Engineering Assistance
Engineer A is hired to design a piping system in a building that he has heard of but has not designed before. He comes across marketing literature from Manufacturer Z, which manufactures one or more products that are components in this particular piping system. In this literature, the manufacturer offers to provide "a line drawing of the specific pipe design" including "pipe dimensions and distance between component fittings" as well as provide a "calculation of each drawing that will show the pipe length, diameter, flow rate, friction loss, pressure loss, and static pressure for each component in the drawing." The manufacturer then states they will submit the drawings and calculation to the engineer for approval. Engineer A accepts the manufacturer's offer, specifies their components and stamps and signs their drawings and calulations to be included in the rest of the construction documents.
A. Was it ethical for Engineer A to accept the manufacturer's services?
B. Was it legal for Manufacturer Z to have made this offer to perform these services?
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