Competing Duties Confidentiality vs. Public Safety Reporting
S · State
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/181#Competing_Duties_Confidentiality_vs._Public_Safety_Reporting
Properties
Instance of
Active period
From discovery of the safety violation through resolution of the ethical dilemma
Affected parties
Engineer A
Engineer B
Proper authorities
Public
Confidence
0.95
Importance
high
Subject
Engineer A's simultaneous obligations under NSPE Code Section III.4 (confidentiality) and Section II.1.e (cooperation with authorities on safety violations)
Terminated by
Engineer A makes a judgment call and takes appropriate action (collegial discussion, authority notification, or both)
Triggering event
Discovery of potential safety code violation during a confidentiality-agreement-bound peer review
Urgency level
high
Source Evidence
Source text
This ethical dilemma appears to involve two separate provisions of the NSPE Code of Ethics -- Section III.4. and Section II.1.e
Text references
On the one hand, the engineer has an obligation not to disclose confidential information... On the other hand, Engineer A, having knowledge of any alleged violation of the Code of Ethics, has an obligation to cooperate with the proper authorities
This ethical dilemma appears to involve two separate provisions of the NSPE Code of Ethics -- Section III.4. and Section II.1.e
Weighing the competing considerations in this case
TTL
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@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#> .
case181:Competing_Duties_Confidentiality_vs._Public_Safety_Reporting a proeth:CompetingDutiesState,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Competing Duties Confidentiality vs. Public Safety Reporting" ;
proeth:activeperiod "From discovery of the safety violation through resolution of the ethical dilemma" ;
proeth:affectedparties "Engineer A",
"Engineer B",
"Proper authorities",
"Public" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "State" ;
proeth:confidence "0.95" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "181" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "1" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T09:08:19.771360+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "181" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T09:08:19.771360+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:sourcetext "This ethical dilemma appears to involve two separate provisions of the NSPE Code of Ethics -- Section III.4. and Section II.1.e" ;
proeth:stateclass "Competing Duties State" ;
proeth:subject "Engineer A's simultaneous obligations under NSPE Code Section III.4 (confidentiality) and Section II.1.e (cooperation with authorities on safety violations)" ;
proeth:terminatedby "Engineer A makes a judgment call and takes appropriate action (collegial discussion, authority notification, or both)" ;
proeth:textreferences "On the one hand, the engineer has an obligation not to disclose confidential information... On the other hand, Engineer A, having knowledge of any alleged violation of the Code of Ethics, has an obligation to cooperate with the proper authorities",
"This ethical dilemma appears to involve two separate provisions of the NSPE Code of Ethics -- Section III.4. and Section II.1.e",
"Weighing the competing considerations in this case" ;
proeth:triggeringevent "Discovery of potential safety code violation during a confidentiality-agreement-bound peer review" ;
proeth:urgencylevel "high" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 181 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T09:25:33.351063"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 181 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
181
Discovered in pass
1
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-03-01T09:08:19.771360+00:00
First case
181
Generated
2026-03-01T09:08:19.771360+00:00
Attributed to
Case 181 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T09:25:33.351063
Generated by
ProEthica Case 181 Extraction