

Engineer A had barricades and signs erected within the hour on a Friday afternoon.

In June 2000, Engineer A received a telephone call from the bridge inspector stating that the bridge needed to be closed due to the large number of rotten pilings. It was part of the secondary roadway system given to the counties many years ago. This bridge was a concrete deck on wood piles built by the state in the 1950s. In this case, Engineer A worked for a local government and learned about a critical situation involving a bridge that was 280 feet long and 30 feet above a stream.
Inspector who under scrutiny said tower code#
While there can be no one standard that applies to these types of cases, there are basic values and principles in the NSPE Code of Ethics that provide important guidance to professional engineers who are faced with such situations.Īn illustration of how the Board has addressed this dilemma can be found in BER Case No. The NSPE Board of Ethical Review has considered ethical dilemmas involving the public health and safety on many occasions. The role of the professional engineer in protecting the public health, safety, and welfare is fundamental to the practice of engineering and is the overriding value in the NSPE Code of Ethics. Engineer A also recommended to the owners to brace the building to prevent its collapse.

The county building official did not return Engineer A’s phone call. Engineer A immediately advises Client B and calls the county building official. Although not imminent, collapse of the building is a danger, Engineer A believes. Engineer A also learns that following construction modifications, the building was issued a certificate of occupancy by a county building official. Engineer A performs a preliminary investigation of the building and after speaking with Client B, concludes that there were recent structural changes made to the building that may have caused the roof to sag and the walls to lean outward due to insufficient lateral restraint. During the investigation, Engineer A, who was also a structural engineer, observes that the building is structurally unstable. Engineer A is hired by Client B to conduct a building investigation to determine the origin and cause of a fire resulting in financial loss.
