Industry comment

Catherine Stansbury and Neill Stansbury

Co-founders and Directors

Global Infrastructure Anti-Corruption Centre

FIDIC is to be applauded for its long-standing commitment to, and leadership of, the international fight against corruption. The newly published FIDIC Report “Corruption, its effects and the need to take action” adds to the overwhelming weight of international evidence that corruption is highly damaging to countries, organisations and the public, and that urgent and effective action must be taken to prevent it.

While the elimination of corruption, both national and internationally, requires widespread and co-ordinated action by all stakeholders, every individual engineer can make a significant contribution to this goal. Whether working in the public or private sectors, what steps can engineers take to prevent corruption?

• When acting in your personal capacity or as an employee:

o Before taking any action, consider whether there is a risk that the action could be corrupt.

o If in doubt, obtain further information, or ask for advice, before continuing with the action.

o Refuse to participate in any potentially corrupt action. The only exception to this would be if you have to participate because you fear for the safety of yourself or another.

o Report any suspected corruption to an appropriate person as soon as possible. If you fear for the safety of yourself or another in making a report, then do so anonymously.

• When acting as a leader or manager of an organisation:

o Refuse to allow your organisation or its personnel to particate in any corrupt action.

o Provide appropriate leadership so that the personnel under your management or control are aware of your strong commitment to anti-corruption and believe that you will fully support them in taking steps to prevent corruption.

o Ensure that the personnel under your management or control receive appropriate anti-corruption training and understand the important of preventing corruption.

o Ensure that the organisation or function has implemented reasonable measures to prevent corruption. Ideally, the whole organisation should implement a formal anti-corruption management system, such as FIDIC’s FIMS or ISO 37001.

The GIACC Resource Centre (www.giaccentre.org) provides, free of charge, online information, advice and tools designed to help organisations and individuals in the public and private sector understand, prevent and deal with corruption. These resources include:

• Analysis of what is corruption, why corruption occurs, how corruption occurs, why avoid corruption, liability for corruption, and the cost of corruption.

• Anti-corruption programmes for organisations, governments, funders, project owners, business associations / professional institutions, and projects.

• Anti-corruption training modules.

• Advice on how organisations, individuals, and the public can deal with corrupt situations.