Faculty of Applied Science

University of British Columbia

APPLIED SCIENCE 450
PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE

Quiz 2 Questions with Answers




APSC 450 Professional Engineering Practice 1
Quiz 2 Questions with Answers

Quiz 2 True False Pile
1) In the event of a misunderstanding between the parties to a contract involving engineering
services, a verbal agreement between the parties made after signing the written contract will
be enforced by the court as long as the written contract has been signed and sealed by a
registered engineer. F
2) Offering engineering services for a fee is one case where acceptance of the offer to carry out
those services must be communicated before a contract can be formed. T
3) Privity of contract means that only the parties to the contract can incur liability for failure to
perform the terms of the contract. T
4) Engineers under contract to a client may owe a duty of care to third parties who work with
the client if it can be foreseen that the third parties would rely on statements or actions by the
engineers. T
5) Engineering services offered by means of a verbal agreement and for no consideration are
called gratuitous promises and do not constitute an enforceable contract. T
Its nice to be nice but as Stan Cowdell said in his lecture: No pro bono [free] work without
a contract.
6) An engineering company may not terminate a contract with an unscrupulous client by simply
telling the client that it no longer intends to be bound by the contract. F


7) Most tort cases involving engineering blunders involve large sums of money and are
therefore tried in the provincial Supreme Court. T
8) In a tort case the court must prove the allegations of the plaintiff beyond a reasonable doubt.
F
9) For strict liability to apply to damage caused by leakage of toxic fluids used in a chemical
processing plant, it must be shown that the owners of the plant made a deliberate decision to
not apply the current standards and procedures for containment of such fluids. F
10) If strict liability applied to damage or accidents caused by mistakes in engineering design or
product design, then engineers and manufacturers would be liable for every kind of damage
or accident that occurs and they would effectively become insurers. T
11) One justification of vicarious liability of employers for torts committed by employees is that
employees may have limited assets available to pay compensation for the tort. T
About half of those who got this question answered False. It does not come directly from the
notes or lectures and involves a bit of inference. Since compensation is the primary goal of
tort law, there is no point in extracting blood from a stone (see footnote p 35 of notes). It is
better to impose liability on a party connected to the damage (the employer) even if the party
is a degree removed. Cynics call this the deep pockets justification but think of the
alternative.
Causation in the legal sense can be direct or indirect and is therefore different than causation
in the scientific sense. T See Product Liability lecture by Scott Kerwin


12) Common law consists of rules or precedents developed by the courts over time. T
13) Contract law and tort law all apply one at a time and only one of these may be applied in any
particular case; otherwise one could experience double jeopardy which would be unjust. F

APSC 450 Professional Engineering Practice 2
Quiz 2 Questions with Answers

14) In mediation of a dispute, it is the parties who decide to settle, not the mediator. T
15) There is limited opportunity to appeal a decision made by an arbitrator. T

16) Unless there is a written agreement to the contrary, a regular (non-fiduciary) engineering
employee can resign from his/her position with a company, start up or join a competitor
company, and immediately begin soliciting clients of his or her former employer as long as
he/she does so without the use confidential information of the former employer. T
17) Engineers are exempt from the BC Employment Standards Act but a court will not enforce
an engineers employment contract if its terms violate the Act. T
18) The Employment Standards Act of BC has adopted the same standard for reasonable notice
of termination as that developed by common law cases involving wrongful dismissal. F
19) If you are a free lance consultant, unless the client has assumed liability for your work via the
consulting contract, your liability insurance can be used to fully or partially compensate the
client, depending on the size of the loss. T Yes, and if the insurance is not enough, then your
lakefront property in the Okanagan is next.

