6 - Taboo Words === [00:00:00] Tiffany: Welcome back to the 12 days of GBA. Ryan can you believe we're already past the halfway point? [00:00:07] Ryan: I know at this point we're basically endurance athletes, but for GBA documents. [00:00:13] Tiffany: Yes. Today is day six and we're talking about one of the most important GBA best practice documents. Yes, we already did one on all of the best practices, but taboo words is so important that it gets its own day. Kind of like me. [00:00:30] Ryan: Because in our world, the words in your report can matter as much as the work you did. [00:00:36] Tiffany: You didn't catch that. I said kind of like me, where I'm so important that I should get my own day. [00:00:42] Ryan: I was just ignoring that. [00:00:45] Tiffany: Exactly. And this one is personal for me. I was introduced to this document when I started at SME back in 2006. Yes. It's been that long. [00:00:57] Ryan: okay. Okay. First of all, [00:01:00] 2006, dude. Seriously, [00:01:04] Tiffany: Yes. How time flies. [00:01:06] Ryan: so what's the story? How were you introduced to this document as a technician? [00:01:12] Tiffany: Well, as you said, I started as a roofing technician and I was doing roofing reviews. I would watch commercial roofs being installed, and then I had to write reports about what they did, their processes, what materials they installed. Basically document the whole process. And I was using some words like all. Then one of my coworkers handed me a cheat sheet of words you shouldn't use. They tried to explain the why, but everything really sank in a lot later when they gave me the taboo words document that explained the why. [00:01:53] Ryan: That's the best geoprofessional mentorship move ever. Like I'm not mad. I'm just handing you a PDF. [00:01:59] Tiffany: [00:02:00] So true, so true. Alright, so what are taboo words? GBA uses taboo to mean words that are risky in professional practice, not because they're evil, bad words, but because in a claim, the opposing counsel can broaden your intent. The eight words are certify, defend, determine, inspect. Monitor represent safety and supervise. [00:02:35] Ryan: Alphabetical. That list is uncomfortably common in reports and contracts actually. [00:02:42] Tiffany: Yeah. So we're gonna do this in a fun way, listeners. Anytime one of these words comes up, Ryan gets a buzzer. [00:02:51] Ryan: I've been trained for this my whole career. [00:02:55] Tiffany: Whoa. Relax, Ryan. It's not time yet. [00:02:59] Ryan: Oh [00:03:00] boy. [00:03:00] Tiffany: Uh, alright, let's start with the one that Ryan catches constantly according to him, and that's inspect. [00:03:09] sound board: I, [00:03:12] Ryan: Honestly, if I had a dollar for every time I deleted inspect from a draft report, I could retire early. [00:03:19] Tiffany: okay. So explain why you're so aggressive about it. I get it, but I also see that the code calls it special inspections, and one of the big services in my business unit is literally called construction engineering inspection. It seems like a very common industry term. [00:03:39] Ryan: Yeah, that's the issue, right? Inspect sounds normal, but legally it can imply you're the firewall, the person responsible for preventing bad work from making it into the finished product. And that's not what most of us are doing when we're on site. [00:03:54] Tiffany: Right. The taboo word doc points out that judges and juries may hear [00:04:00] inspection and assume authority to accept it, reject it, or stop the work, and that's a very, very different responsibility. [00:04:10] Ryan: And it gets worse when there's an accident. Even if your contract says you aren't responsible for safety, that word can get used to argue, you should have prevented something. [00:04:19] Tiffany: So what do you think is the safer move? [00:04:23] Ryan: Yeah, the clean substitution use, observe instead of inspect. Observer instead of inspector. Observe means you're watching and reporting. Not controlling means and methods not accepting. Rejecting work. Not stopping work. [00:04:36] Tiffany: And like I mentioned earlier, sometimes the building code or spec literally uses the term inspection so it messes with people. [00:04:45] Ryan: Exactly. People push back and say, but we're an special inspector, or the code says inspection. [00:04:53] Tiffany: So here's how I frame it. Do we need to repeat that word in our report or can we describe what [00:05:00] we actually did? Observation and testing within a defined scope without adopting a term that carries extra legal meaning. [00:05:10] Ryan: And