The case for modifying
“Engineering Surveys” in the current Model Law and Model Rules language
by Glen Thurow
The
National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) is
comprised of engineering and surveying licensing boards from all the states and
U.S. Territories. As such, the admonition to safeguard life, health, and
property and to promote the public welfare found in state statutory law
creating these state regulatory boards manifests itself in the actions and
policies of NCEES.
The
mission of NCEES is to ensure public protection through the licensing
process. Licensure is import because it
demonstrates a standard of competency that the public can rely upon when
procuring the professional services of engineers and surveyors.
This
competency is acquired by the three main tenets of professionalism: education,
experience, and examination. It is only through the rigorous application of all
of these factors that one can be considered proficient enough to provide
service to the public in their area of expertise.
The NCEES
Model Law, as stated in its introduction, is a guide designed to “provide
greater uniformity of qualifications for licensure, to raise these
qualifications to a higher level of accomplishment, and to simplify the
interstate licensure of engineers and surveyors or land surveyors.”
In doing
so, a common set of standards is provided to NCEES Member Boards that represent
“optimum, realistic levels of qualifications for initial and subsequent
licensure to ensure protection of the public’s interest.” Yet the Model Law, as
currently written, fails in this duty in one very important aspect,
specifically, by inclusion of the term “engineering surveys” in the definition
of the practice of engineering. In doing so, the Model Law provides for unlicensed
practice of surveying by engineers thereby placing the very public which the
NCEES and its member boards are charged to protect, at risk.
The Model Law defines engineering surveys to include
“all survey activities required to support the sound conception, planning,
design, construction, maintenance, and operation of engineered projects but
exclude the surveying of real property for the establishment of land
boundaries, rights-of-way, easements, and the dependent or independent surveys
or resurveys of the public land survey system.” This is nothing more than an
acknowledgement that the unlicensed practice of surveying by engineers is
acceptable to the NCEES.
Increasingly, it is recognized that surveying is a
separate and distinct profession from engineering. Surveying is evolving into
an increasingly complex body of knowledge the application of which requires
ever increasing levels of education and experience. Surveying curriculums at
many, if not most educational institutions offering associate, bachelors, and
advanced degrees are designed to address this increasing complexity not only in
boundary considerations, but also in “non-boundary” definitions of surveying,
including geodetic and plane surveying, topographic map preparation, project
control and other components for survey construction staking.
Most of these courses are mandatory for surveying
students. This curriculum is a recognition that it is necessary to rigorously
prepare the surveying student for the demands that they will encounter in their
professional life.
Conversely, many, if not most engineering curriculums,
no longer require their students to immerse themselves in surveying subject
matter, as was once the case. Yet, most civil engineers feel fully qualified to
engage in surveying activities even though the components of experience,
education, and examination are missing from their background. Courses that are mandatory for surveying
majors are electives for engineering majors who often decline to avail
themselves of the opportunity.
One only need look at some of the aspects of the
American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) definition of engineering surveys
to note how encompassing the subject activities are:
- The preparation of survey and related mapping
specifications;
- Execution of photogrammetric and field surveys
for the collection of required data, including topographic and
hydrographic data;
- Calculation, reduction and plotting of survey
data for use in engineering design;
- Design and provision of horizontal and vertical
control survey networks;
- Provision of line and grade and other layout work
for construction and mining activities;
- Execution and certification of quality control
spatial measurements during construction;
- Monitoring of ground and structural stability,
including alignment observations, settlement levels, and related reports
and certifications;
- Measurement of material and other quantities for
inventory, economic assessment and cost accounting purposes;
- Execution of as-built surveys and preparation of
related maps and plans and profiles upon completion of construction; and
Analysis of errors and tolerances associated with the
measurement, field layout and mapping or other plots of survey measurement
required in support of engineering projects.
While
some parts relate specifically to civil engineering, the majority of the above
activities are surveying functions found in traditional definitions of
surveying in many states. In reality, when an engineer performs any of the
above activities they are engaged in the unlicensed practice of surveying.
It is widely acknowledged that engineering disciplines
continue to splinter with at least 16 sub disciplines. Specialization within
each sub-discipline requires specific education and experience. Why then should
all aspects of surveying with the exception of boundary, be considered as part
of the purview of engineering including civil engineering?
This issue is articulated in an ACSE policy statement
number 333 that states in part:
A number
of recent developments have created some confusion with respect to the role of
civil engineers in the practice of surveying. These developments have included:
- The development of land surveying as a profession
separate and distinct from civil engineering;
- The development of separate curricula and degrees
at certain universities in support of land surveying as a separate
profession;
- The reduced number of courses in surveying within
civil engineering curricula; and,
- The development of disputes before state
registration boards concerning the right of civil engineers to practice
surveying, given separate registration for the practice of land surveying.
Engineering surveying may be regarded as a specialty within the broader professional practice of engineering and, with the exception of boundary, right of way, or other cadastral surveying, includes all surveying and mapping activities required to support the sound conception, planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of engineered projects. Engineering surveying does not include surveys for the retracement of existing land ownership boundaries or the creation of new boundaries.
Engineering surveying or the engineering surveyor
needs to be recognized as a as a specialty requiring specific education,
experience, and examination. Simply claiming to be able to perform such
activities by virtue of being a civil engineer does not recognize the reality
of the situation. The model law makes no provision for this distinction.
At a minimum, there should be a formal creation of
engineering surveyor as a specialty within civil engineering. Certification
within the specialty is achieved through a combination of education,
experience, and examination.
Civil engineering curriculums should acknowledge this
specialty and engineering students desiring to practice within this area should
avail themselves of either existing course offerings within surveying programs
or specialized courses within engineering programs. ABET criteria for
engineering and surveying programs should reflect this specialized area within
the surveying profession. Minimum experience and formal examination would
complete the necessary requirements of an engineering surveyor.
Until such time that this becomes a reality, the term "engineering surveys" should be removed from the Model
Law.
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