CE 466 FE Exam Review Ethics and Business Practices
Spring 2013
Overview
Reference Handbook – pg. 121-122
Topics on FE exam: • Code of ethics (professional societies)
• Agreements and contracts
• Ethical vs. legal
• Professional liability
• Public protection (licensing boards)
Engineering is a profession
• Large knowledge base requiring extensive training
• Important to the well being of society
• Self regulating • Requires independent judgment to practice engineering
• Established ethical standards -- Code of Ethics provides
contract between professionals and the public
Morals, Ethics and the Law
•  Morals are beliefs on right and wrong held by segments of
society (may vary among different segments and cultures)
•  Personal ethics are based on beliefs that individuals hold (i.e.,
based on morals)
•  Professional ethics are formally adopted and regulated in a code
of behavior by a group of professionals – in effect a contract on
how the profession will interact with the public
•  Engineers have clear obligation to adhere to all laws in their
work. Professional ethics goes beyond only complying with legal
requirements.
Code of Ethics
• Most engineering codes are based on the Model Rules of
Professional Conduct – see pages 121-122 in Reference
Handbook
- Licensee’s obligations to society
- Licensee’s obligations to employer and clients
- Licensee’s obligations to other licensees
Principal Ideas in Model Rules
1.  First responsibility is to public welfare
2.  Licensees must notify employer or client when their
judgment is overruled in circumstances that may endanger
the “life, health, property or welfare” of the public
3.  Licensees MUST include all “relevant and pertinent”
information in reports, statements and testimony – you
may not leave out such information
Principal Ideas in Model Rules
4.  Public statements may not be made when engineers do
not have adequate knowledge of the facts, and they must
identify on whose behalf they are speaking
5.  Engineers may not associate with anyone engaged in
“fraudulent or dishonest” business
6.  Knowledge of code violations must be provided to the
state board – honor code
Obligations to Employer and Clients
1.  You must not perform professional services unless you
are qualified by education OR experience in the specific
technical field
2.  You may not affix your signature (“stamp”) on plans or
documents unless you (a) have competent knowledge and
(b) the document was prepared under your “direct
control and personal supervision”
3.  You MAY accept overall responsibility for a project
provided each design segment is stamped by a P.E.
responsible for that segment
Obligations to Employer and Clients
4.  Licensees shall not accept compensation from more than
one party for services pertaining to the same project,
unless the arrangements are fully disclosed and agreed to
by all parties
5.  Soliciting or accepting financial or other valuable
considerations from contractors in connection with their
work is prohibited
6.  Full disclosure of actual, potential or apparent conflicts of
interest is required. A disclosed conflict of interest is
permissible
Obligations to Employer and Clients
7.  Licensees shall not reveal information obtained in a
professional capacity without the prior consent of the
client or employer except as required by law
8.  Licensees shall not accept a contract from a government
body on which a principal or officer of their firm serves as
a member. Obligations to other Licensees
1.  Licensees must not misrepresent or exaggerate the
degree of responsibility in or complexity of prior work
2.  Licensees must not give or receive valuable consideration
in order to secure work – no bribes, donations, gifts,
payments, etc.
3.  Licensees must not attempt to “injure, maliciously or
falsely, directly or indirectly” the professional reputation
or employment opportunities of other licensees
Ethics scenario #1
Connie is a licensed professional engineer and professor at a
major state university. She is retained to testify as an
expert in construction engineering. She will testify that
although the construction sequence used in the project in
question was outside usual engineering practice, it was
acceptable. She can base her testimony on:
Ethics scenario #1 (continued)
a)  The fact she holds a Ph.D. in engineering
b)  The fact she is a licensed professional engineer
c)  Her intuition that the sequence is acceptable
d)  Detailed computer simulations that prove the
construction sequence used in the project will work
Ethics scenario #1 - solution
An engineer must demonstrate the validity of any opinion that
is outside of usual engineering practice. Opinions that are
consistent with usual engineering practice may be stated
without proof.
