Reasonableness Standard for Currency Invoked in Present Case
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/74#Reasonableness_Standard_for_Currency_Invoked_in_Present_Case
Properties
Instance of
ReasonablenessStandardforKnowledgeCurrencyinEngineeringPractice
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#ReasonablenessStandardforKnowledgeCurrencyinEngineeringPractice
Applied to
Engineer A Present Case Design Failure Subject's severe weather structural design methods
Balancing with
Continuing Competence Currency Obligation
Public Welfare Paramount
Concrete expression
The Board declined to hold Engineer A unethical for failing to follow the most recent severe weather design parameters and methods, because those parameters had not yet been incorporated into generally accepted practice as 'standards,' and engineers cannot be required to follow every new technique not yet fully tested or peer-reviewed.
Confidence
0.92
Importance
high
Interpretation
The ethical currency obligation extends to established standards, not to every recent publication; the Board explicitly noted that had the parameters constituted 'standards,' the result might have been different
Invoked by
NSPE Board of Ethical Review
Tension resolution
The reasonableness standard limits the currency obligation to established standards, with the standards/emerging-literature distinction as the operative ethical boundary; public welfare is protected by requiring adherence to established standards while not chilling practice through over-broad currency demands
Source Evidence
Source text
The Board believes that the definition of what is 'current' must be reasonable as engineers cannot be expected to incorporate each and every new and innovative technique or parameter that has not been fully tested or peer reviewed.
Text references
Following a reasonable period of time, innovative techniques and parameters may be incorporated into generally accepted practice and at such time, once well defined, and as part of the body of technical knowledge, such techniques become standards that should be followed.
The Board believes that the definition of what is 'current' must be reasonable as engineers cannot be expected to incorporate each and every new and innovative technique or parameter that has not been fully tested or peer reviewed.
The Board would note that the facts and circumstances in this case do not indicate that the severe weather design parameters and methods constituted 'standards.' Had those parameters and methods constituted 'standards,' this Board may have reached another result.
TTL
@prefix case74: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/74#> .
@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#> .
case74:Reasonableness_Standard_for_Currency_Invoked_in_Present_Case a proeth:ReasonablenessStandardforKnowledgeCurrencyinEngineeringPractice,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Reasonableness Standard for Currency Invoked in Present Case" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A Present Case Design Failure Subject's severe weather structural design methods" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Continuing Competence Currency Obligation",
"Public Welfare Paramount" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "The Board declined to hold Engineer A unethical for failing to follow the most recent severe weather design parameters and methods, because those parameters had not yet been incorporated into generally accepted practice as 'standards,' and engineers cannot be required to follow every new technique not yet fully tested or peer-reviewed." ;
proeth:confidence "0.92" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "74" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-26T23:26:48.518439+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "74" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-26T23:26:48.518439+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The ethical currency obligation extends to established standards, not to every recent publication; the Board explicitly noted that had the parameters constituted 'standards,' the result might have been different" ;
proeth:invokedby "NSPE Board of Ethical Review" ;
proeth:principleclass "Reasonableness Standard for Knowledge Currency in Engineering Practice" ;
proeth:sourcetext "The Board believes that the definition of what is 'current' must be reasonable as engineers cannot be expected to incorporate each and every new and innovative technique or parameter that has not been fully tested or peer reviewed." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The reasonableness standard limits the currency obligation to established standards, with the standards/emerging-literature distinction as the operative ethical boundary; public welfare is protected by requiring adherence to established standards while not chilling practice through over-broad currency demands" ;
proeth:textreferences "Following a reasonable period of time, innovative techniques and parameters may be incorporated into generally accepted practice and at such time, once well defined, and as part of the body of technical knowledge, such techniques become standards that should be followed.",
"The Board believes that the definition of what is 'current' must be reasonable as engineers cannot be expected to incorporate each and every new and innovative technique or parameter that has not been fully tested or peer reviewed.",
"The Board would note that the facts and circumstances in this case do not indicate that the severe weather design parameters and methods constituted 'standards.' Had those parameters and methods constituted 'standards,' this Board may have reached another result." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 74 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-26T23:37:27.712481"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 74 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
74
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-26T23:26:48.518439+00:00
First case
74
Generated
2026-02-26T23:26:48.518439+00:00
Attributed to
Case 74 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-26T23:37:27.712481
Generated by
ProEthica Case 74 Extraction