EIT Ethics and Professional Practice 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: 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:
- Acceptable if the projects are in different states
- A conflict of interest that violates professional ethics (Correct answer)
- Acceptable if the engineer uses separate project files
- Only problematic if the clients discover each other
Correct 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.
Question 2: Which body has the authority to revoke a professional engineering license in the United States?
- The National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)
- The state professional engineering licensing board (Correct answer)
- The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)
- The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Correct 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.
Question 3: An engineer preparing a feasibility study for a proposed development has a financial interest in an adjacent property. The engineer should:
- Proceed without disclosure since the properties are adjacent, not identical
- Disclose the interest to the client and withdraw or obtain consent before proceeding (Correct answer)
- Complete the study and disclose the interest only in the final report
- Disclose only if their interest exceeds 10% of the property value
Correct 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.
Question 4: The Model Law Engineer developed by NCEES is best described as:
- A model statute designed to achieve uniformity in state engineering licensure laws (Correct answer)
- A federal law governing interstate engineering practice
- An NSPE ethics code for EITs
- A model contract template for engineering services
Correct 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.
Question 5: An engineer who performs a cursory structural review and certifies a building as safe, when a thorough review was required, may be guilty of:
- Breach of confidentiality
- Gross negligence or misconduct (Correct answer)
- Unauthorized practice of engineering
- Fee splitting
Correct 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.
Question 6: Fee splitting, in which an engineer pays a referral fee to a non-engineer for client referrals, is ethically problematic primarily because:
- It violates antitrust laws
- It can compromise the engineer's independent judgment and create undisclosed financial arrangements (Correct answer)
- It reduces competition among engineering firms
- It is only legal if the referral fee is under 10% of the contract value
Correct 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.
Question 7: An engineer who is asked to review another engineer's work for a client should:
- Refuse, as it is unethical to critique another engineer's work
- Accept, and notify the other engineer of the review before submitting findings (Correct answer)
- Accept without notifying the other engineer, to ensure an unbiased assessment
- Accept only if the other engineer has retired or changed firms
Correct 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.
EIT Ethics and Professional Practice 4
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: