.

Typical Malpractices:

• Accepting bribes to overlook defects

• Faking calibration or stress test reports

• Accepting expired or reused parts

Public tenders and contract bids are increasingly digitized, yet many engineers still influence the process by setting biased eligibility criteria.

Real-world Note: A PSU tender required an obscure ISO certification only one vendor possessed — a classic move to eliminate competition.

Mechanisms of Corruption:

• Pre-qualifying specific vendors

• Leaking technical bid details

• Colluding with procurement officials

Engineers managing warehouses or project inventories sometimes misuse their control for personal profit.

Risks Include:

• Procuring unused spares to resell outside

• Billing for items never installed

• Creating false shortage to justify reorders

Ensuring safety and regulatory compliance is often the last step — and often compromised. Engineers signing off on faulty systems or misreporting safety metrics can put entire plants and workers at risk.

Alarming Cases:

• Ventilation issues in textile mills being passed despite high CO2 levels

• Safety audit reports reused from previous years

Corruption in mechanical engineering is not just about embezzlement. It directly affects:

• Public safety

• System efficiency

• National economic loss

• Reputation of the profession

A 2022 report by Transparency International India found that infrastructure-related corruption accounted for 32% of public complaints across technical domains, with mechanical project mismanagement topping the list after civil engineering.

• Institutional Checks

  • Mandate third-party validation for all testing

  • Public digital procurement platforms with transparent evaluation

• Engineering Ethics Reform

  • Stronger incorporation of ethics in mechanical engineering curricula

  • Licensing penalties for proven malpractice

• Media and Public Oversight

  • Investigative journalism in infrastructure sectors

  • Use of RTI to access procurement and safety data

Mechanical engineering has been the silent backbone of India’s industrial journey. But silence should not mean invisibility. To ensure accountability and safety, stakeholders — from policy makers to educators and engineers themselves — must recognize and plug these corruption leaks.

Exposing and understanding these vulnerabilities is not a witch-hunt — it's an essential step toward restoring integrity in the sector.