DP5

DecisionPoint
http://proethica.org/ontology/cases#DecisionPoint

DP5

Should Engineers A and B provide the town council with formal written disclosure of methane migration and groundwater contamination risks at the point the council first directs simultaneous minimum setbacks and maximum slopes, rely on the iterative redesign submissions themselves as constructive notice of escalating risk, or defer written risk documentation until after the final design is accepted and submitted for regulatory review?

Engineers A and B face an independent proactive risk disclosure decision: at what point during the iterative redesign process were they obligated to provide the town council with formal written documentation of the specific residual risks — methane migration and groundwater contamination — associated with the progressively more extreme design parameters, and what form must that disclosure take to satisfy the ethical obligation distinct from the design submission itself?

At the point the town council first directs simultaneous application of minimum setbacks and maximum allowable slopes, provide the council with a formal written document explicitly identifying the specific residual risks of methane migration and groundwater contamination associated with that combined-parameter configuration, separate from and prior to the design submission itself.

Treat the successive redesign submissions — each pushing closer to regulatory limits in direct response to council rejections — as adequate constructive notice of escalating environmental risk, on the grounds that the council's repeated rejection of safer designs demonstrates awareness of the risk trade-offs being made at each iteration.

Include documentation of methane migration and groundwater contamination risks in the final design package submitted for state regulatory review, on the grounds that regulatory approval of the documented risk profile constitutes public disclosure sufficient to satisfy both the engineers' professional obligation and the council's need for informed decision-making.

Engineers A and B