Engineer A should continue to pursue discussions with Client A to convince Client A of the danger in which future residents, as well as the general public, could be placed, and the potential for significant property and environmental damage. If Client A refuses to agree with Engineer A’s design standard, Engineer A should withdraw from the project.

As the BER has noted on several occasions, engineers play an essential role in society by taking steps and actions to ensure that products, systems, facilities, structures, and the land surrounding them are reasonably safe. Sometimes engineers are placed in situations in which they must balance their obligations to their employer or client with their obligations to protect the public health and safety. NSPE Code Section III.2.d. places some additional responsibilities on engineers for the protection of the environment. In BER Case No. 04-8, Engineer A, an environmental engineer, performed wetland delineation services on the client’s wetland site. A few months after Engineer A completed the services, he drove by his client’s property and noticed that the client had installed a substantial amount of fill material on more than half an acre across a portion of the wetlands without any permits, variances, or permissions. The installation of the fill material was a substantial violation of the federal and state laws and regulations. In its decision, the BER set forth an appropriate course of action for Engineer A, concluding that Engineer A should contact the client, inquire about the actions the client had taken, and point out that the actions were a violation of the law—and that steps needed to be taken to remedy the violation or obtain a variance from the proper authorities. In this connection, the engineer should advise that the remedial actions should be in full compliance with all applicable environmental laws and regulations, which may include review by a licensed engineer. If appropriate steps were not taken by the client, Engineer A had an obligation to bring the matter to the attention of the appropriate authorities. In BER Case 07-6, Engineer A was a principal in an environmental engineering firm and had been requested by a developer client to prepare an analysis of a piece of property adjacent to a wetlands area for potential development as a residential con...

Engineer A is an engineer in private practice. Engineer A is retained by Client A, a developer, to perform hydrodynamic modeling and coastal risk assessment in connection with potential climate change and sea level rise for a residential development project near a coastal area. The geographic area in which Client A is planning to build the project currently has no building code in place. Based on newly released information as well as a recently developed algorithm that includes newly identified historic weather data, Engineer A believes the residential development project should be built to a 100-year projected storm surge elevation, due to public safety risks even at lower projections of future surge level rise. Because of the increased cost, Owner refuses to agree that the residential development project be built to a 100-year projection storm surge elevation.

What are Engineer A’s obligations under the circumstances?