It was unethical for Engineer A not to report the safety violations to the appropriate public authorities.

The facts presented in this case raise a conflict between two basic ethical obligations of an engineer: The obligation of the engineer to be faithful to the client and not to disclose confidential information concerning the business affairs of a client without that client's consent, and the obligation of the engineer to hold paramount the public health and safety. Section III.4 can be clearly understood to mean that an engineer has an ethical obligation not to disclose confidential information concerning the business affairs of any present client without the consent of that client. That provision makes no specific exception to the language. For example, the drafters of the Code could have provided exceptional circumstances where such confidential information could be disclosed by the engineer; however no such provisions have been included. There are various rationale for the non-disclosure language contained in the Code. Engineers, in the performance of their professional services, act as "agents" or "trustees" to their clients. They are privy to a great deal of information and background concerning the business affairs of their client. The disclosure of confidential information could be quite detrimental to the interests of their client and therefore engineers as "agents" or "trustees" of such information are expected to maintain the confidential nature of the information revealed to them in the course of rendering their professional services. On numerous occasions, this Board has interpreted the language contained in Sections II.4. and III.4. particularly in the context of the obligations of employed engineers to maintain the confidences of their employer particularly with regard to certain confidential information which might be made available to the engineer during the course of employment as in Case 61-8. However, more recently, the Board has interpreted this language in the context of the relationships owed by the engineer in private practice to the client....

Engineer A is retained to investigate the structural integrity of a 60-year old occupied apartment building which his client is planning to sell. Under the terms of the agreement with the client, the structural report written by Engineer A is to remain confidential. In addition, the client makes clear to Engineer A that the building is being sold "as is" and he is not planning to take any remedial action to repair or renovate any system within the building prior to its sale.Engineer A performs several structural tests on the building and determines that the building is structurally sound. However, during the course of providing services, the client confides in Engineer A and informs him that the building contains deficiencies in the electrical and mechanical systems which violate applicable codes and standards. While Engineer A is not an electrical nor mechanical engineer, he does realize those deficiencies could cause injury to the occupants of the building and so informs the client.In his report, Engineer A makes a brief mention of his conversation with the client concerning the deficiencies; however, in view of the terms of the agreement, Engineer A does not report the safety violations to any third party.

Was it ethical for Engineer A not to report the safety violations to the appropriate public authorities?