Are We Professionals?

One of our employees asked the question; "Why don't we stamp all of our drawings?" A simple question, but one full of implication. The statutes of our state, Colorado, are quite clear, at least to the non-legal mind, about the issue. Those regulations state that engineering drawings are to be stamped by a Registered Professional Engineer, registered in the State of Colorado. Very simple and very clear, again to the non-legal mind.



Of course, there is a standard litany of reasons why we don't:

• Standard practice; Working with a wide variety of engineering contractors over the past 30 some years, I have never seen it done as a standard practice except where required by a permitting authority or by the client.




• Owner Exemption; Owner's of engineered facilities are specifically exempted from the requirement to stamp drawings. As contractors to those Owners, we are exempted as well.




• Specialized Clientele; Since we do not work for the general public, but for a specific knowledgeable clientele, we do not fall under the rules whose intent is to protect the general public in the application of a specific body of knowledge, i.e. accountants, lawyers and doctors.

But I took the question to a lawyer whose practice is the engineering profession. He said that he had never been asked that question before. Imagine that!

In any case, he rendered an opinion for us that stated the rules were unclearly drafted, and that in his opinion, we were operating in a legal and ethical manner without stamping drawings. So the system works. The regulation says "Stamp your drawings." The lawyer says, "That isn't what the law says."

But the real question is whether engineering is a profession or is Engineering a Profession. If engineering is a profession, then we mean that we are white collar knowledge workers. Our interaction with the world, our projects and clients, is governed by contracts and generally accepted rules of doing business in the modern world. If Engineering is a Profession, then we are a Profession, and entitled to be treated as such.

As an example, a drug prescription cannot be filled without a Physician's signature. Should it be possible to purchase a pressure vessel or control valve without an Engineer's signature?