Ethics and Professional Practice Flashcards
7 cards from real EIT practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Ethics and Professional Practice flashcards as text
An engineer is hired by Client A and later hired by Client B on a competing project. Without written consent from both clients, this arrangement is:
Answer: A conflict of interest that violates professional ethics
Simultaneously serving competing clients without full disclosure and written consent from both constitutes a conflict of interest.
Which body has the authority to revoke a professional engineering license in the United States?
Answer: The state professional engineering licensing board
State licensing boards are the legal authority empowered to grant, suspend, and revoke professional engineering licenses within their jurisdiction.
An engineer preparing a feasibility study for a proposed development has a financial interest in an adjacent property. The engineer should:
Answer: Disclose the interest to the client and withdraw or obtain consent before proceeding
Any financial interest that could affect objectivity must be fully disclosed to the client before proceeding, not buried in the final report.
The Model Law Engineer developed by NCEES is best described as:
Answer: A model statute designed to achieve uniformity in state engineering licensure laws
NCEES's Model Law Engineer is a standardized template intended to promote consistency in professional engineering licensure requirements across states.
An engineer who performs a cursory structural review and certifies a building as safe, when a thorough review was required, may be guilty of:
Answer: Gross negligence or misconduct
Certifying work as safe without performing the required level of review constitutes gross negligence, a serious ethical and legal violation.
Fee splitting, in which an engineer pays a referral fee to a non-engineer for client referrals, is ethically problematic primarily because:
Answer: It can compromise the engineer's independent judgment and create undisclosed financial arrangements
Undisclosed fee splitting arrangements can bias professional recommendations and undermine the client's trust in receiving objective advice.
An engineer who is asked to review another engineer's work for a client should:
Answer: Accept, and notify the other engineer of the review before submitting findings
While peer review is legitimate and important, professional courtesy requires notifying the engineer whose work is being reviewed when circumstances permit.