Transcription
Hello everyone. Welcome and thank you for joining our webinar today. My name is Shirin Hadid. I am the Standards and Guidelines Development Coordinator at Professional Engineers Ontario. Professional Engineers Ontario will regulate the practice of Professional Engineering by setting standards and guidelines. One of those guidelines is on the Professional Engineers’ seal. This presentation is done in a questions and answers format. The proposed questions in this presentation are based on the most common practice questions that the PEO practice advisory team receives. In this webinar, we will address 15 frequently asked questions and clarify a few myths about the seal.
Is there any legal requirement for engineers to use their seal? Yes. Use of the seal is a legal requirement under the Professional Engineers Act. Section 53 specifies the minimum legal requirements for use of the seal. Section 53 states: “Every holder of a licensed, temporary license, provisional license, or limited license who provides to the public a service that is within the practice of Professional Engineering shall sign, date, and affix the holder’s seal to every final drawing, specification, plan, report, or other document prepared or checked by the holder as part of the service before it’s issued.” Engineers are legally required to use their seals in all situations that meet these conditions. Shortly, I will provide interpretations on the conditions to use your seal. Let’s see how we can test if a document should be sealed. To this day, if a document needs to be sealed, ask yourself three questions:
One: Does the document fall within the practice of professional engineering? Later, I will speak on the definition of the practice of professional engineering.
Two: Is the document final for its intended purpose? For example, drawings prepared for building permits are final for the purpose of the permit, even though these drawings may not contain all the details required for construction. In this case, you would need to seal the drawings.
Three: Will the document be issued to others outside of your organization? If the answers to all these questions are yes, you must seal the document.
Here is a good question: True or false—the practice of professional engineering doesn’t have a clear definition. This is a false statement because the practice of professional engineering is legally defined in the Professional Engineers Act. So the key question: What is the definition of the practice of professional engineering? Here is the definition of the practice of professional engineering: If the work done by a person meets the three-part test, this person is practicing professional engineering. Please note that the factor of safety equation is an example of how an engineer applies engineering principles. To read the full definition of the practice of Professional Engineering, please refer to the professional engineering practice guideline.
Should an engineer seal a passport application? Please take a minute to think about the answer to this question based on the interpretations of section 53 of Ontario Regulation 940/90. The answer is no, because a passport application is not an engineering document. Engineers should only seal documents that are within the practice of Professional Engineering.
What is considered to be an engineering document? An engineering document is a document of any kind that expresses engineering work carried out by a professional engineer. In general, it is any output of an engineering design or analysis process, such as design requirements, engineering drawings, specifications, reports, or instructions. For the full definition of engineering document and examples of engineering documents, please refer to the use of the Professional Engineers’ seal practice guideline.
Assuming we have more than one engineer working on the same project, who should seal the output of the engineering work? The engineer sealing the work should be the individual who assumes responsibility for the work; in other words, who provides the largest contributions to the engineering work or who closely supervises the people who prepared the work. Please note that personal supervision requires active involvement of the supervising engineer. For more information on supervising engineering work, please refer to the “Assuming Responsibility and Supervising Engineering Work” guideline that is available on the PEO website.
Does only one engineer need to seal an engineering document? No. Since multi-discipline documents must be sealed by the different engineers taking responsibility for the work in each discipline, furthermore, the coordinating engineer should also apply his or her seal to indicate that the work of the various disciplines has been coordinated.
Is the seal a certification or warranty? The sealing of itself is not a certification or warranty of correctness. According to the Supreme Court, *Aggers Construction Limited versus India Lee & Associates Limited*, the seal attests that a professional engineer, held to high standards of knowledge, skill, and ethical conduct, prepared the engineering document.
What message does a seal on a document convey? According to the Supreme Court, *Health of Canada Incorporated versus Major Construction Limited*, the seal of an engineer communicates to researchers and to the public that the contents of a sealed document reflect professional knowledge, care, and follow applicable codes, standards, and regulations. The seal is important because it is a visible commitment to the standards of the profession and signifies to the public that a particular professional engineer accepted responsibility for the document.
Some engineers believe that not sealing the work will relieve them of any liability. What do you think? Engineers are always liable for their work because they prepare the documents or because they supervised or approved them, not because they signed or sealed them. Furthermore, failure by an engineer to sign and seal an engineering document doesn’t relieve the engineer of any legal liability. The courts assign liability on the basis of facts, not on whether the document is sealed.
Here is another myth: If the client didn’t pay for the design I provided, I can revoke or invalidate the seal in the drawings. False. As nothing in the Professional Engineers Act states that the seal should be applied when the payment is received, once an engineer issues the engineering drawings, it must be sealed and remains sealed because the seal indicates that it was prepared or checked by an engineer. Consequently, engineers cannot revoke their seal if clients have not paid them. Payment is a contractual issue. We recommend consulting a lawyer in this specific situation.
Now we will discuss electronic seals and the requirements. Yes, Professional Engineers Ontario allows engineers to use electronic seals. Electronic seals must be identical in size, shape, and content to the seal created by the rubber stamp. You can create your electronic seal by scanning a copy of your seal or creating an exact graphical replication using a software program. The engineer must maintain control over the electronic seal and must use an appropriate security method.
Can an engineer or firm use notaries to secure electronic documents in Ontario? Yes. Notaries or any other security methods can be used. In other words, engineers can use notaries or other software as long as they comply with the requirements outlined in the use of the Professional Engineers’ seal guideline. Please note PEO doesn’t specifically endorse any one software solution for security method.
Can an engineer seal as-built drawings prepared by a third party or a contractor? An as-built drawing is documentation that’s created by or based on information provided by a third party that reflects the installed, constructed conditions of a device, machine, equipment, or other outcome of an engineering project. Since the engineer has not verified that the information is complete or accurate, as-built drawings must not be sealed. Therefore, engineers must not seal as-built drawings unless they verify in detail the actual conditions of the completed project. Please note that this verification may require a frequent or continuous presence on site. A record drawing is a document that reflects as-built, as-constructed, as-fabricated conditions that has been verified by an engineer.
Some organizations have prepared details of generic components or arrangements for use on project documents prepared by others. These details are usually treated as generic standards or drawings. Should an engineer seal standard drawings? No. Standard drawings should not be sealed, but drawings used for specific projects that use standard details must be.
Here is some update regarding the use of the Professional Engineers Act in guideline. PEO Council approved forming a subcommittee to review and revise the use of the seal guideline to consider the current best practices. PEO offers a variety of practice advice resources to assess license holders. Providing practice advice resources fulfills PEO’s regulatory obligations under the Professional Engineers Act to establish, maintain, and develop standards of practice. Practice guidelines provide engineering best practices specifically around performing engineering work in accordance with the Professional Engineers Act. Practice policies provide professional advice on urgent issues as well as guidance on what is expected of PEO license holders. Performance standards provide benchmarks to help practitioners determine the expected level of service. While practitioners are expected to use professional judgment in performing their work, the standards describe a required outcome of a practitioner’s activities, leaving methods to the discretion of the engineer. Practice articles appear in *Engineering Dimensions* magazine, PEO’s official publication. These articles provide license holders with information on current practice issues. For any questions or comments, please feel free to email practice-standards@peo.on.ca with your specific questions.