§59-475.2. Definitions.

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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 475.12c of this title. For purposes of this definition, the term "significant structures" 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 are 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 United States 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 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.

a. An engineer is responsible for the engineering plans

and specifications of a building. The term

"engineering plans and specifications" means:

(1)plans for a structural, mechanical, plumbing,

electrical, low voltage fire suppression,

utilities, or geotechnical system in a building,

(2)specification of structural elements and

connections of a building,

(3)evaluation of structural members before the

addition of roof-mounted equipment or a heavier

roof covering,

(4)design of changes in roof pitch by the addition

of structural members and diaphragm,

(5)repair of damaged structural systems including,

but not limited to, roof structural members and

diaphragm,

(6)hydrologic management calculations and design of

surface water control and detention necessary for

compliance with ordinances and regulations,

(7)design of changes in roof pitch by the addition

of structural framing members,

(8)evaluation and repair of damaged roof structural

framing,

(9)design of electrical and signal and control

systems,

(10)shop drawings by manufacturers or fabricators of

materials and products to be used in the building

features designed by the engineer, and

(11)specifications listing the nature and quality of

materials and products for construction of

features of the building elements or systems

b. The preparation of engineering plans and

specifications for the following tasks is within the

scope of the practice of engineering:

(1)site plans depicting the location and orientation

of a building on the site based on:

(a)a determination of the relationship of the

intended use with the environment,

topography, vegetation, climate, and

geographic aspects,

(b)the legal aspects of site development,

including setback requirements, zoning, and

other legal restrictions, and

(c)surface drainage,

(2)the depiction of the building systems, including

structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing

systems, in:

(a)plan views,

(b)cross-sections depicting building components

from a hypothetical cut line through a

building, and

(c)the design of details of components and

assemblies, including any part of a building

exposed to water infiltration or fire-spread

considerations,

(3)life safety plans and sheets, including

accessibility ramps and related code analyses,

(4)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.

c. The following activities may be performed by an

engineer:

(1)programming for construction projects, including:

(a)identification of economic, legal, and

natural constraints, and

(b)determination of the scope of functional

elements,

(2)recommending and overseeing appropriate

construction project delivery systems,

(3)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

(4)providing expert opinion and testimony with

respect to issues within the responsibility of

the engineer.

d. 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;

6. "Surveyor Intern" or "L.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;

7. a. "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 bench marks,

(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,

(12)surveying reports or like material developed in

connection with expert witness testimony or

anticipated testimony, and

(13)locating or laying out alignments, positions, or

elevations for the construction of fixed works

for public projects.

b. 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 an engineering-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 and electronic circuits, materials science, transport phenomena, computer engineering, etc. Non-accredited engineering degree programs shall meet the above requirements to be considered an engineering-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 a 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" means technical documents issued by the licensed professionals intended to meet all current and applicable codes as adopted by the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission, 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;

19. a. "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,

and 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

nonresidential 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

years, or

(b)those that are in Seismic Design Category D

and above.

b. Significant structures shall exclude bridges and geo-

structures. As defined in this act, "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.

c. 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; and

22. "Person" means an individual or firm. 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; Laws 2024, c. 147, § 10, eff. Nov. 1, 2024.