2023 Oklahoma Statutes › Title 59. Professions and Occupations › §59-475.2. Definitions.

As used in Section 475.1 et seq. of this title:
1. "Engineer" means a person who, by reason of special knowledge and use of the mathematical, physical and engineering sciences and the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design, acquired by engineering education and engineering experience, is qualified, after meeting the requirements of Section 475.1 et seq. of this title and the regulations issued by the Board pursuant thereto, to engage in the practice of engineering;
2. "Professional engineer" or "P.E." means a person who has been duly licensed as a professional engineer as provided in Section 475.1 et seq. of this title and the regulations issued by the Board pursuant thereto;
3. "Professional Structural Engineer", "P.E.", "S.E." or "S.E." means an individual who has been duly licensed as a professional engineer by the Board, and who has been further authorized by the Board to use the title Professional Structural Engineer, P.E. S.E., or S.E., and perform structural engineering analysis and design services for significant structures based upon education, experience and examinations as described in subsection D of Section 11 of this act. For purposes of this definition, the term "significant structures" may be defined by Board rule; provided, however, such definition shall not include any structure that is a residential structure;
4. "Engineer intern" or "E.I." means a person who complies with the requirement for education and has passed an examination in the fundamental engineering subjects, as provided in Section 475.1 et seq. of this title and the regulations issued by the Board pursuant thereto;
5. "Practice of engineering" means any service or creative work requiring engineering education, training and experience in the application of engineering principles and the interpretation of engineering data to engineering activities that may impact the life, health, property and welfare of the public. The services may include, but are not limited to, such services or creative work as:
a.
consultation,
b.
investigation,
c.
evaluation,
d.
planning and design of engineering works and systems,
e.
planning the engineering use of land and water,
f.
teaching of advanced engineering subjects or courses related thereto,
g.
engineering research,
h.
engineering surveys,
i.
engineering studies,
j.
engineering reports,
k.
written engineering opinions,
l.
the inspection or review of construction for the purposes of ensuring compliance with drawings and specifications, and
m.
engineering reports or like material developed in connection with expert witness testimony or anticipated testimony,
any of which embraces such services or work, either public or private, in connection with any utilities, structures, buildings, machines, equipment, processes, work systems, projects, communication systems, transportation systems and industrial or consumer products or equipment of a mechanical, electrical, chemical, environmental, hydraulic, pneumatic, thermal, control system or communications nature, insofar as they involve safeguarding life, health or property, and including such other professional services as may be necessary to the design review and integration of a multidiscipline work, planning, progress and completion of any engineering services.
Design review and integration includes the design review and integration of those technical submissions prepared by others, including as appropriate and without limitation, engineers, architects, landscape architects, land surveyors, and other professionals working under the direction of the engineer. The definition of design review and integration by engineers does not restrict the services other licensed professional disciplines are authorized to offer or perform by statute or regulation.
Engineering surveys include all survey activities required to support the sound conception, planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of engineered projects, but exclude the surveying of real property for the establishment of land boundaries, rights-of-way, easements and the dependent or independent surveys or resurveys of the public land survey system.
A person or entity shall be construed to practice or offer to practice engineering, within the meaning and intent of Section 475.1 et seq. of this title who does any of the following: practices any branch of the profession of engineering; by verbal claim, sign, advertisement, letterhead, card or in any other way represents such person to be a professional engineer or through the use of some other title implies that any person is a professional engineer or is licensed or qualified under Section 475.1 et seq. of this title; or who represents qualifications or ability to perform or who does practice engineering;
6. "Professional land surveyor" or "land surveyor" or "P.L.S." means a person who has been duly licensed as a professional land surveyor pursuant to Section 475.1 et seq. of this title and the regulations issued by the Board pursuant thereto; and is a person who, by reason of special knowledge in the technique of measuring land and use of the basic principles of mathematics, the related physical and applied sciences and the relevant requirements of law for adequate evidence and all requisite to surveying of real property, acquired by education and experience, is qualified to engage in the practice of land surveying;
7. "Land surveyor intern" or "L.S.I." means a person who complies with the requirement for education and has passed an examination in the fundamental land surveying subjects, as provided in Section 475.1 et seq. of this title and regulations issued by the Board pursuant thereto;
8.
a.
