Third-Party Affected Party Direct Notification — Tenants of Imminent Structural Danger
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/136#Third-Party_Affected_Party_Direct_Notification_—_Tenants_of_Imminent_Structural_Danger
Properties
Instance of
Third-PartyAffectedPartyDirectNotificationObligation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#Third-PartyAffectedPartyDirectNotificationObligation
Applied to
Engineer A's obligation to notify tenants directly of imminent structural defects discovered during attorney-retained forensic inspection
Balancing with
Attorney-Directed Confidentiality Non-Override of Imminent Structural Safety Disclosure
Confidentiality Principle
Concrete expression
Engineer A had an obligation to directly notify the building tenants of the imminent structural danger discovered during the forensic inspection, because the tenants are the identifiable third parties directly exposed to the hazard and would not otherwise receive timely warning through the litigation channel.
Confidence
0.95
Importance
high
Interpretation
When engineers discover safety deficiencies that create imminent danger to identifiable third parties (building tenants), direct notification to those parties is obligatory — the litigation channel through which the engineer was retained does not substitute for direct notification to those at risk.
Invoked by
Board of Ethical Review
Tension resolution
The obligation to directly notify tenants overrides the confidentiality obligation to the attorney-client; the tenants' exposure to imminent structural danger makes direct notification a non-negotiable ethical requirement.
Source Evidence
Source text
Engineer A, having become aware of the imminent danger to the structure, had an obligation to make absolutely certain that the tenants and public authorities were made immediately aware of the dangers that existed.
Text references
Engineer A, having become aware of the imminent danger to the structure, had an obligation to make absolutely certain that the tenants and public authorities were made immediately aware of the dangers that existed.
We believe that in cases where the public health and safety is endangered, engineers not only have the right but also the ethical responsibility to reveal such facts to the proper persons.
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/136#Third-Party_Affected_Party_Direct_Notification_—_Tenants_of_Imminent_Structural_Danger> a proeth:Third-PartyAffectedPartyDirectNotificationObligation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Third-Party Affected Party Direct Notification — Tenants of Imminent Structural Danger" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A's obligation to notify tenants directly of imminent structural defects discovered during attorney-retained forensic inspection" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Attorney-Directed Confidentiality Non-Override of Imminent Structural Safety Disclosure",
"Confidentiality Principle" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A had an obligation to directly notify the building tenants of the imminent structural danger discovered during the forensic inspection, because the tenants are the identifiable third parties directly exposed to the hazard and would not otherwise receive timely warning through the litigation channel." ;
proeth:confidence "0.95" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "136" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T13:03:31.215609+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "136" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T13:03:31.215609+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "When engineers discover safety deficiencies that create imminent danger to identifiable third parties (building tenants), direct notification to those parties is obligatory — the litigation channel through which the engineer was retained does not substitute for direct notification to those at risk." ;
proeth:invokedby "Board of Ethical Review" ;
proeth:principleclass "Third-Party Affected Party Direct Notification Obligation" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Engineer A, having become aware of the imminent danger to the structure, had an obligation to make absolutely certain that the tenants and public authorities were made immediately aware of the dangers that existed." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The obligation to directly notify tenants overrides the confidentiality obligation to the attorney-client; the tenants' exposure to imminent structural danger makes direct notification a non-negotiable ethical requirement." ;
proeth:textreferences "Engineer A, having become aware of the imminent danger to the structure, had an obligation to make absolutely certain that the tenants and public authorities were made immediately aware of the dangers that existed.",
"We believe that in cases where the public health and safety is endangered, engineers not only have the right but also the ethical responsibility to reveal such facts to the proper persons." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 136 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T13:14:37.526564"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 136 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
136
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-03-01T13:03:31.215609+00:00
First case
136
Generated
2026-03-01T13:03:31.215609+00:00
Attributed to
Case 136 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T13:14:37.526564
Generated by
ProEthica Case 136 Extraction