What to do? 13

[coolout]

As licensed engineers with a forensics firm we inspected a house to determine why it burned. The house was built with a large heating appliance. We found that the fire resulted from incorrect installation of the appliance (failure to follow installation instructions). The installers said they installed similar appliances in many other houses.

But since the insurance company and their law firm that hired us represent the installers, we were told by our mgt to keep shut! If not, we risk loss of clients and possible lawsuit, etc. So we can only hope that the other installations do not have the same bad installation and cause more house fires.

What would you do? Talk to the Building & Safety department? Talk to a lawyer? Forget about it?

 

[IRstuff]

I don't see where the OP posted for al to see what jurisdiction he was in.

Actually, he sort of did, "have to flee to Mexico" pretty much puts him in North America, and pretty much only Americans think about fleeing to Mexico, unless they're draft dodgers, in which case Canada would be the choice.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[TheTick]

Well, MALK, there's the problem. The conduct required by the codified ethics demand action contrary to most of our morality.

In a professional sense (this is a forum for professinal issues, no?), ethics is about acceptable conduct. It has little to do with morality.

Add to this mix the fact that the OP's employer was hired by an attorney. This puts the report squarely in the realm of attorney-client privilege, a time-honored and well-protected ethic that offends many people's morality (until you are the one being charged, of course).

 

[patprimmer]

I agree this is a professional ethics forum, but professional ethics do not over rule legal requirements.

If there are conflicting legal and or professional ethics requirements, like to honour a contract or to treat information as privileged as well as to act in the interest of public safety you need legal advice.

On a lighter note, If someone uses the phrase, to send someone to Coventry, should I presume they reside and work in England.

Ron. Aussie might do that also, but in my 8 years and many thousands of posts here I have never seen one do it. In fact ALL but one turned out to be from the USA once disclosed. One was British. I don't know how many I have seen in total, probably many tens, maybe over one hundred. If observing that imbalance is hating or Yank bashing, I guess I need to be more PC and less observant and ignore evidence.

The facts are, this is the

http://WWW and

more than half the people here are not residing and working in the USA while significantly more than half (like over 90%) of those asking questions where a useful answer requires one to know where they are but do not disclose that are in fact located in the USA.

The flee to Mexico comment in this thread was to subtle for me.

The real issue is that even if we presume the OP is from the USA, we still don't know what part. I am sure people raised in the USA but living elsewhere still use expressions they grew up with even if they are no longer strictly accurate.

Back to strictly on topic. I stick with the advice to get legal advice relevant to your jurisdiction where ever that is. Any legal advice given here is almost certainly from someone not fully qualified to give it and will be relevant to their jurisdiction which may vary from yours.

Regards
Pat
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[Ron]

Pat...I've seen the Oz boys do it several times....even lately. I'd have to go back through the posts to pick them out, which I don't have the time to do, but when I noticed them I thought...well, the Yanks aren't the only ones who do it. Yes, we do it more often because there are more of us in the forums...just logic and statistics. About 31 percent of the participants are from the US, while about 2.5 percent are from Oz. I would expect more of the issue to be from the US (and it is) than from Australia.

My comments were meant mostly in jest; however, we all know and have discussed this before in the Pub, that the Americans in the forums occasionally are more seemingly arrogant in their postings and expectations than others. Not really a problem unless it offends you, but a fact nonetheless. I'm guilty of it myself, but try very hard to be cognizant of the universality of our forums. I have also red flagged comments and postings that I considered to be "over the line" in those respects. Your statistics are anectdotal....your observations...not necessarily that of others, as are mine.

The bottom line is that we are an international group, crossing cultural, education, moral, ethical, and social lines that would be greatly simplified if we were "one society". We're not.

I greatly value the opinions of my international colleagues (you, hokie66, rowing engineer, and Greg Locock are some of the most intelligent professionals I've had the pleasure to interact with...keeping in mind that hokie66 is an expat. The varied responses are often enlightening, though sometimes irrelevant...just as mine are to those in other areas of practice. As a reasonably intelligent group of people, I think that most of us can discern the relevance and ignore the geographical, code-specific, or cultural differences. Sometimes not, but most of the time we can.

The next bottom line is that when you decide to come to God's country (sorry Greg); then I will buy you a beer and a steak...even if from one of the fake Aussie steakhouses.

With personal respect and regards,
Ron

 

[patprimmer]

Ron

I have yet to see one from Aus, but if they run at over 2.5% they would indeed be over represented.

I don't necessarily see it as arrogance, more an unawareness or ignorance of the rest of the world by probably a small but minority rather than a majority of Yanks. I think it is prevalent in those who never travelled much or who are not exposed to working globally.

hokie and Big Inch are in a better position than most to see this as they are both people who have lived in several cultures long enough to get a real feeing for the tendencies.

I know it irritates me more than it should.

We have the Outback Steakhouse franchise here. I eat there when I want to eat kinda American. They make great Margaritas. They certainly are not Australian cuisine.

Regards
Pat
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[IRstuff]

Seems like we're getting a bit obsessive here.

I rarely come across an OP that starts off with, "I'm from country X, and I want someone to tell me blah, blah..." Invariably, it's, "I want someone to tell me blah, blah..." and only later that we find out that they're from any country at all. About the only hint that I usually see is an OP stating that their English is bad, but there are plenty of Americans with that problem as well.

TTFN

FAQ731-376