Reporting other engineer to state board

[SE_FL]

Has anyone reported another engineer to the state licensing board for negligence? I am curious what your thoughts are in regards to life safety issues versus property damage.

EE has potential for fires and injury. Structural has potential for wind/siesmic/loading damage for events below the design parameters. Civil has potential for flood damage from improper rentention calcs. And on and on in our profession.

I see shody engineering practice in my field quite frequently and have not reported anyone. Before I had my PE I felt like it was not my place. But I understand the theory of protecting the integrity of the profession. If reporting is the only way for negligent engineers to "up their game" it may be useful in the long run to open up cases for review in some cases, in addition to the legal troubles if they are sued.

On the flip side, has anyone been reported and felt targeted?

 

[P-E]

I'd try other avenues before resorting to the state board.

 There's a difference between negligence and gross negligence. If you are seeing gross neg then absoluetly say something.  

 

[SK82 P.E.]

Every time I go over a bridge, under a bridge, or drive in a parking garage, I wonder the type of person the engineer(s) were/are that signed the drawings.  

 

[smahurin]

I think this was the argument behind Indiana's (failed) initiative to remove licensure from the state.  They argued that in the past 5 or so years there had only been a single instance of someone getting their license revoked by the state board for gross negligence and therefore were exploring whether they should just remove the PE license altogether and let the courts litigate who is "qualified" and who isn't.  Not saying I agree or disagree, but I think its incredibly uncommon for people to get reported and even less common for boards to revoke/suspend /take action against someone.

 

[SE_FL]

I think this was the argument behind Indiana's (failed) initiative to remove licensure from the state.  They argued that in the past 5 or so years there had only been a single instance of someone getting their license revoked by the state board for gross negligence ... its incredibly uncommon for people to get reported and even less common for boards to revoke/suspend /take action against someone.

Florida takes a more proactive approach, and their disciplinary branch is self funded through collected fines. Here is the list on the website. https://fbpe.org/legal/disciplinary-actions/

But even then, it takes a lot to revoke a license. Most actions are slaps on the wrist, classes, and peer review during probation. Which I believe are more appropriate anyway. But there seem to be about 12 cases a year, all published in the newsletter. It's very interesting that if you ever find an engineer found guilty of any kind of felony in the news, their license is revoked pretty quickly. I would agree that most violations probably go unreported. But in Miami-Dade county, the plan reviewers report engineers pretty quickly when they find things that are not correct. They make it easy on themselves by requiring full calculation submittals for all permits and a review by licensed structural engineers.

 

[smahurin]

Interesting, I'd still have a pretty hard time reporting someone I think.  Everyone makes mistakes, you try not to and hopefully limit them in size and scope, but eventually no matter how much you try, people will make mistakes.  The question is, was the mistake negligence or gross negligence.  Where do you draw the line?  At what point should someone lose their license and/or be subject to fines?  Obviously we're obligated to say something if we see an issue that poses a life safety risk.  But does that mean that someone should lose their license?  That's a pretty tough question in my opinion.

 

[BDeZ]

I think I remember reading in one of the ethics portions that it was recommended to advise the engineer of any issues first as a professional courtesy.  

 

[Mangano]

I think I remember reading in one of the ethics portions that it was recommended to advise the engineer of any issues first as a professional courtesy.  

I have to say this is step one.  If you are not required to stamp or sign off on the drawings, I would resort to alternatives before going down the report road.  While it is not your job to teach engineers who are not willing to put the time and work in, the professional courtesy is the best route.  

 

[youngmotivatedengineer]

One thing you need to take into account is whether their work is truly wrong or are they trying to work within the parameters given to them.  If they clearly have no clue what they are doing or are signing off on plans that other people draw without any analysis, or that they are not knowledgeable/experienced in then yes you should report them. However, they may also be solving the problem based on constraints that are given to them (i.e. budget for the construction aspect, girders can only have specific depth to avoid extending into the finished space etc.).  Engineering is about solving problems and there are always multiple ways to solve a problem. If you are going to report someone, you should make sure you have proof to back up your claim that they purposely are doing bad work or have no clue what they are doing. If the proof isn't clear then you should talk to the engineer to understand their thought process and see why they did what they did and if it makes sense after all.   False reporting can harm the engineers reputation. Depending on the situation, they could attempt to sue you for defamation of character if your false claim hurts their business or professional reputation.