The answer is d)
Ethics scenario #2 Juan is an EIT working as an electrical engineer for a
consulting company that designs switch gears for
small substations. His supervisor asks him to
duplicate a set of drawings, changing the name of
the client. He explains that a new client has a
substation with identical specifications to the last
project Juan worked on, so the same design will
work. When Juan asks how he should bill his time,
he is told to enter the same number of hours he
billed for the initial design work. Juan’s response
should be:
Ethics scenario #2 (continued) a) “It took me two weeks to design the earlier project,
so I should wait two weeks before submitting this
design to justify the charged hours”
b) “The Code of Ethics requires that a second use of a
design be done by a different engineer”
c) “The Code of Ethics prevents me from billing two
clients for the same work, without informed consent”
d) “I’ll need to do some research to make sure the
specifications are really identical”
Ethics scenario #2 - solution Answer choice a) is a rationalization for an impermissible
action, b) is fictitious, and d) is presumed by the
hypothesis in the problem statement. The correct answer, stipulated in NCEES Model Rules,
is c).
Ethics scenario #3 With respect to an engineer’s responsibility to the profession,
the NCEES model code prevents engineers from
a) forming partnerships with surveyors without approval of the
Surveying board.
b) working under unlicensed engineers.
c) offering a commission to secure an engineering assignment.
d) advertising their services to the public in other than technical
journals.
Ethics scenario #3 - solution • c) is part of the NCEES model code. • Choices a) , b), and d) are not part of the model
code, and generally not part of most codes of
ethics. • The answer is c).
Ethics scenario #4 An engineer testifying as an expert witness in a product
liability case should:
a)  Answer as briefly as possible only those questions asked
by the attorneys
b)  Provide a complete and objective analysis within his or
her area of competence
c)  Provide an evaluation of the character of the defendant
d)  Provide information on the professional backgrounds of
the defendants
Ethics scenario #5 A professional engineer, originally licensed 30 years ago, is asked
to evaluate a new computerized control system for a public
transportation system. The engineer may accept the case if: a)  He or she is competent in the are of modern control systems
b)  His or her P.E. license has not lapsed
c)  His or her original area of expertise was in transportation
systems
d)  He or she has regularly attended professional engineering
meetings
Ethics scenario #6 You and your design group are competing for a multi-disciplinary
project. Your firm is the lead group of a consortium formed
to compete for the contract. Your consortium has been
selected as the first to enter fee negotiations with the project
owner. During the negotiations, you are asked to reduce
your fee which will require dropping one of the consortium
members whose staff have special expertise not found among
the remaining consortium members. Is your consortium’s
response to the fee reduction ethical?
Ethics scenario #6 (continued)
a)  Not if the owner is left with the impression that the consortium
is fully qualified to perform all the required tasks.
b)  Yes, if your remaining consortium members hire a few, lowercost employees to do the special work intended to be provided
by the firm that was dropped.
c)  No, because an engineer may not accept a contract to coordinate
a project with other professional firms providing capabilities and
services not under the engineer’s direct control.
d)  Yes, if in accepting an assignment to coordinate a project a single
person will stamp all documents in the entire project.
Ethics scenario #7
Both you and Joe were hired right out of engineering school by XYZ
company one year ago. You and Joe work in the same
engineering section and have become friends as well as working
on the same projects every once and a while.
Recently, Joe let it slip that he never actually graduated due to failing
a required last-semester senior course. Joe just listed himself as a
graduate engineer on his application form.
Joe is a nice person. Both of you are registered as EITs with the state
registration board.
You should:
Ethics scenario #7 (continued)
a)  Write a brief report on the situation to the state licensing
board asking them to investigate.
b)  Ignore the situation since Joe is doing a good job at work.
c)  Write an anonymous letter to the firm president stating
that “some” engineering employees have misrepresented
their educational background.
d)  Avoid interacting with Joe because otherwise you might
be blamed for condoning his behavior if the truth comes
to light.