Oklahoma Statutes Title 59

Section 475.2. Definitions

As used in this act:

1. “Professional Engineer” or “P.E” means a person who is qualified to practice engineering by reason of engineering education, training, experience, and examination in the application of engineering principles and the interpretation of engineering data and, is qualified, after meeting the requirements of this Act and the regulations issued by the Board pursuant thereto, to be duly licensed as a professional engineer by the Board and engage in the practice of engineering;
2. “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 Section 475.12(c) of this Act. For purposes of this definition, the term “significant structures” may be defined; provided, however, such definition shall not include any structure that is a residential structure.
3. “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 this Act and the regulations issued by the Board pursuant thereto;
4. “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, including the engineering design of buildings, structures, products, machines, processes and systems, that potentially impact the life, health, property and welfare of the public. The services may include, but not limited to, providing planning, studies, designs, design coordination, drawings, specifications, and other technical submissions; engineering reports or material developed in connection with expert witness testimony or anticipated testimony; commissioning of engineered systems; and performing surveying that is incidental to the practice of engineering and reviewing construction or other design products for the purposes of monitoring compliance with drawings and specifications related to engineered works. Surveying incidental to the practice of engineering excludes the surveying of real property for the establishment or determination of land boundaries, rights of way, easements, and the dependent or independent surveys or resurveys of the public land survey system and is limited to conducting field measurements to supplement the documentation of existing conditions. Unless a Professional Surveyor has provided the Professional Engineer with geocentric/geodetic control coordinates which meet the accuracy standards set forth in OAC 245:15-13-2, the Professional Engineer shall only use a coordinate system based on assumed values for the project, and so state on the documents.
- These services or work, either public or private, may be performed 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 in nature, insofar as they involve safeguarding life, health or property, and including such other professional services as may be necessary to the design coordination of a multidiscipline work, planning, progress and completion of any engineering services. Design coordination includes the review and coordination of technical submissions prepared by others, including the work of other professionals working with or under the direction of an engineer with professional regard for the ability of each professional involved in a multidisciplinary effort.
- An engineer is responsible for the engineering plans and specifications of a building. The term “engineering plans and specifications” means:
  - a. plans for a structural, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, low voltage fire suppression, utilities, or geotechnical system in a building,
  - b. specification of structural elements and connections of a building,
  - c. evaluation of structural members before the addition of roof-mounted equipment or a heavier roof covering,
  - d. design of changes in roof pitch by the addition of structural members and diaphragm,
  - e. repair of damaged structural systems, including but not limited to roof structural members and diaphragm,
  - f. hydrologic management calculations and design of surface water control and detention necessary for compliance with ordinances and regulations,
  - g. design of changes in roof pitch by the addition of structural framing members,
  - h. evaluation and repair of damaged roof structural framing,
  - i. design of electrical and signal and control systems,
  - j. shop drawings by manufacturers or fabricators of materials and products to be used in the building features designed by the engineer, and
  - k. specifications listing the nature and quality of materials and products for construction of features of the building elements or systems designed by an engineer.
- The preparation of engineering plans and specifications for the following tasks is within the scope of the practice of engineering:
  - a. site plans depicting the location and orientation of a building on the site based on:
    - (1) a determination of the relationship of the intended use with the environment, topography, vegetation, climate, and geographic aspects;
      - (2) the legal aspects of site development, including setback requirements, zoning and other legal restrictions; and
        
        (3) surface drainage.
  - b. the depiction of the building systems, including structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, in:
    - (1) plan views,
      - (2) cross-sections depicting building components from a hypothetical cut line through a building, and
        
