Forensic Engineering: Professional Liability Risks of Engineering Sustainable Materials and Systems, Designing for Durability, and Pushing Materials to Their Limits

Professional engineers in the US may be found negligent and therefore liable for damages arising from failure to exercise a level of care, diligence, and skill exercised by other reputable practitioners in similar circumstances in an effort to accomplish the purpose for which the professional engineer was hired. If the professional engineer has accepted the obligation to design for sustainability or durability, or where materials, elements, or assemblies are intended by design to be “pushed to their limits” in normal service, the professional engineer may be accepting an extreme or uninsurable risk.

The subject of this paper is the standard of care and the relationship between the standard of care and design for sustainability or durability, or design where the engineered features are expected to be “pushed to their limits” in normal service. The paper’s contents include 1) an explanation of the concept of the standard of care, and 2) the professional liability pitfalls inherent in a design effort intended to result in sustainability or durability, or intended to achieve limit-state behavior in normal service. The subject is relevant for practitioners wishing to understand professional responsibilities for such designs.