20) Clicking an icon on a web site such as I agree or Submit to indicate you agree to
purchase something is an example of a unilateral contract. T
21) The principle of the post-box rule, wherein a contract is formed when the offeree places a
letter of acceptance in the mail, can be easily applied to contracts formed via e-mail. F

22) Any liability incurred by product manufacturers for damage caused by design errors made by
suppliers of components of the product is known as vicarious liability. F No employer-
employee relationship, no vicarious liability.
23) Manufacturers do not have a duty to warn of obvious risks associated with use of their
products. T See notes on product liability.
24) Properly worded disclaimers, written by a lawyer and a professional engineer, can absolve a
manufacturer or provider of engineering services in the case of gross negligence. F

25) A non-obvious improvement of a process or a machine is not patentable in Canada. F
26) In Canada one must apply for copyright protection of any written work. F


27) The test to determine if statements caused defamation of an engineer is whether the
character, ability, or business reputation of the engineer were harmed in the eyes of those
who use that engineers services. T
28) Trade libel refers to defamation of products or services even if the libel did not lead to an
economic loss. F


29) The relationship between an engineer and his/her client may not be inherently fiduciary but
the need for confidentiality can give rise to a fiduciary duty. T
30) The use of an engineers seal on a report or design drawing means that the work involved to
produce the report was done accurately. F
31) Professional engineering associations have the right to prosecute members for violating
codes of conduct or the terms of their license to practice engineering. T
APSC 450 Professional Engineering Practice 3
Quiz 2 Questions with Answers

32) APEGBC was formed by a provincial government statute in order that the government can
maintain more control over engineering activities that have public safety implications. F
APEGBC (and similar professional bodies) were formed by statute because the government
does not have the time or the expertise to govern professions such as engineering.
33) One purpose of a limited liability partnership of engineers is to protect the personal assets of
the partners from claims due to mistakes made by any one or all of the partners. T
34) As an engineer operating a sole proprietorship, there is a distinction between your business
and you, the sole proprietor, and all liabilities of the business are solely those of your
business. F See Law notes, page 10.

APSC 450 Professional Engineering Practice 4
Quiz 2 Questions with Answers

Quiz 2 Multiple Choice Pile
1) The primary objective of tort law is:
a) to provide an alternative to vengeance
b) to provide a deterrent for careless acts
c) to provide compensation for damage
d) to provide a common law basis for future tort cases

2) Which of the following does not form a basis for liability for damage:
a) Competence of the engineer
b) Strict liability
c) Intention
d) Negligence

3) Which of the following is NOT an example of an unintentional tort:
a) Strict liability
b) Battery
c) Negligence
d) Nuisance

4) To determine whether negligence has occurred, one must first ascertain:
a) the amount of compensation
b) the proper court of jurisdiction
c) the previous record of the plaintiff and defendant
d) the nature and quality of the duty of care owed

5) Choose a combination of statements that are important or essential features of a contract.
a) It is a written, signed and sealed document.
b) It permits the parties to the contract to form their own legal relationships.
c) It is a legally enforceable set of promises.
d) It is presumed that the parties to the contract intended to create a legal relationship.
e) It always involves the transfer of money as consideration.

6) Which of the following elements are necessary to achieve a contract?
a) offer, acceptance, legality, capacity to contract, consideration
b) offer, acceptance, legality, capacity to contract, written contract terms, consideration
c) offer, acceptance, counteroffer, consideration, age of majority
d) offer, acceptance, contract, capacity to enter into a contract, legality, enforceability

7) Product liability law is based on
a) Employment law and tort law
b) Contract law and tort law
c) Intellectual property law and contract law
d) A number of English and American court cases dating back to the early 20
th
century



APSC 450 Professional Engineering Practice 5
Quiz 2 Questions with Answers

8) As an engineer, which of the following factors need to be considered when contemplating
purchasing liability insurance?
a) the scope of insurance coverage offered
b) the financial strength and performance of an insurer
c) claims handling ability
d) defence capability
See Law notes, page 15

9) In Canada, a partnership is
a) a relationship between persons carrying on a business with a view of profit
b) a relationship between persons carrying on a business in common and each individually
sharing the risks in that business
c) a contractual relationship which requires the confirmed assent of its members to carry on
business together
d) all of the above

10) An employment contract should address issues such as:
a) the chain of command in the company, salary levels, and what constitutes reasonable
notice of termination.
b) what constitutes reasonable notice of termination, ownership of intellectual
property, confidentiality, and terms of payment.
c) terms of payment, allowable vacations, and what constitutes reasonable notice of
termination.