if you truly must use inspect in a context you can't avoid, then define it. Define the service, and its limits so it can't be misconstrued. [00:05:19] Tiffany: Yep. If you're stuck with a label, your scope, language and report language have to be crystal clear about what you did and didn't do. [00:05:30] Ryan: All right? I'm saying this in bold, but you can't see it, if you're thinking this feels picky. It's only awkward when you're editing it after the report went out. [00:05:39] Tiffany: Mm. I feel that and monitor gets caught kind of in that same net, right? People used to think monitor was safer, but courts are now treating that like a cinnamon synonym for inspect. [00:05:58] Ryan: For monitor too [00:06:00] and, and for cinnamon instead of synonym. [00:06:03] Tiffany: Listen, we're baking cookies right now, so I don't know what to tell you. Alright, the next one and, okay. This is confession time kind of for both of us. Ryan and I were both like, wait, determine is on the taboo list. [00:06:22] Ryan: Yeah, that one surprised me because determined sounds like, you know, normal adult vocabulary. [00:06:29] Tiffany: Exactly, but the document points out that determine can sound decisive and conclusive like a formal investigation result. And sometimes it gets treated like a statement of fact. [00:06:41] Ryan: Which is risky because what we do is based on limited scope, limited sampling, limited observations, we're not claiming absolute certainty for sure. [00:06:51] Tiffany: Yeah, so the safer approach is professional opinion language based on our limited scope. It is our [00:07:00] opinion. Dot, dot, dot. Instead of we determined, [00:07:04] Ryan: So basically don't write like you're starring in a crime show. We have determined, no, you didn't, Sherlock. [00:07:12] Tiffany: come on. I like Sherlock. [00:07:14] Ryan: I know. I. [00:07:15] Tiffany: All right. The quick hits. Let's touch on the other taboo words, but if they really want the full document, you gotta be a member and go download it. So let's do speed round. We're not doing a whole dissertation, but let's talk about 'em super quick. Certify. This is risky because it can be interpreted like guaranteeing an outcome. The better option is to state the facts and label opinions as opinions. [00:07:47] Ryan: Certify is how you accidentally volunteer to guarantee someone else's work. [00:07:52] Tiffany: Nice. Okay. Defend this one shows up in contracts and indemnity clauses, and it can [00:08:00] obligate you to pay defense costs even before liability is determined. [00:08:08] Ryan: This is one I always tell people to flag for legal review. [00:08:12] Tiffany: Yeah. Oh, this one has been way at the forefront of too many conversations for me this week. We've been dealing with it. All right. Next is represent. This can imply your acting as someone's agent, which can trigger fiduciary duty in some situations. I got that word right. How'd you like that? [00:08:33] Ryan: Nice. Nobody wants surprise fiduciary duty. [00:08:40] Tiffany: All right. Now we have safety. This is a powerful word, unless you're talking about safety of your own staff or specific safety services, it can imply responsibility for things beyond your control. [00:08:58] Ryan: It is not that we don't care about safety, [00:09:00] it's that the word can drag in responsibility you didn't accept. [00:09:05] Tiffany: All right. Last but not least, supervise, this is risky. If it's not crystal clear, you're supervising only your own employees. Otherwise, it can imply supervision of construction operations. [00:09:23] Ryan: If you supervise someone else's crew, you're basically doing a different job. [00:09:29] Tiffany: Good ones there. That was fun. All right, so the point isn't to never, ever use these words. The point is use them only with deliberate care because legal interpretation can broaden your intent. [00:09:44] Ryan: And the biggest practical takeaway is what we did with inspect. Pick safer terms, like observe and define scope clearly when you can't avoid a loaded term, [00:09:54] Tiffany: Also, this is a great training exercise. Take a report, highlight these [00:10:00] words, rewrite two sentences, and you've instantly leveled up someone else's writing like someone did for me when I first got started. All right, let's wrap this one up. That was day six, taboo Words. Tomorrow. We'll keep rolling with day five. [00:10:19] Ryan: Choose your words wisely people because your words will be quoted back to you, hopefully not by a judge or a jury. [00:10:26] Tiffany: That would not be fun. See you tomorrow.