Engineers Without Liability: Addressing Liability and Risk Issues Associated with Designers who Volunteer

Summary: This program will introduce the attendees to Engineers Without Borders‐USA, a volunteer organization of engineers and other professionals that supports community driven development worldwide through collaborative design and implementation of sustainable engineering projects. The panelists will discuss how EWB‐USA addresses risk in its international projects. The panelists will then compare/contrast how it addresses risk internationally to how it addresses risk in its recently implemented domestic program. Last, there will be a discussion of the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 (42 USC 14501 et al.), its applicability to designers and its key limitations. Panelists are Peter Waugh, P.E., Senior Project Manager of EWB‐USA, and Michael Kamprath of Thresher and Thresher, PA.