PE Liability When Doing Contract Work in Exempt Industries
PE Liability When Doing Contract Work in Exempt Industries
(OP)
I have PE license and considering doing contract design work in exempt industries. Do I have additional liability concerns as a contractor vs a direct employee in an exempt industry? Does not stamping drawings or documents eliminate the liability as PE?
Some of the product designs will be use by public as the end user/consumer. This may also require approval agency listings such as UL, and CSA , if the product contains a potential specific hazard to consumers. In this case, I would have to design to the approval agency specifications , but not responsible for the submission to the approval agency. Other designs may have no approval agency requirements.
Some of the product designs will be use by public as the end user/consumer. This may also require approval agency listings such as UL, and CSA , if the product contains a potential specific hazard to consumers. In this case, I would have to design to the approval agency specifications , but not responsible for the submission to the approval agency. Other designs may have no approval agency requirements.





RE: PE Liability When Doing Contract Work in Exempt Industries
RE: PE Liability When Doing Contract Work in Exempt Industries
Here is a recent (2011) summary of industrial / manufacturing exemption laws for all states: Link
www.SlideRuleEra.net
www.VacuumTubeEra.net
RE: PE Liability When Doing Contract Work in Exempt Industries
RE: PE Liability When Doing Contract Work in Exempt Industries
If you work as a direct employee for an non-exempt industry, such as an Engineering Services Company, what is industry standard practice regarding insurance during and after your employment? I would think during your employment the company would have you on their E&O policy , but what about after your employment. Is it industry practice to cover you for a certain length of time, such the statute of limitations for a lawsuit ?
RE: PE Liability When Doing Contract Work in Exempt Industries
- A non-Engineering company is legally prohibited from providing E&O or Liability coverage for a P.E. in their employ.
- If a P.E. in their employ is brought up on charges related to the obligations of licenseure not only can they not provide legal advice/representation, they are required to dock his pay for any time spent defending the charge.
- If there is work being done that requires a P.E. stamp, they will not thank me for stamping it instead of hiring a P.E., they will treat my stamp just like any other and will not defend it or me at all.
- In summary, if you ever stamp a document or drawing for this company the Legal Department will be asked to determine if that act meets the company standards for immediate dismissal and it probably will.
All that the so-called "industrial exemption" does is allow employees to "hold themselves out" within the company as offering engineering services without a license. If something like an SPCC Plan or structural drawing has a federal/state/local requirement for a P.E. stamp, that stamp carries exactly the same obligations and liabilities for a P.E. employee as for a P.E. contractor. If I, as a consultant for a company in an exempt industry, design a pipeline there is no obligation for me to stamp the fabrication drawings, but if one of my designs is properly built to my design and it fails and injures someone then my liability is the same as if I had stamped it.David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist