Duty to Warn - who?

[Forensic74]

My company does a lot of condition assessments of commercial and single-family residential and this question came up. When you discover a dangerous condition in an existing building/residence, as a PE, are you legally required to notify the owner, the building official, or both?

Our current approach is to only notify the owner unless it is an imminent collapse scenereo. I'm hearing the common argument that if you notify the owner in writing, you have satisfied your legal obligation if you feel he/she will reasonably take action. Plus, running to the building official can be made in future litigation to look like you're bullying the owner.

Any thoughts?

Maybe its a state-by-state requirement? Dependent on the size of the building?

 

[SLTA]

For me, I send a certified letter to the owner always. If I'm afraid the building is in danger of imminent collapse or other immediate danger and the owner isn't paying attention, I send a copy to the building department.

I was once called in to look at a restaurant where the maintenance man had noticed some separation in the roof trusses. Turns out the whole roof had the wrong or missing connections and the roof was trying to collapse. I called and wrote to the owner and they closed the building, but I was ready to call the building dept if they didn't.

My state has a lawyer at the licensing board who helps sort out this kind of issue, for free. It might be worth seeing if your state board does as well, assuming you're in the States.

Please remember: we're not all guys!

 

[Forensic74]

Taking your example, if the roof came down and killed maintenance personnel who were in the building attempting repairs of the trusses, I am wondering if you'd still be on the hook because you didn't notify the building department to legally red-tag the building.

 

[SLTA]

The lawyer at my board said no. They had a licensed GC doing the repairs and they were fully aware of the condition they were going into.

Please remember: we're not all guys!