DP1

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

DP1

Should Engineer A immediately and simultaneously notify all relevant authorities — supervisor, county commissioners, state and federal transportation officials, and the state engineering licensure board — or should Engineer A first press the immediate supervisor for enforcement and escalate externally only if that internal step proves ineffective?

Engineer A, a licensed engineer employed by a local government, has personally observed frightening bridge movement under traffic loads including log trucks and tankers crossing a bridge that was previously condemned for rotten pilings, reopened without a licensed engineering inspection, and subject to systematic weight-limit violations. Engineer A's professional judgment was overridden by a non-engineer public works director. The question is whether Engineer A must now escalate simultaneously to all available authorities or may proceed sequentially, beginning with the immediate supervisor.

Immediately and concurrently notify the supervisor, county commissioners, state and federal transportation officials, and the state engineering licensure board in writing, treating the observed frightening movement and active weight-limit violations as satisfying the life-endangering imminence threshold that collapses sequential escalation into a single simultaneous step.

Formally notify the supervisor in writing of the observed frightening movement and weight violations, set a defined short deadline for corrective action, and escalate to external authorities only if the supervisor fails to respond within that window — preserving institutional channels while creating a documented record of the internal attempt.

Bypass the supervisor and public works director — whose decisions have already been shown to be the source of the unsafe condition — and escalate directly and immediately to the County Commission as the elected governing body whose own prior closure decision was circumvented, while simultaneously notifying state transportation officials but deferring licensure board reporting pending the Commission's response.

Engineer