(1) The term "responsible charge" directly relates to the degree of control a professional engineer is required to maintain while exercising independent control and direction of engineering work, and to the decisions which can be made only under the direct supervision of a professional engineer.

(a) The degree of control necessary to be in responsible charge shall be such that a licensee:

(i) personally makes engineering decisions or reviews and approves proposed decisions prior to their implementation, including consideration of alternatives, whenever technical decisions are made. In making engineering decisions, a licensee must be physically present or through the use of communication devices, can be available in a reasonable period of time; and

(ii) judges the qualifications of technical specialists and the validity and applicability of their recommendations before such recommendations are incorporated in the work.

(b) To be considered in responsible charge of a project, a licensee who signs engineering documents must be capable of answering questions asked by equally qualified professionals. These questions would be relevant to the decisions made during a licensee's participation in the project and require responses in sufficient detail to leave little question as to a licensee's technical knowledge of the work performed. It is not necessary to defend decisions as in an adversary situation, but only to demonstrate that a licensee in responsible charge made the decisions and possessed sufficient knowledge of the project to make the decisions.

(i) Examples of questions to be answered by an engineer could relate to criteria for design, methods of analysis, methods of manufacture and construction, selection of materials and systems, economics of alternate solutions, and environmental considerations. A licensee should be able to clearly define the degree of control and how it is exercised within the organization and geographically, and to demonstrate that an engineer is answerable within that degree of control.

(2) The term "responsible charge" means that a professional land surveyor is required to maintain independent control over all facets of land surveying work.

(a) The degree of control necessary to be in responsible charge shall be such that a licensee personally makes land surveying decisions. In making land surveying decisions, a licensee must be physically present or able to provide verifiable evidence of personal knowledge of the land surveying work.

(b) To be considered in responsible charge of a project, a licensee who signs land surveying documents must be capable of defending the contents of the resulting documents by addressing issues related to the documents. Examples of issues include, but are not limited to:

(i) criteria for designs;

(ii) methods of analysis and conclusions made;

(iii) performance of surveys;

(iv) interpretation and construction of deeds;

(v) application of proportion methods; and

(vi) analysis of evidence related to unwritten property rights.

(c) A licensee should be able to clearly define the degree of control and how it is exercised within the organization and geographically, and to demonstrate that a land surveyor is answerable within that degree of control.