11) Which of the following is not considered a form of alternative dispute resolution?
a) Settlement conference
b) Mediation
c) Administrative Tribunals
d) Negotiation
e) Mini-trials for fact finding purposes only

12) Common defenses to a charge of negligent product design causing damage are (Choose the
best combination):
a) The product complies with all statutes concerning its design or manufacture.
b) There are intervening causes such as poor maintenance by the plaintiff.
c) The plaintiff used the product improperly.
d) The plaintiff knew that use of the product involved risks but used the product
anyway.
e) The engineer who recommended using the product was informed by the
manufacturer of the associated risks but did not inform the plaintiff.
See Product Liability lecture by Scott Kerwin

13) ERTW, an engineering company was contracted by Wasted Inc to perform design work and
prepare drawings for an upgrade of a waste processing facility owned by Wasted. EM, an
electrical and mechanical contractor receives the design drawings from Wasted and submits a
APSC 450 Professional Engineering Practice 6
Quiz 2 Questions with Answers

bid for the electrical and mechanical work. Select the statements that best describe this
situation.
a) In return for receipt of a bid from EM, Wasted Inc promises to consider it, a form
of unilateral contract. See Law notes page 44
b) Whatever improvements are made by the upgrades, Wasted Inc, ERTW, and EM (if their
bid is successful) could be strictly liable for any release of toxic effluent from the waste.
c) In the event of mistakes in the drawings and consequent damage, ERTW is
potentially liable to the contractor as a third party. See Law notes page 27
d) Wasted Inc is vicariously liable for damage caused by mistakes in the design.

14) Consider Andrew, the biomedical engineer who works for Vancouver General Hospital. The
hospital has seen fit to give Andrew a budget which he can use at his discretion for any work
he does on hospital equipment. Andrew has been assigned the task of making modifications
to some older hospital equipment, but he is busy and decides to use some of the budget to
hire Ashraf under contract with the hospital to help with the modifications. Select the
combination of statements that best describes this situation.
a) The hospital would be vicariously liable for design mistakes made by Ashraf.
b) Andrew would be vicariously liable for design mistakes made by Ashraf.
c) Liability for design mistakes made by Ashraf would require establishing the degree
of control by Andrew or other hospital staff over Ashrafs work.
d) Only Ashraf is responsible for his design mistakes and the amount of his liability
insurance should reflect this.
If there is no employer-employee relationship, then usually there is no vicarious liability. The
situation can become complicated in the case of an independent contractor but the degree of
control the client has over the contractors work is an important issue. See Law notes, page
34

15) Susan, a graduate student in biochemistry, has been doing some work with bacteriophage
(viruses that infect bacteria). She describes her work to Eileen, a graduate student in chemical
engineering, who finds that there may be some interesting industrial applications for these
bacteriophage. Using equipment in the chemical engineering labs they carry out experiments
that suggest such applications would be successful. They present the results in a paper at a
meeting of the local chapter of Women in Science and Engineering (WISE). Fred, a member
of the audience at the meeting, suggests they file for a patent on the application. Select the
combination of statements that apply to this situation.
a) Graduate students are employees of the university they attend and thus the
university might have a claim on patent rights to the application.
b) They must file a patent on the application within one year of the WISE chapter
meeting date.
c) WISE might have a claim on patent rights to the application.
d) Fred could apply for patent rights to the application because he was the one who
suggested the possibility to Susan and Eileen.
Some of you asked what Fred was doing at a WISE meeting. We dont know and refuse to
speculate on his motives.