"Practice of land surveying" means any authoritative service or work performed to a stated accuracy, the adequate performance of which involves the application of special knowledge of the principles of mathematics, methods of measurement, and the law for the determination and preservation of land boundaries. "Practice of land surveying" includes, without limitation:
(1)
restoration and rehabilitation of corners and boundaries in the United States Public Land Survey System or the subdivision thereof,
(2)
obtaining and evaluating evidence for the accurate determination of land boundaries,
(3)
monumenting the subdivision of land parcels into smaller parcels and the preparation of the descriptions in connection therewith,
(4)
measuring and platting underground mine workings,
(5)
creation, preparation or modification of electronic or computerized data including portions of geographic information systems and land information systems, relative to the performance of the practice of land surveying,
(6)
establishment, restoration, and rehabilitation of land survey monuments and bench marks,
(7)
preparation of land survey plats, condominium plats, monument records, and survey reports,
(8)
surveying, monumenting, and platting of easements, and rights-of-way,
(9)
measuring, locating, or establishing lines, angles, elevations, natural and man-made features in the air, on the surface of the earth, within underground workings, and on the beds of bodies of water for the purpose of determining areas and volumes for a survey, the configuration or contour of the earth's surface, or the position of fixed objects on the earth's surface,
(10)
geodetic surveying,
(11)
any other activities incidental to and necessary for the adequate performance of the services described in this paragraph, and
(12)
surveying reports or like material developed in connection with expert witness testimony or anticipated testimony.
b.
A person or entity shall be construed to practice or offer to practice land surveying, within the meaning and intent of Section 475.1 et seq. of this title who does any one of the following: practices any branch of the profession of land surveying; by verbal claim, sign, advertisement, letterhead, card or in any other way represents such person to be a professional land surveyor or through the use of some other title implies that such person or entity is a professional land surveyor or that such person is registered, licensed, or qualified under Section 475.1 et seq. of this title; represents qualifications or ability to perform; or who does practice land surveying;
9. "Board" means the State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors;
10. "Responsible charge" means direct control and personal supervision of engineering or land surveying work;
11. "Rules of professional conduct for professional engineers and professional land surveyors" means those rules promulgated by the Board;
12. "Firm" means any form of business or entity, other than an individual operating as a sole proprietorship under his or her name;
13. "Direct control" and "personal supervision" whether used separately or together mean active and personal management of the firm's personnel and practice to maintain charge of, and concurrent direction over, engineering or land surveying decisions and the instruments of professional services to which the licensee affixes the seal, signature, and date;
14. "Core curriculum" means the Board-approved land surveying courses adopted by Board policy, developed to ensure that professional land surveyor applicants meet the minimum educational requirements for licensure;
15. "Related science degree" means a bachelor's degree from an Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission/Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ETAC/ABET) accredited engineering technology program of four (4) years or more. A degree of four (4) years or more in architecture, mathematical, physical or engineering sciences may be considered as a related science degree if it was obtained from a Board-approved program, and shall include a minimum of eight (8) hours of mathematics beyond trigonometry, including calculus, and twenty (20) hours of engineering sciences or related sciences, including physics. Non-accredited engineering degree programs shall meet the above requirements to be considered a related science degree;
16. "Authoritative" means being presented as trustworthy and competent when used to describe products, processes, applications or data resulting from the practice of engineering or land surveying; and
17. "Disciplinary action" means any final written decision or settlement taken against an individual or firm by a licensing board based upon a violation of the Board's laws and rules.
Added by Laws 1968, c. 245, § 2, emerg. eff. April 26, 1968. Amended by Laws 1982, c. 297, § 2; Laws 1992, c. 165, § 2, eff. July 1, 1992; Laws 1999, c. 74, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 1999; Laws 2005, c. 115, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2005; Laws 2006, c. 58, § 1, eff. July 1, 2006; Laws 2008, c. 312, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2008; Laws 2012, c. 139, § 1; Laws 2017, c. 259, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2017.