Faithful Agent Obligation — Engineer as Agent and Trustee of Client
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/100#Faithful_Agent_Obligation_—_Engineer_as_Agent_and_Trustee_of_Client
Properties
Instance of
FaithfulAgentObligationWithinEthicalLimits
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#FaithfulAgentObligationWithinEthicalLimits
Applied to
Engineer A Bridge Sub-Consultant Inspector
VWX Architects and Engineers Prime Consultant
Balancing with
Confidentiality Non-Applicability to Public Danger Disclosure
Public Welfare Paramount
Concrete expression
The Board invokes the engineer-as-agent/trustee relationship as the rationale for the confidentiality obligation, noting that engineers are privy to client business affairs and are expected to maintain confidentiality as agents and trustees — while simultaneously recognizing that this obligation operates within ethical limits set by the public safety paramount obligation.
Confidence
0.9
Importance
high
Interpretation
The faithful agent obligation provides the normative foundation for the confidentiality side of the balance; it explains why engineers have confidentiality obligations in the first place and why those obligations deserve serious weight even when public safety concerns are present.
Invoked by
NSPE Board of Ethical Review
Tension resolution
The faithful agent obligation is respected by Engineer A's initial verbal reporting through the chain and deference to the prime consultant's evaluation, rather than immediate external escalation — the ethical limits are preserved by the conditional escalation obligation if corrective action is not taken.
Source Evidence
Source text
Engineers, in the performance of their professional services, act as 'agents' or 'trustees' to their clients
Text references
Engineers, in the performance of their professional services, act as 'agents' or 'trustees' to their clients
They are privy to a great deal of information and background concerning the business affairs of their client
engineers as 'agents' or 'trustees' are expected to maintain the confidential nature of the information revealed to them in the course of rendering their professional services
TTL
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@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#> .
<http://proethica.org/ontology/case/100#Faithful_Agent_Obligation_—_Engineer_as_Agent_and_Trustee_of_Client> a proeth:FaithfulAgentObligationWithinEthicalLimits,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Faithful Agent Obligation — Engineer as Agent and Trustee of Client" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A Bridge Sub-Consultant Inspector",
"VWX Architects and Engineers Prime Consultant" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Confidentiality Non-Applicability to Public Danger Disclosure",
"Public Welfare Paramount" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "The Board invokes the engineer-as-agent/trustee relationship as the rationale for the confidentiality obligation, noting that engineers are privy to client business affairs and are expected to maintain confidentiality as agents and trustees — while simultaneously recognizing that this obligation operates within ethical limits set by the public safety paramount obligation." ;
proeth:confidence "0.9" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "100" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T08:35:55.643095+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "100" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T08:35:55.643095+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The faithful agent obligation provides the normative foundation for the confidentiality side of the balance; it explains why engineers have confidentiality obligations in the first place and why those obligations deserve serious weight even when public safety concerns are present." ;
proeth:invokedby "NSPE Board of Ethical Review" ;
proeth:principleclass "Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Engineers, in the performance of their professional services, act as 'agents' or 'trustees' to their clients" ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The faithful agent obligation is respected by Engineer A's initial verbal reporting through the chain and deference to the prime consultant's evaluation, rather than immediate external escalation — the ethical limits are preserved by the conditional escalation obligation if corrective action is not taken." ;
proeth:textreferences "Engineers, in the performance of their professional services, act as 'agents' or 'trustees' to their clients",
"They are privy to a great deal of information and background concerning the business affairs of their client",
"engineers as 'agents' or 'trustees' are expected to maintain the confidential nature of the information revealed to them in the course of rendering their professional services" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 100 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T08:48:56.191732"^^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
2026-03-01T08:35:55.643095+00:00
First case
100
Generated
2026-03-01T08:35:55.643095+00:00
Attributed to
Case 100 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T08:48:56.191732
Generated by
ProEthica Case 100 Extraction