I read a statement today made by upper management in a digital weekly newsletter sent to employees. The statement made revolved around protecting client proposed project information and not discussing plans outside of professional duties, i. e., design engineering, drafting, surveying and related services.
The statement was made that, essentially, we are not legally bound to not discuss plans in the works, it should not happen outside of our work for the client. My contention is that we are, in fact, legally obligated to protect the privacy of our client's intentions, just like client/attorney privilege, furthermore, professional rules of ethics in our responsibilities to our clients.
I'm interested in your opinions; I poked around a little and could not find anything on the subject but did not dig too deeply.
It's vitally important. Keep work to yourself. It's easy anyway, surveying is booorrrrrinnnnnggggg.
Nobody wants to listen to stories about it, or gossip about it.
And, if you're an employer you don't want workers yaking about clients.
Depends what exactly you're talking about and how, I think. Definitely shouldn't be spilling the beans on a project that hasn't been announced. But talking about, without naming names, something dumb an engineer or contractor did? I don't see a problem with that.
Everyone who happens onto the scene of your project believe they are entitled to know exactly what you are doing, who it is for and what the future plans happen to be. They are NOT entitled to such information. Doesn't matter who they are.
]Tell them you are working on the preliminary plans for a 10-foot diameter, above-ground sewer main. Leave it at that.
You are missing my point, this is not just about surveying, it's about our duty to our client to keep our mouths shut while going through the process of any land development project or real estate transaction. The only "yacking" in the field should be, I don't know, call the office.
As you put it, "spilling the beans" is what I'm talking about but telling war stories factually about screw ups by others are also something that I avoid. Trust me, I have a lot of war stories.
"Spilling the beans" almost always leads to the NIMBY approach when a proposed plan has not even been presented publicly and it essentially is a violation of privileged information and a violation of client trust.
Some love to gossip, some loathe to.
Hire the loathers.
And it's not only client information that can make that type of person toxic.
...but telling war stories factually about screw ups by others are also something that I avoid. Trust me, I have a lot of war stories.
I'm more interested in learning from other people's mistakes than anything, but maybe there are people that enjoy gossiping about rod busts for no apparent reason or something.
I don't think there is any such thing as formal surveyor/client privilege. In fact, most states I'm licensed in require the identity of the client on recorded surveys or the purpose of the survey for right-of-entry notification (Oregon). That being said, neither is there an obligation for me to disclose anything to the general public and nothing more than mentioned to any government agency without a subpoena.
I have worked on numerous projects that require an NDA before we begin to even propose on the project when the client knows it will be controversial. Even without an NDA, I think it is good ethics and business practice to limit my discussions about project specifics with the general public. I like to tell people we are working on a future Walmart distribution center but I like the Cow's above ground sewer line idea. I think I might incorporate it into my reparatory, maybe something like an above ground sewage holding tank.
Maine has client/surveyor privilege. A contract is required before commencing a survey and the client may specifically request that the PLS not share any information regarding the location of even the shared boundaries. Westerners might be appalled by this, but it is due to the Maine Rule relating to AP and I'd like to think it has something to do with not infringing on one's right to hold exclusive knowledge. Nothing prevents the neighbors from coughing up some cash and hiring their own surveyor and I'm not aware of any Maine PLSs who set secretive corners.
I'm not aware of any regulation dealing with client confidentiality in NC, SC, or TN. I learned to keep mum the hard way, twice. In both instances, the person I blabbed to was courteous and, in hindsight, maybe a bit too nice. They baited me into sharing information that they could exploit. I'll never forget the last instance. As soon as I erred, the jerk flashed a big Cheshire Cat grin then informed me he was heading back home to contact his attorney. Oops...
To make the story even better------------tell them the 10-foot diameter, above-ground sewer main will be an all-glass construction to allow the operators to identify where plugs are developing rather quickly.
I've got years of experience playing dumb, so I'll usually engage in conversation and if it comes to what I'm doing I just tell them 'they just asked me to give them elevation info, give them some coordinate points on their property, give them some distances...' or something vague and boring like that. That they probably didn't tell me the plan, but I'm sure they'd be happy to tell you what they're doing themselves.
