Confidentiality Agreement Non-Supersession — Engineer A's Contractual Confidentiality vs. Imminent Danger
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/84#Confidentiality_Agreement_Non-Supersession_—_Engineer_As_Contractual_Confidentiality_vs._Imminent_Danger
Properties
Instance of
ConfidentialityAgreementNon-SupersessionofImminentDangerDisclosureObligation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#ConfidentialityAgreementNon-SupersessionofImminentDangerDisclosureObligation
Applied to
Engineer A's confidentiality agreement with the building owner client and the obligation to disclose code violations to appropriate authorities
Balancing with
Confidentiality Principle
Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits
Concrete expression
The confidentiality agreement under which Engineer A was retained does not supersede the professional obligation to disclose the electrical and mechanical code violations posing risk to building occupants; the Board holds that the Code's public safety paramount obligation and Section II.1.c.'s exception clause override any contractual confidentiality commitment.
Confidence
0.88
Importance
high
Interpretation
Contractual confidentiality obligations — including those explicitly agreed to by the engineer at the outset of the engagement — yield to the professional duty to disclose when building occupants face imminent safety risk from undisclosed code violations.
Invoked by
Board of Ethical Review
Tension resolution
The imminent danger disclosure obligation overrides the contractual confidentiality agreement; the Code's exception clause (Section II.1.c.) and paramount safety obligation (Section I.1.) together displace the contractual commitment.
Source Evidence
Source text
The obligation of the engineer to refrain from revealing confidential information, data, facts concerning the business affairs of the client without consent of the client is a significant ethical obligation. We further believe that matters of public health and safety must take precedence.
Text references
The obligation of the engineer to refrain from revealing confidential information, data, facts concerning the business affairs of the client without consent of the client is a significant ethical obligation.
We further believe that matters of public health and safety must take precedence.
if the engineer has a legal or ethical responsibility to disclose the information in question, the engineer is released from the obligation to maintain confidentiality
TTL
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<http://proethica.org/ontology/case/84#Confidentiality_Agreement_Non-Supersession_—_Engineer_As_Contractual_Confidentiality_vs._Imminent_Danger> a proeth:ConfidentialityAgreementNon-SupersessionofImminentDangerDisclosureObligation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Confidentiality Agreement Non-Supersession — Engineer A's Contractual Confidentiality vs. Imminent Danger" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A's confidentiality agreement with the building owner client and the obligation to disclose code violations to appropriate authorities" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Confidentiality Principle",
"Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "The confidentiality agreement under which Engineer A was retained does not supersede the professional obligation to disclose the electrical and mechanical code violations posing risk to building occupants; the Board holds that the Code's public safety paramount obligation and Section II.1.c.'s exception clause override any contractual confidentiality commitment." ;
proeth:confidence "0.88" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "84" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T13:44:42.213436+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "84" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T13:44:42.213436+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "Contractual confidentiality obligations — including those explicitly agreed to by the engineer at the outset of the engagement — yield to the professional duty to disclose when building occupants face imminent safety risk from undisclosed code violations." ;
proeth:invokedby "Board of Ethical Review" ;
proeth:principleclass "Confidentiality Agreement Non-Supersession of Imminent Danger Disclosure Obligation" ;
proeth:sourcetext "The obligation of the engineer to refrain from revealing confidential information, data, facts concerning the business affairs of the client without consent of the client is a significant ethical obligation. We further believe that matters of public health and safety must take precedence." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The imminent danger disclosure obligation overrides the contractual confidentiality agreement; the Code's exception clause (Section II.1.c.) and paramount safety obligation (Section I.1.) together displace the contractual commitment." ;
proeth:textreferences "The obligation of the engineer to refrain from revealing confidential information, data, facts concerning the business affairs of the client without consent of the client is a significant ethical obligation.",
"We further believe that matters of public health and safety must take precedence.",
"if the engineer has a legal or ethical responsibility to disclose the information in question, the engineer is released from the obligation to maintain confidentiality" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 84 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T13:56:58.175157"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 84 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
84
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-03-01T13:44:42.213436+00:00
First case
84
Generated
2026-03-01T13:44:42.213436+00:00
Attributed to
Case 84 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T13:56:58.175157
Generated by
ProEthica Case 84 Extraction