July 2007 Issue
Professional Practice & Ethics Corner
APEGGA members with professional practice or ethics questions are welcome
to mail them to Ray Chopiuk, P.Eng., Director, Professional Practice, APEGGA,
1500 Scotia One, 10060 Jasper AV NW, Edmonton, AB T5J 4A2; fax them to 780-426-1877;
or e-mail them to rchopiuk@apegga.org.
Q I’m a professional engineer working at a municipal drinking water facility. It has come to my attention that water quality testing, submitted to Alberta Environment, has been falsified. I asked my boss about it, and he just shrugged his shoulders. What should I do?
A Submitting water quality testing is a condition of a facility’s operating licence. Falsification of these reports is illegal and poses a very serious threat to public health.
Ethical Considerations
APEGGA’s Guideline for Ethical Practice recognizes that your responsibility to protect the well-being and safety of the public may well be in conflict with your duty to a client or employer to maintain confidential information. Under circumstances such as this example, you could come to the reasonable belief that the withholding of information is contrary to the safety of the public.
Since your duty to the public is paramount, you are required to advise your employer, preferably in writing, of your concern regarding the material threat to the public. If your concern is ignored or overruled and your employer continues to follow a course of action that is harmful, then you should inform your employer that you are ethically bound to present the concern to the appropriate authorities and perhaps even disassociate yourself from the project. You should then disclose to appropriate authorities only that information necessary to protect public safety.
If you do not report the illegal or unsafe activity, then you could be found guilty of unprofessional conduct by APEGGA’s Discipline Committee.
Legal Considerations
Failing to report may constitute an offence under the Environmental Protection
and Enhancement Act. The person who causes a release or the person having
control of the substance has a positive obligation to report. It is no defence
to say, “I just work here.” Your professional status puts you in
the position of a person who has the ability to control what happens and you
could be considered a party to the offence committed by your employer if you
have acquiesced in its commission.
Failing to report is punishable by a maximum penalty of $100,000 or imprisonment
for not more than two years.
Your complicity in the offence by your employer may also amount to an offence under the Criminal Code. You could face a charge of public endangerment similar to that in the Walkerton case.
Q What protection is there for whistleblowers?
A There is no whistleblower protection legislation
in Alberta, per se.
Ethical Considerations
However, if you followed the Guideline for Ethical Practice (i.e., you advised your employer of your concern, you were overruled, and you reported the activity to Alberta Environment), you have fulfilled your ethical obligation. Should your employer retaliate against you, you can file a complaint of unprofessional conduct against your employer.
Legal Considerations
You might take comfort in the fact that your employer can be charged with counseling the offence of failing to report even though you made the report.
Alternatively, anyone can anonymously report the activity to Crime Stoppers at www.crimestoppers.ab.ca or 1-800-222-TIPS. The Crime Stoppers system is set up so that the name of the informant is never actually known.