PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
The requirements for Kentucky Professional Engineers are in an administrative regulation http://www.lrc.ky.gov/kar/201/018/142.htm
Below are highlights of the major sections including examples of actual cases.
The licensee shall conduct his or her practice to protect the public health, safety and welfare.
This is the most important part of any profession’s ethics; public protection comes before anything else.
One case involved an engineer who would prepare design plans for small buildings such fast food locations. He would use the same generic design over and over regardless of the location, different code requirements, etc. He would then depend on the local review process to tell him the problems. He would then “fix” the design problems and resubmit. He depended upon city or county employees (many of whom are not engineers) to tell him the design problems. This was endangering the public.
If a licensee’s judgment is overruled by someone else, and he or she believes it endangers the public, the licensee must notify the appropriate authorities.
Another case involved a structural engineer who designed a support for a large indoor crane. The owners then constructed something entirely different than his design because it was “too expensive”. When the engineer became aware of what was done during his review of the construction, he determined that the entire structure was unsound and could collapse at any time. He had to notify OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) when his client refused to change the construction to make it safe. As a licensed engineer, he did not have the option to simply say “hey, I designed it in a safe manner; I cannot help how they actually built it”. Because he became aware of the unsafe environment, he had a duty to act.
A licensee shall issue all professional communications and work products in an objective and truthful manner.
This is especially important when serving as an expert witness in court.
It is important to understand that unlike an attorney, a professional engineer is not an advocate for his or her client. You cannot ignore or suppress a material fact because it hurts your client. You are there for the truth.
Part of this sections states:
“If serving as an expert or technical witness, a licensee shall express an opinion only if it is founded on adequate knowledge of the facts in issue, on the basis of technical competence in the subject matter, and upon honest conviction of the accuracy and propriety of that testimony, and shall act with objectivity and impartiality.”
There are several parts to that long sentence:
1) You can express an opinion only if you have adequate knowledge of the facts.
2) You have to be technically competent in the subject matter.
3) You have to honestly believe what you are saying.
4) You must be objective and impartial.
That last one gets some people. They say, “well my client hired me to help him win”. It does not matter who is paying you. You must be objective.
Example of a recent case involving a surveyor:
A property owner thinks her boundary line extends across a state road and therefore she owns her neighbor’s property across the street. She contacted several surveyors who reviewed her deed, adjoiners deed and other evidence and told her she did not own that property. At that point, she did not hire them. Finally, she found a surveyor who would testify that it was possible she owned the property but that he could not actually perform a survey, because that would clearly show she did not own it. He said he could do some deed plotting and other work and show it was possible that her line extended across the road. He went into court and testified in that manner even though he knew the line could not cross the road.
What was wrong with this surveyor’s actions?
1) He did not gain adequate knowledge because he did not perform a complete survey. He did not because he was confident the results would not be good for his client.
2) He was technically competent in surveying but did not demonstrate that in this case.
3) He did not honestly believe in his testimony.
4) He was not objective and impartial.
He acted as an advocate for his client which is not professional and violated our code of conduct.
A licensee shall avoid conflicts of interest.
If even the possibility of a conflict exists, the licensee must inform his or her employer or client as appropriate.
A keystone to any professional is the ability of the public to believe in them.
Conflicts of interest damage this trust and can reflect poorly upon the profession as a whole.
Example of a recent case:
An engineer is under contract with a small county government to review and approve subdivision development plans. The county cannot afford to hire a full time engineer as an employee, so they contract with this engineer on an as needed basis to review and approve plans. He also was preparing such plans for his clients and then approving his own plans. Further, it became very clear that in that county, if a developer wanted his plans approved quickly and without problems, he should use that engineer.
Obvious conflict of interest to review and approve your own plans.
A licensee shall solicit or accept work only on the basis of his or her qualifications or those of the firm or associates within the firm.
You can only solicit work that you or someone within your firm is qualified to do.
You can advertise as long as it is honest and not misleading.
You cannot offer or accept anything of value in order to get work.
A licenses shall not knowingly associate with any person engaging in fraudulent, illegal, or dishonest activities.
A licensee also cannot allow his or her name to be used in such activities. This happens sometimes for example in the oil and gas business where they try to get investors using potential reserves and just attach an engineer’s name to make it more believable.
A licensee shall perform his or her services only in the areas of his or her competence.
Just because you are a professional engineer does not mean you can practice in any area you want. You must have the education and/or experience in what you practice.
A licensee shall not certify any work product not prepared by him or under his or her direct supervisory control.
A professional engineer cannot just stamp work that somebody else has done. If it is an employee or associate in the same firm, it is acceptable as long as he supervised their work.
Recent case:
A person would prepare mine permit applications and take them to a professional engineer who reviewed and stamped. That is not proper because the person was not his employee and he had not supervised the work.
These cases are real public safety issues. An unlicensed person has actually done the work and not been properly supervised.
A licensee shall avoid conduct likely to discredit or reflect unfavorably upon the dignity and honor of the profession.
Some people say that what I do in my private life should not be considered in my professional life. While that is generally a reasonable view, this language is necessary to cover certain situations.
Recent case:
A professional engineer was found growing about 300 pot plants in his house and was convicted for this. His claim at the hearing was that had nothing to do with his professional practice. However, there is no doubt this dishonored the profession. Another case involved child molestation.
If a licensee has knowledge or reason to believe that any person or other licensee is in violation of our statutes and regulations, the licensee shall present that information to the board and cooperate with the board.
Basically, if a licensee has such information he presents it to us. He should not conduct any investigation on his own. We will take care of that.
This gets back to the basic premise that the engineer must protect the public health, safety, and welfare.