Draft version 1.7 beta — Revised October 30, 2026
← Return to the table in Chapter 4, § 5
Negligence
A topic page linked from Chapter 4, § 5, Examples of Reported Violations of Enforceable Ethics Codes.
Definition
Negligent practice occurs when a professional geoscientist agrees to do a task that they know how to do, but does the task poorly and causes harm. Negligence is more than a moral or ethical breach; it can also be grounds for legal action. Black's Law Dictionary1 devotes five columns to negligence and negligent acts, with side references to practice, malpractice, tort law (e.g., involving civil lawsuits), and criminal law. Here is the core of Black's definition of negligence:
negligence, noun, (14c) 1. The failure to exercise the standard of care that a reasonably prudent person would have exercised in a similar situation; conduct that falls below the legal standard established to protect others against unreasonable risk of harm, except for conduct that is intentionally, wantonly, or willfully disregardful of others' rights; the doing of what a reasonable and prudent person would not do under the particular circumstances, or the failure to do what such a person would do under the circumstances... 2. A tort grounded in this failure, usu[ally] expressed in terms of the following elements: duty, breach of duty, causation, and damages.2
Relevant provisions in geoethics codes
AAPG – § 2c; AEG – § 2.9; AIPG – § 3.3.2; ASBOG – § 16.7a,c; CAL – § b2;
Code Abbreviations
- AAPG — American Association of Petroleum Geologists, AAPG Code of Ethics (2024), Link to current document
- AEG — Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists, AEG Code of Conduct (2018), Link to current document
- AIPG — American Institute of Professional Geologists, AIPG Code of Ethics (2019), Link to current document
- ASBOG — Association of State Boards of Geology, Model Rules and Regulations, Section 16, Code of Ethics (2019), Link to current document; see pages 27 to 29.
- Cal — Regulations Relating to the Practices of Geology and Geophysics, California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Division 29, Section 3065, Professional Standards and Code of Professional Conduct – Professional Geology and Professional Geophysics (2026), Link to current document; see pages 30 to 33.
Notes and References
1 Garner, B.A. [editor], 2024, Black's Law Dictionary [12th edition]: St. Paul, MN, Thompson Reuters, ISBN 979-8-350-29089-9, 2071 p.
2 Negligence, Ibid., p. 1241.