Engineer A Case 89-7 Confidentiality Agreement Building Code Violation Reporting
O · Obligation
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/100#Engineer_A_Case_89-7_Confidentiality_Agreement_Building_Code_Violation_Reporting
Properties
Instance of
ConfidentialityScopeLimitationforPublicDangerDisclosureObligation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#ConfidentialityScopeLimitationforPublicDangerDisclosureObligation
Case context
Case No. 89-7 comparative reference: Engineer A was retained under a confidentiality agreement to inspect a 60-year-old apartment building; the client directly conveyed confirmed code violations; Engineer A failed to report to public authorities; the Board found this unethical.
Compliance status
unmet
Confidence
0.9
Importance
high
Obligated party
Engineer A (Case No. 89-7 building sale inspector)
Obligation statement
In Case No. 89-7, Engineer A was obligated to report the confirmed electrical and mechanical code violations to appropriate public authorities notwithstanding the confidentiality agreement, because the confidentiality obligation does not extend to bar disclosure of engineering findings that bear on public danger — and failure to report was found unethical.
Temporal scope
Upon discovery of the confirmed code violations during the building inspection engagement
Relationships
Source Evidence
Source text
In deciding it was unethical for Engineer A not to report the safety violations to the appropriate public authorities, the Board noted that the facts presented in the case raised a conflict between two basic ethical obligations of an engineer
Text references
Engineer A made a brief mention of his conversation with the client concerning the deficiencies; however, in view of the terms of the agreement, Engineer A did not report the safety violations to any third party.
In deciding it was unethical for Engineer A not to report the safety violations to the appropriate public authorities, the Board noted that the facts presented in the case raised a conflict between two basic ethical obligations of an engineer
the client confided in Engineer A and inform him that the building contained deficiencies in the electrical and mechanical systems, which violated applicable codes and standards
TTL
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@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix proeth-core: <http://proethica.org/ontology/core#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case100:Engineer_A_Case_89-7_Confidentiality_Agreement_Building_Code_Violation_Reporting a proeth:ConfidentialityScopeLimitationforPublicDangerDisclosureObligation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Engineer A Case 89-7 Confidentiality Agreement Building Code Violation Reporting" ;
proeth-core:competesWith case100:Comparative_Case_Precedent_Distinguishing_Engineer_A_Bridge_vs_Case_89-7 ;
proeth-core:defeasibleUnder <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/100#Comparative_Precedent_Distinguishing_—_Present_Case_vs._Case_No._89-7> ;
proeth:casecontext "Case No. 89-7 comparative reference: Engineer A was retained under a confidentiality agreement to inspect a 60-year-old apartment building; the client directly conveyed confirmed code violations; Engineer A failed to report to public authorities; the Board found this unethical." ;
proeth:compliancestatus "unmet" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Obligation" ;
proeth:confidence "0.9" ;
proeth:derivedFromPrinciple <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/100#Confidentiality_Non-Applicability_—_Case_89-7_Building_Code_Violations_Required_Public_Authority_Notification> ;
proeth:discoveredincase "100" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T08:38:18.532149+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "100" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T08:38:18.532149+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:obligatedparty "Engineer A (Case No. 89-7 building sale inspector)" ;
proeth:obligationclass "Confidentiality Scope Limitation for Public Danger Disclosure Obligation" ;
proeth:obligationstatement "In Case No. 89-7, Engineer A was obligated to report the confirmed electrical and mechanical code violations to appropriate public authorities notwithstanding the confidentiality agreement, because the confidentiality obligation does not extend to bar disclosure of engineering findings that bear on public danger — and failure to report was found unethical." ;
proeth:sourcetext "In deciding it was unethical for Engineer A not to report the safety violations to the appropriate public authorities, the Board noted that the facts presented in the case raised a conflict between two basic ethical obligations of an engineer" ;
proeth:temporalscope "Upon discovery of the confirmed code violations during the building inspection engagement" ;
proeth:textreferences "Engineer A made a brief mention of his conversation with the client concerning the deficiencies; however, in view of the terms of the agreement, Engineer A did not report the safety violations to any third party.",
"In deciding it was unethical for Engineer A not to report the safety violations to the appropriate public authorities, the Board noted that the facts presented in the case raised a conflict between two basic ethical obligations of an engineer",
"the client confided in Engineer A and inform him that the building contained deficiencies in the electrical and mechanical systems, which violated applicable codes and standards" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 100 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T08:48:56.193561"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 100 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
100
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-03-01T08:38:18.532149+00:00
First case
100
Generated
2026-03-01T08:38:18.532149+00:00
Attributed to
Case 100 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T08:48:56.193561
Generated by
ProEthica Case 100 Extraction