Engineering Ethics and Professional Conduct
The framework
The Professional Engineers Act and the Professional Engineers (Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics) Rules set the standard: paramount duty to public safety, health and welfare; competence limits; honesty and integrity; confidentiality; and avoidance of conflicts of interest. A registered PE signs, seals and certifies only work prepared by them or under their direct supervision and control, and only within their competence. Registration is personal and non-transferable - a firm cannot be a PE, and a seal cannot be lent to a company's drawings. Practising requires a valid practising certificate, and continued registration depends on continuing professional development.
Typical scenarios: an employer pressures you to certify defective or untested work; a client offers a success fee or an expensive gift; a contractor asks you to backdate a certificate; a tender review exposes a competitor's confidential data; you find a safety non-compliance after handover; you move employer and want to reuse old drawings.
Traps
- "My employer instructed me" is never a defence - the duty runs to the public, not the paymaster.
- Acting as the independent checker of your own design.
- Blurring design responsibility and design review without recording the split in writing.
- Sealing work produced by unregistered staff where you had no real supervision or records.
Rule of thumb: three tests before you act
(1) Is it lawful and within my competence? (2) Would I be content for the client, the public and my professional body to see the full facts? (3) If something goes wrong, does this protect public safety and the environment? If any answer is no, decline in writing, record your advice, and escalate through the QP or the authorities.