Subterfuge-as-Accomplice Prohibition Applied to Engineer B Drum Communication
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/149#Subterfuge-as-Accomplice_Prohibition_Applied_to_Engineer_B_Drum_Communication
Properties
Instance of
Subterfuge-as-AccompliceProhibitioninClientCommunication
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#Subterfuge-as-AccompliceProhibitioninClientCommunication
Applied to
Communication to client about drums of potentially hazardous material on client property
Balancing with
Business Relationship Preservation Non-Excuse for Safety Communication Adequacy
Clear Hazard Characterization and Legal Obligation Notification to Client
Concrete expression
Engineer B's use of the vague term 'questionable material' rather than clearly characterizing the drums as likely containing hazardous material constituted subterfuge that made Engineer B an accomplice to a potentially unlawful action, in violation of the spirit and intent of the ethics code.
Confidence
0.98
Importance
high
Interpretation
Deliberately oblique language that obscures the legal and safety significance of discovered conditions is ethically equivalent to concealment and makes the engineer complicit in the client's potential violation.
Invoked by
Engineer B Hazardous Waste Supervisor
Tension resolution
No business relationship interest justifies subterfuge; the engineer must communicate clearly even when clarity is commercially uncomfortable.
Source Evidence
Source text
We believe that this subterfuge is wholly inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the Code of Ethics because it makes the engineer an accomplice to what may amount to an unlawful action.
Text references
We believe that this subterfuge is wholly inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the Code of Ethics because it makes the engineer an accomplice to what may amount to an unlawful action
the manner in which Engineer B communicated the presence of the drums on the property must have suggested to the client that there was a high likelihood that the drums contained hazardous materials
TTL
@prefix case149: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/149#> .
@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#> .
case149:Subterfuge-as-Accomplice_Prohibition_Applied_to_Engineer_B_Drum_Communication a proeth:Subterfuge-as-AccompliceProhibitioninClientCommunication,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Subterfuge-as-Accomplice Prohibition Applied to Engineer B Drum Communication" ;
proeth:appliedto "Communication to client about drums of potentially hazardous material on client property" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Business Relationship Preservation Non-Excuse for Safety Communication Adequacy",
"Clear Hazard Characterization and Legal Obligation Notification to Client" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer B's use of the vague term 'questionable material' rather than clearly characterizing the drums as likely containing hazardous material constituted subterfuge that made Engineer B an accomplice to a potentially unlawful action, in violation of the spirit and intent of the ethics code." ;
proeth:confidence "0.98" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "149" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T12:24:49.228652+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "149" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T12:24:49.228652+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "Deliberately oblique language that obscures the legal and safety significance of discovered conditions is ethically equivalent to concealment and makes the engineer complicit in the client's potential violation." ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer B Hazardous Waste Supervisor" ;
proeth:principleclass "Subterfuge-as-Accomplice Prohibition in Client Communication" ;
proeth:sourcetext "We believe that this subterfuge is wholly inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the Code of Ethics because it makes the engineer an accomplice to what may amount to an unlawful action." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "No business relationship interest justifies subterfuge; the engineer must communicate clearly even when clarity is commercially uncomfortable." ;
proeth:textreferences "We believe that this subterfuge is wholly inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the Code of Ethics because it makes the engineer an accomplice to what may amount to an unlawful action",
"the manner in which Engineer B communicated the presence of the drums on the property must have suggested to the client that there was a high likelihood that the drums contained hazardous materials" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 149 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T12:35:30.895283"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 149 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
149
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-03-01T12:24:49.228652+00:00
First case
149
Generated
2026-03-01T12:24:49.228652+00:00
Attributed to
Case 149 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T12:35:30.895283
Generated by
ProEthica Case 149 Extraction