DP8

DecisionPoint
http://proethica.org/ontology/cases#DecisionPoint

DP8

Should Engineer A apply a single uniform sealing standard to all subordinate work regardless of licensure status, or differentiate his practice by refusing to seal non-registered graduate engineers' plans unless he can exercise direct control and personal supervision over that work while applying a less stringent review standard to plans prepared by registered engineer subordinates?

Engineer A must decide whether to apply a uniform sealing standard across all subordinate work or to differentiate his sealing practice based on whether plan preparers are registered engineers or non-registered graduate engineers. When subordinates are registered, their independent licensure provides a residual professional accountability floor even absent Engineer A's detailed review. When subordinates are non-registered graduate engineers, no licensed professional judgment has been applied to the work at any stage prior to Engineer A's seal, triggering the NCEE Model Law's heightened 'direct control and personal supervision' standard and making the seal the sole professional certification of work that has received no independent professional-level verification.

Engineer A declines to seal any plans prepared by non-registered graduate engineers unless he can demonstrate direct control and personal supervision of that specific work, while continuing to seal registered subordinates' plans subject to whatever review standard he can achieve — recognizing the categorical difference in public risk between the two scenarios and the NCEE Model Law's heightened standard for non-licensed subordinate work.

Engineer A applies the same general supervision standard — conceptual direction, design-requirement setting, and availability for technical consultation — uniformly to all subordinate work regardless of licensure status, treating demonstrated competence and internal quality controls as a sufficient professional basis for sealing in both cases and relying on the firm's institutionalized supervisory architecture.

Engineer A restructures the firm's staffing model so that non-registered graduate engineers are assigned only to projects where a registered engineer with sufficient supervisory capacity — not necessarily Engineer A himself — can exercise direct control and personal supervision over their work, distributing supervisory responsibility among multiple registered engineers rather than concentrating it in the chief engineer role.

Engineer