Professional Ethics and Code of Conduct
Professional Ethics and Code of Conduct
This domain tests whether you can apply a code of ethics under real pressure, not recite it. Expect scenarios where schedule, fee, or a supervisor's instruction collides with the public interest.
Core rules
- The duty to protect public safety, health, and welfare outranks duties to a client, employer, or shareholder, and no contract clause waives it.
- Practise only within your competence; where you lack expertise, disclose the limit, obtain specialist review, and record the decision.
- Sign and seal only work you personally prepared or directly supervised. A seal is a personal attestation, not a company stamp.
- Disclose real and apparent conflicts of interest in writing and withdraw from the decision where a reasonable observer could doubt your impartiality.
- Keep client information confidential except where disclosure is compelled by law, needed to prevent serious harm, or consented to.
- Raise unsafe or unlawful practice internally first; escalate to the regulator only when internal channels fail and the risk is serious.
- Give credit honestly and refuse to endorse work you have not reviewed.
Worked example
An engineer is asked to approve a structural detail from a supplier in which their spouse holds shares. The issue is not whether the detail is sound but whether independence is compromised. The correct action is to declare the shareholding in writing, decline to sign, and route the detail to an unconflicted engineer. Being careful while signing does not cure the conflict, because the conflict is apparent to others.
Traps
Equating loyalty to an employer with the public duty; assuming confidentiality lapses when a project ends; treating a manager's direction as an ethical defence; sealing drawings produced by others as a formality.