Ethics and Professional Practice

Standard of Care

The level of skill a reasonably prudent engineer would exercise in the same circumstances, used to judge negligence.

Professional negligence is measured against the standard of care: what a reasonably prudent engineer, practising in the same place and time with the same information, would have done. Meeting it is a defence even when the outcome is poor; falling short of it is negligence even when nothing has failed yet.

The standard is not perfection and not a guarantee. A contract that promises a result beyond it — "the design will be free of all defects" — can expose an engineer to liability that professional insurance does not cover, which is why such clauses are usually struck.

How much of the FE Civil exam is Ethics and Professional Practice?