        (3) the design of details of components and assemblies, including any part of a building exposed to water infiltration or fire-spread considerations.
  - c. life safety plans and sheets, including accessibility ramps and related code analyses.
  - d. roof plans and details depicting the design of roof system materials, components, drainage, slopes, and directions and location of roof accessories and equipment not involving structural engineering calculations.
- The following activities may be performed by an engineer:
  - a. programming for construction projects, including:
    - (1) identification of economic, legal, and natural constraints; and
    - (2) determination of the scope of functional elements.
  - b. recommending and overseeing appropriate construction project delivery systems.
  - c. consulting with regard to, investigating, and analyzing the design, form, materials, and construction technology used for the construction, enlargement, or alteration of a building or its environment; and
  - d. providing expert opinion and testimony with respect to issues within the responsibility of the engineer.
- A person or entity shall be construed to practice or offer to practice engineering, within the meaning and intent of this Act 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 this Act; or who represents qualifications or ability to perform or who does practice engineering;
5. “Professional Surveyor”, “P.L.S.”, or “P.S.” means a person who is qualified to practice surveying by reason of surveying education training, experience, and examination in the application of surveying principles and the interpretation of surveying data and has been duly licensed as a professional surveyor pursuant to this Act and the regulations issued by the Board pursuant thereto is qualified to engage in the practice of surveying;
6. “Surveyor Intern” or “S.I.” means a person who complies with the requirement for education and has passed an examination in the fundamental surveying subjects, as provided in this Act and regulations issued by the Board pursuant thereto;
7a. “Practice of 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 boundaries. “Practice of 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 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 surveying,
- (6) establishment, restoration, and rehabilitation of survey monuments and benchmarks,
- (7) preparation of survey plats, condominium plats, monument records, survey reports, and site plans as an ancillary service to surveying work such as noting proposed site improvements,
- (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, utilities and other structures within underground workings, and on the beds of bodies of water, 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.
- (13) locating or laying out alignments, positions, or elevations for the construction of fixed works for public projects.
7b. A person or entity shall be construed to practice or offer to practice surveying, within the meaning and intent of this Act who does any one of the following: practices any branch of the profession of surveying; by verbal claim, sign, advertisement, letterhead, card or in any other way represents such person to be a professional surveyor or through the use of some other title implies that such person or entity is a professional surveyor or that such person is licensed, or qualified under this Act; represents qualifications or ability to perform; or who does practice surveying;
8. “Board” means the State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors;
9. “Responsible charge” means direct control and personal supervision of engineering or surveying work;
10. “Rules of professional conduct for professional engineers and professional surveyors” means those rules promulgated by the Board;
11. “Firm” means any form of business or entity, other than an individual operating as a sole proprietorship under his or her name;
12. “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 surveying decisions and the instruments of professional services to which the licensee affixes the seal, signature, and date;
13. “Core curriculum” means the Board-approved surveying courses adopted by Board policy, developed to ensure that professional surveyor applicants meet the minimum educational requirements for licensing;
14. “Engineering related science degree” means a bachelor’s degree from an ETAC/ABET accredited engineering technology program of four (4) years or more. A degree of four (4) years or more in 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, such as calculus and differential equations, and twenty (20) hours of engineering sciences or related sciences, including physics, such as mechanics, fluid mechanics, statics, dynamics, thermodynamics, electrical & electronic circuits, materials science, transport phenomena, computer engineering etc.. Non-accredited engineering degree programs shall meet the above requirements to be considered a related science degree;
15. “Authoritative” means being presented as trustworthy, competent, and in accordance with the rules and statutes governing the practice of engineering and surveying, codes, ordinances and other recognized standards when used to describe products, processes, applications, or data derived from the practice of engineering or surveying;
16. “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 unless otherwise stated in the decision or settlement. Disciplinary actions may include reprimands; sanctions; administrative fines; the Board’s refusal to issue, restore, or renew a license; settlement agreements or consent orders; probation; suspension; revocation; practice restriction, surrendering, relinquishing, or agreeing not to renew the license as part of an agreement or board order; or any combination thereof.
17. “Building” means any structure used or intended to be used, to support, shelter, or enclose any use or occupancy;
18. “Plans” mean technical documents issued by the licensed professionals intended to meet all current and applicable codes as adopted by the Uniform Building Code Commission of the State of Oklahoma, other statutory codes and applicable federal codes and which shall be submitted to all required building code and/or permit offices required by the State of Oklahoma, county, municipal and/or federal government;
19a. “Significant structure” means buildings and other structures that represent a substantial hazard to human life in the event of failure or are designated as essential facilities, including but not limited to:
- (1) buildings and other structures whose primary occupancy is public assembly with an occupant load greater than three hundred (300),
- (2) elementary schools, secondary schools or day care facilities with an occupant load greater than fifty (50),
- (3) adult education facilities, such as colleges and universities, with an occupant load greater than five hundred (500),
- (4) hospitals, nursing homes, mental hospitals and detoxification facilities with an occupant load of fifty (50) or more resident care recipients and/or surgery or emergency treatment facilities,
- (5) prisons, jails, reformatories, detention centers, correctional centers,
- (6) any building or other structure with an occupant load greater than five thousand (5,000),
- (7) primary power-generating structures above fifty (50) kilowatts,
- (8) structures at water treatment facilities for potable water and wastewater treatment facilities serving more than five thousand (5,000) people,
- (9) structures for public utility facilities containing quantities of toxic or explosive materials that are sufficient to pose a threat to the public if released,
- (10) fire, rescue, ambulance and police stations and emergency vehicle garages,
- (11) designated tornado, earthquake or other non-residential emergency shelters,
- (12) designated emergency preparedness, communications and operations centers and other facilities required for emergency response,
- (13) aviation control towers, air traffic control centers and emergency aircraft hangars,
- (14) buildings and other structures having critical national defense functions,
- (15) elevated water storage structures, and
- (16) buildings and other structures with high lateral loadings including:
  - (a) those subjected to ultimate design three-second wind gust speeds equaling or exceeding wind speeds corresponding to approximately a three percent (3%) probability of exceedance in fifty (50) years, or
  - (b) those that are in Seismic Design Category D and above.
19b. "Significant structures" shall exclude bridges and geo-structures. As defined in this document, "bridges" shall not include elevated structures linking buildings. "Geo-structures" shall mean engineered structures that are loaded by the earth or whose resistance is derived from the earth.
19c. A project defined as a "Significant structure" shall be required to have an engineer of record who is a licensed Professional Structural Engineer.
20. “Engineer-of-Record” means the responsible professional engineer for design and construction phases of a project who signs and seals drawings, reports, or documents for the project or a portion of the project.
21. “Technical submissions” means the documents necessary to demonstrate compliance with applicable regulatory requirements and/or to fabricate or construct a project including, but not limited to, drawings, surveys, plats, digital models, specifications, performance criteria, and installation requirements.
22. “Person” means an individual or firm.

Last Modified on Oct 17, 2024