Engineering law


Engineering law refers to the application of laws applying to the practice of professional engineering. Engineering law is the study of how ethics and legal frameworks are adopted to ensure public safety surrounding the practice of engineering. California law defines engineering as the professional practice of rendering service or creative work requiring education, training and experience in engineering sciences and the application of special knowledge of the mathematical, physical and engineering sciences in such professional or creative work as consultation, investigation, evaluation, planning or design of public or private utilities, structures, machines, processes, circuits, buildings, equipment or projects, and supervision of construction for the purpose of securing compliance with specifications and design for any such work. By comparison Ontario lists safeguarding of life and public welfare in its definition. Ontario law defines engineering as the act of planning, designing, composing, evaluating, advising, reporting, directing or supervising that requires the application of engineering principles and concerns the safeguarding of life, health, property, economic interests, the public welfare or the environment, or the managing of any such act.
The practice of engineering is largely separated from the practice of a natural scientist by engineering law. A semiconductor physicist and an electrical engineer, practising at a large company are mainly differentiated by the laws they are practising under and the licence they carry. The laws and the licence will affect the tasks that can be performed by the engineer compared with the tasks that can be performed by a natural scientist. Engineers are held to a specific legal standard for ethics and performance while a natural scientist is not. Engineers are subject to disciplinary measures such as fines or loss of licence for professional misconduct and negligence.

Professional competencies

In North America it is common to have four years of engineering education and four years of professional experience before being licensed as an engineer.
Generally between 16 and 40 hours of training per year are required for an engineer to continue to practice. Training is required to ensure that an engineer keeps up with relevant codes, standards and technology.

Key topics

Key topic areas for engineering law are:
In the United States of America and Canada engineering is governed by state or provincial law.
It is illegal for a practicing engineer to jeopardize public safety in any way. This means that an engineer must hold herself or himself to the highest level of moral conduct or suffer litigation if an engineering system fails causing harm to the public including to a maintenance technician. Breaches of engineering law are often sufficient grounds for enforcement measures, which may include the suspension or loss of license and financial penalties. It could also result in serving jail time, should gross negligence be shown to have played a part in any incident that caused loss of human life.
Under circumstances where gross negligence has been proven, an engineering firm may no longer be considered to be vicariously liable for an individual engineer's gross negligence.

The seal or stamp

In many jurisdictions engineering regulatory bodies require the use of a seal or stamp for all engineering drawings, analysis and documentation related to anyone who relies on an engineer. The engineer sealing or stamping the engineering work must be in control of the engineering work as either an author or reviewer. The sealed or stamped analysis or drawing must be up to the standard of a competent engineer and can be relied on as intended.
It is generally agreed that the stamp and seal of an engineer communicates to the official and to the public that the contents of the document sealed reflected professional knowledge and care; and that applicable statues, standards, codes and regulations have been followed. A customer who relies on an engineer's stamp is not likely to be liable for the stamped or sealed work.
A sealed or stamped engineering work is often considered to be the controlled copy of the work.
It does not matter whether or not the customer asked for the seal or stamp. The analysis or drawing must be sealed or stamped if it is a technical engineering work. Internal analysis or drawings within a corporation or a partnership do not need to be sealed or stamped although they may be sealed or stamped at the engineer or organization's discretion. Non-engineering work such as financial analysis or contracts must not be stamped or sealed with an engineer's stamp.

International engineering law

In an international engineering project there may be a country where the work is originated and a country where the work is executed. The laws of both the originating country and the project destination country must be observed. Further complications may occur when the country where the engineering work is reviewed and approved is not the country where the work is originated or executed. In this case, a high ethical standard must be observed where all relevant laws are applied.
In contract law, the contract law in the country where the contract was signed is generally observed.
The Washington Accord is an agreement that was put in place by a number of international signatories, recognizing their approaches and systems for accrediting university engineering programs as comparable. Signatories to the Washington Accord are Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong China, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
A Washington Accord degree does not confer a licence to practice engineering. Licences to practice engineering are granted by government or independent bodies that are legislated to confer a licence.
In certain jurisdictions engineering laws are weak. The following countries have weak laws surrounding engineering:
Weak engineering law can cause a variety of problems regarding public safety. The safety culture of an organization of practitioners is often dictated by ethics clauses in engineering law. If there is no engineering law or weak engineering law there is no control of safety culture afforded by the law. The engineering profession was developed, in North America, to prevent certain problems and behaviours observed in the application of science in the public interest to safeguard life and public welfare. Laws to prevent managers at engineering firms from pushing engineers to make unsafe decisions for financial reasons or to meet a schedule can make countries safer places to live.

Order in engineering

Engineering must be conducted in an orderly and ethical manner where all appropriate codes and standards are carefully considered. Orderly consideration is a vital part of any engineering work involving public safety or a contract. Any disorder involved in engineering practice could be termed as reckless or hacking and may endanger the public's trust in the safety or quality of the engineering being practiced. Negligent practice evolves when managerial, accounting, scheduling or legal pressure impinges on the careful consideration of proper engineering practice. Engineers must conduct themselves in a dignified manner and their work must reflect this dignity and a dedication to excellence.
To avoid reckless engineering practice engineers must ensure they have documented process, formalized requirements and formal methods of practice. All documents and analysis must be up to a high standard and must be well considered.
It is possible to compare the professions of law and engineering. Just as courts must maintain a certain order or decorum for a fair trial to proceed so too engineering must be conducted in an orderly fashion with a certain formalized method and process. When this order breaks down catastrophes may occur.
Specifically, Ontario Regulation 941 demands fairness and loyalty to the practitioner’s associates, employer, clients, subordinates and employees; devotion to high ideals of personal honour and professional integrity; co-operation in working with other professionals engaged on a project; courtesy and good faith towards other practitioners; and no malicious attempts to injure the reputation or business of another practitioner.