Compilation of Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia › Department 180 - GEORGIA PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS AND LAND SURVEYORS BOARD › Chapter 180-6 - RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT › Rule 180-6-.03 - Rules of Practice

Current through Rules and Regulations filed through June 27, 2024
(1)
			 The engineer or land surveyor shall perform services only in areas of his/her
			 competence. The engineer or land surveyor shall undertake to perform
			 engineering or land surveying assignments only when qualified by education or
			 experience in the specific technical field of professional engineering or land
			 surveying involved.
(2) The
			 engineer or land surveyor may accept an assignment requiring education or
			 experience outside of his/her own field of competence, but only to the extent
			 that his/her services are restricted to those phases of the project in which
			 he/she is qualified. All other phases of such project shall be performed by
			 qualified associates, consultants or employees who shall sign, seal, and be
			 responsible for such other phases or technical segments of the
			 project.
(3) The professional
			 engineer who develops the design criteria and engineering concept for a
			 project, provides analysis, and is responsible for the preparation of the
			 construction documents shall be responsible for the design of the project
			 within his/her contractual area of engineering services and shall be known as
			 the engineer of record.
(4) In the
			 event that a professional engineer who is not the engineer of record is used
			 for specific portions of the work, that individual shall be a registered
			 engineer in the State of Georgia and shall seal, sign, and date his/her own
			 reports, calculations, and drawings. He/she shall coordinate his/her work with
			 the engineer of record and shall be responsible to the engineer of record for
			 that specific portion of the project design. He/she shall be known as the
			 specialty engineer.
(5) The
			 engineer or land surveyor shall not affix his/her signature and/or seal to any
			 engineering or land surveying plan, document, or plat unless such plan,
			 document, or plat is prepared by the registrant or an individual in the employ
			 of the registrant. All plans, documents, and plats prepared by non-registrants
			 must be prepared under the direct supervisory control of the registrant on a
			 daily basis.
(6) "Direct
			 supervisory control" shall require the registrant to have daily interaction
			 with and provide guidance and direction to any non-registrant employee or
			 non-registrant contract employee in the preparation of engineering or land
			 surveying plans, documents or plats, in each phase of the preparation of the
			 calculations, drawings, specifications, reports, surveys and all other
			 documents completed by the non-registrant. Direct supervisory control may be
			 typically established at a location (address) where both the registrant and the
			 non-registrant employee (whether full time or part time or contract) are
			 employed and there is a direct connection between the registrant and the
			 non-registrant employee. If the registrant and the non-registrant employee are
			 not located at the same location, then the registrant shall be able to
			 demonstrate how direct supervisory control is maintained over the
			 non-registrant and how the registrant and the employee maintain a direct
			 connection for the direct supervisory control of the engineering or surveying
			 work as indicated above, upon an inquiry from the Board. Satisfactory proof of
			 direct supervisory control from the registrant over the non-registrant employee
			 includes, but is not limited to, written guidance or directions to the
			 non-registrant employee; written records of ongoing communication during the
			 project; and work product mark-ups by the registrant to the non-registrant. The
			 Board shall determine if such direct supervisory control is being provided by
			 the registrant is acceptable to the Board.
(7) In the event a question arises as to the
			 competence of an engineer or land surveyor to perform an assignment, the Board
			 may require him/her to submit to an appropriate examination, as determined by
			 the Board. That action by the Board shall be required only if the question
			 cannot be otherwise resolved to the Board's satisfaction.
(8) Renovation or the retrofitting of a
			 building or structure is considered as the practice of engineering when the
			 work involves the addition or reduction of weight or loading; analysis of
			 structural systems or members; removal or addition of structural elements;
			 analysis of drainage systems on or below the roof surface; changes to the
			 drainage characteristics; or changes required for the building or structure to
			 conform to current jurisdictional building codes. Nothing in this rule is
			 intended to restrict the normal practice by registered architects. Nothing in
			 this rule is intended to restrict the normal practice of roofing contractors
			 insofar as repairing or the replacement of like kind of roofing systems so long
			 as no additional weight is added.
O.C.G.A.
				§§
										43-15-4,
				43-15-6,
				43-15-22.