OIT Professional Standards and Ethics 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A journeyperson discovers a coworker has been falsifying inspection records to meet production deadlines. What is the most appropriate first action?
- Ignore it to avoid workplace conflict
- Report the falsification to a supervisor or safety authority (Correct answer)
- Continue working and hope the coworker corrects themselves
- Confront the coworker loudly in front of others
Correct answer: Report the falsification to a supervisor or safety authority
Falsifying inspection records is a serious safety and ethical violation that must be reported to protect public safety and uphold trade standards.
Question 2: Under Ontario's Trades Qualification and Apprenticeship Act, who is ultimately responsible for ensuring that compulsory trade work is performed by a certified tradesperson?
- The apprentice performing the work
- The employer or contractor (Correct answer)
- The Ministry of Labour inspector
- The union representative on site
Correct answer: The employer or contractor
Employers have the legal obligation to ensure compulsory trade tasks are assigned only to qualified, certified tradespeople.
Question 3: A licensed tradesperson is offered a substantial cash payment to certify equipment they have not personally inspected. This situation is best described as:
- A standard industry gratuity
- Bribery and a breach of professional ethics (Correct answer)
- An acceptable shortcut when workload is high
- A permitted delegation of certification duties
Correct answer: Bribery and a breach of professional ethics
Certifying uninspected equipment for payment constitutes bribery and violates the tradesperson's duty to ensure public safety.
Question 4: Which principle best describes the obligation of a tradesperson to stay current with code updates and new techniques?
- Continuing competence (Correct answer)
- Scope limitation
- Mutual aid
- Jurisdictional exclusivity
Correct answer: Continuing competence
Continuing competence is the ongoing duty to maintain and update knowledge and skills throughout a professional career.
Question 5: An apprentice is instructed by their journeyperson to take a shortcut that violates the Ontario Electrical Safety Code. The apprentice should:
- Follow the instruction because the journeyperson holds authority
- Refuse and explain the code violation to the journeyperson (Correct answer)
- Complete the work and report it anonymously afterward
- Ask a different journeyperson without mentioning the issue
Correct answer: Refuse and explain the code violation to the journeyperson
Apprentices are responsible for their own work and must refuse instructions that violate applicable codes even from senior workers.
Question 6: Conflict of interest in the trades most commonly arises when:
- A tradesperson works overtime on weekends
- A tradesperson has a financial stake in a supplier used on their own project (Correct answer)
- Two tradespeople belong to the same union local
- A contractor hires workers from multiple trades
Correct answer: A tradesperson has a financial stake in a supplier used on their own project
Having a personal financial interest in decisions you make professionally creates a conflict of interest that can compromise impartiality.
Question 7: When a tradesperson completes a job and knows a deficiency exists but the client does not notice, the ethical course of action is to:
- Leave without disclosing since the client did not ask
- Disclose the deficiency and arrange to correct it (Correct answer)
- Offer a discount on the invoice as compensation
- Document it privately and do nothing unless called back
Correct answer: Disclose the deficiency and arrange to correct it
Professional ethics require honest disclosure of known deficiencies regardless of whether the client has detected them.
OIT Professional Standards and Ethics 2
A journeyperson discovers a coworker has been falsifying inspection records to meet production deadlines.
What is the most appropriate first action?