Hi, I am confused about how much an architect should “intervene” in documenting unsafe construction conditions. What I learnt from quizzes and exams on Black Spectacles is that the architect should not document those in site visit reports.
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But when I took the NCARB test exams, some questions took me by surprise, indicating that the architect should not only document unsafe working conditions in a memo to the GC, but also include them in site reports? It feels like the architect is actually crossing the line and taking site working conditions into their responsibilities.
Can someone advise me on this topic? Thank you so much!
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Hey @zhaoxuan.yang,
Thanks for writing in! This is always a tricky topic and for ARE purposes, we typically advise that you should not document, talk about, or point out site safety issues. In practice, this is obviously pretty different. If you see an imminently unsafe condition, you probably should say something (like in our answer explanation, you would notify the superintendent, but would not document it).
The reason why you should not document anything regarding site safety is that it could be misconstrued in the future as you taking duty to be responsible for safety programs.
With that said, I’d recommend reaching out to NCARB about these practice questions to get clarification on their stance and how you should interpret this topic for ARE purposes.
Also, just a heads up - we do not allow screenshots of paid content to be shared, so I will be removing your image of the practice quiz.
Best,
Kiara Galicinao, AIA, NCARB
Black Spectacles
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