The engineer of record in Texas, and what actually governs it

Ask who the engineer of record is on a Texas project and everyone in the room will understand the question. Then look for the term in the Texas Engineering Practice Act or in the board's rules and it is not there.

That is not a technicality. The industry phrase and the regulated concept do not map onto each other exactly, and the gap between them is where most of the confusion about responsibility on a Texas project lives.

What Texas actually defines

Rule 131.2 of the board's rules, in Title 22 Part 6 of the Texas Administrative Code, is the definitions rule. It defines direct supervision as the control over and detailed professional knowledge of the work prepared under the engineer's supervision. It then defines responsible charge as synonymous with direct supervision, and the two terms are used interchangeably.

Engineer of record is not among the defined terms. What Texas regulates instead is the seal, and responsible charge is the standard that governs when a licensee may apply one.

The seal is the mechanism

Section 1001.401 of the Occupations Code requires that a plan, specification, plat, or report issued by a license holder for a project to be constructed or used in this state include the license holder's seal on the document. The section also prohibits use of a seal where the license has expired, been suspended, or been revoked.

Rule 137.33 sets out what the seal means. Its stated purpose is to assure the user of the engineering product that the work has been performed or directly supervised by the professional engineer named, and to delineate the scope of that engineer's work. A licensee may seal only work done by them, work performed under their direct supervision, or standards and general guideline specifications they have reviewed and selected. On sealing, the engineer takes full professional responsibility for that work.

Read those two clauses together and the answer to the question everyone is really asking appears. In Texas, the engineer of record on a document is the licensee whose seal is on it, and the extent of that responsibility is the scope the seal delineates.

More than one engineer on one project

Rule 137.33 addresses the common case directly. Work performed by more than one license holder is to be sealed in a manner such that all engineering can be clearly attributed to the responsible license holder or holders. Where two or more licensees have worked on a plan or document, the seal and signature of each is placed on it, with a notation describing the work done under each licensee's responsible charge.

So a Texas project does not necessarily have one engineer of record. It has a set of seals, each carrying a stated scope, and the responsibility follows the scope rather than the project.

The rule also handles the case of a second engineer altering an earlier engineer's work. The second licensee is required to give written notification of the engagement immediately on accepting it, and becomes responsible for the alterations and for their consequences.

What responsible charge requires in practice

The definition sets two elements and both are demanding. Control over the work, and detailed professional knowledge of it. Neither is satisfied by a licensee who received a finished document and formed a general impression that it looked reasonable.

This is the reason a properly run field inspection service separates the two roles rather than blurring them. A technician documents conditions and produces a photographic record keyed to locations. The licensee forms the opinion. The separation is what allows the licensee to have detailed professional knowledge of the evidence rather than of a conclusion someone else reached, and it is the arrangement described on this firm's structural letters page and across the rest of the service lines.

It is also why the firm treats the appointment of a licensed engineer in responsible charge as a gate rather than a hire. The position and its current status are set out on the page about the firm.

Questions worth asking on a real project

• Whose seal will be on the document, and what scope will the notation beside it state?
• If more than one licensee is sealing, which scope belongs to which seal?
• Is the sealing engineer in responsible charge as rule 131.2 defines it, meaning control over the work and detailed knowledge of it, rather than a reviewer of a finished product?
• If an earlier engineer's work is being altered, has that engineer been notified in writing as rule 137.33 requires?