Documentation, Reporting, and Ethics
What this domain tests
Domain 6 tests record integrity and professional conduct: whether reports are accurate, traceable, timely, and signed only by someone with competence and authority.
Core rules
- Records. Maintain daily logs, dated and located photos, test reports, calibration records, as-builts, RFIs, change orders, O&M manuals, and warranties.
- Traceability. Each report links to project, location, date, method, instrument, and tester.
- Corrections. Never alter a final record silently; issue an addendum or revision with the reason and date.
- Ethics. Sign only for work you verified or supervised; disclose conflicts; protect confidential project data.
- Adverse results. Report them; omission is falsification.
- Retention. Follow contract and legal retention requirements.
Worked example
A client asks you to backdate an inspection report to match a permit deadline. Reasoning: backdating creates a false record. Refuse, report the actual inspection date, and if a deadline is missed, document the facts and let the project team seek an extension. The ethical duty is accuracy, not schedule convenience.
Traps that cost marks
- Signing for a colleague who did not perform the work.
- Editing a PDF without an audit trail.
- Omitting a failed test from a summary.
- Accepting a gift that could influence judgment.
- Using photos without date, location, or context.