Legal Terms for Engineering Calculations

[sticksandtriangles]

I am looking for some guidance from fellow coders with engineering calculations on their webpages, what sort of legal jargon do I need to cover myself?

I know none of you are lawyers and will probably recommend I talk to a lawyer, which I will if required, but is there some open source legal jargon I can copy to alleviate myself of any liability?

Hoping to throw some calculations up on the internet in the near future. I do not want some person knocking on my door when something is wrong on the calculation.

S&T -

http://www.re-tug.com

 

[Agent666]

If open source, I'd say the license you're using would be a good start. They have general disclaimers that the software is supplied 'as is' or similar.

https://engineervsheep.com

 

[IRstuff]

I would look at some of the EULAs given to you by various software companies, particularly those for engineering programs. Typically, they have the following sorts of caveats.

> no warranty on the applicability or suitability of the software for the end-user application
> no warranty on the calculations produced
> use at own risk
> for educational purposes only

The bottom line is that you want to indemnify yourself from getting sued if someone uses your stuff and causes harm or injury.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

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[sticksandtriangles]

Thanks for the pointers Agent and IRstuff, I will craft something up before releasing the calculation.

S&T -

http://www.re-tug.com

 

[IRstuff]

getting sued if someone uses your stuff and causes harm or injury.

I should have made clear that should be regardless of whether the fault or error in the calculation is the user's or yours. You cannot, and must not, have any appearance of accepting liability for erroneous calculation results. Not sure about other jurisdictions, but in California, it's always the liability of the PE, regardless of whether software, or calculator, or computer, messed up the results. That technically falls under the "responsible charge" requirement incurred by the PE when calculations are subbed out to others.

However, when the tool that you are responsible for is made publicly available, there is addition risk if non-engineers, or non-PEs use your tools and "mistakes were made." That's where all those other caveats come into play

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

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[dik]

This is what I use, and it's pretty 'light'. You should really talk to a lawyer about this:

So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[MintJulep]

Disclaimers and caveats will not prevent you from being sued.

They might help you not lose the suit.

 

[sticksandtriangles]

That's always the fear MintJulep, try to do something nice and get sued... such is life I guess.

S&T -

http://www.re-tug.com