Oklahoma Administrative Code
Title 245 - State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors
Chapter 15 - Licensure and Practice of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors
Subchapter 17 - Licensee's Seal
Section 245:15-17-2 - Use of seal

(a) The application of the licensee's signature and date of signature to a sealed document shall constitute certification that the work thereon was done by the licensee or under the licensee's direct control and personal supervision, as defined by statute, and that the licensee accepts full responsibility and liability for the professional work represented thereon. Authorized use of the prescribed seal is an individual act. The licensee is responsible for its security at all times. The licensee shall permit no other person, firm, or entity to use the prescribed seal. The seal shall be affixed to documents and instruments only during the time the licensee's license is current and in good standing. Whenever the seal is applied, the document must be signed by the licensee thereby certifying that he or she is competent in the subject matter, has declared the designated area(s) of competence in the record of the Board, and was in direct control and personal supervision of the work product.

(b) Licensees must affix their seal, signature and date of signature to documents or drawings which reflect work for which the licensee has responsible charge, as defined, including revisions and addenda thereto. In the case when multiple licensees are involved, each sheet in a set of drawings shall contain the seal, signature and date of the licensee responsible. A licensee not practicing as, or through a firm shall also include contact information to include address and phone number.

(c) Regarding professional engineering, the licensee is responsible for meeting and documenting all of the following requirements to be in direct control and personal supervision of the work, whether the work is performed remotely or locally:

(d) Regarding land surveying, the licensee in responsible charge and directly controlling and personally supervising the work is responsible for meeting and documenting all of the following requirements to be in direct control and personal supervision of the work:

(e) Unlicensed persons, including professional engineers and professional land surveyors not licensed in this state, shall not perform engineering or surveying work in this state, to subsequently have it reviewed, signed, and sealed by a licensed professional engineer or professional land surveyor licensed in the state of Oklahoma. An Oklahoma licensed professional engineer must meet all provisions of (c) of this subsection and an Oklahoma licensed professional land surveyor must meet all provisions of (d) of this subsection to qualify as being in responsible charge of the work. If the Oklahoma licensed professional is a contractor or consultant to the firm or individual who contracted for the project, the licensee must include his or her firm name, if applicable, and contact information on the work.

(f) In the case of bound documents, licensees must affix their seal, signature, and date of signature to the cover sheet or index page, which identifies all documents bound together for which the licensee has responsible charge. In the absence of covers and index pages each document must have the seal, and dated signature of the licensee who has responsible charge. For bound documents involving multiple licensees, either each document in the bound set must be sealed, signed, and dated by the licensee in responsible charge for that portion of the work, or the cover sheet or index page must be sealed, signed, and dated by each licensee with a breakdown of the licensee in responsible charge of each document clearly identified.

(g) In the case when the work consists of a letter or report prepared by a single licensee, the licensee need only seal, sign, and date the first page, title page or signature page of the document.

(h) The Statute, 59 O.S., Sections 475.1 et seq. and Rules of the Board in this Chapter describe the use of the seal of the licensee. The seal, signature, and date of signature shall be placed on all final engineering and land surveying documents whenever presented to a client or any public agency to certify that the work thereon was done by the licensee or under the responsible charge of the licensee. In lieu of sealing, signing, and dating each copy of the work, the seal, signature, and date shall be placed on originals, tracings, or other reproducible documents by the licensee in such a manner that when the originals, tracings, or other reproducible documents are reproduced the seal, signature, and date will be legible.

(i) Working drawings or preliminary documents are not required to have a seal and signature if they contain a statement in large bold letters to the effect PRELIMINARY, NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION OR IMPLEMENTATION.

(j) Permit sets or construction drawings, which are not final, may be signed and sealed for the purpose of submitting the work to the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) for their review, comment and /or approval, but must be clearly marked in large bold letters NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION.

(k) An Engineer Intern or Land Surveyor Intern shall not have a seal.

(l) Drawings, reports, or documents that require a signature may be signed using a digital signature. The digital signature must be:

(m) Successor licensee - In circumstances where a licensee in responsible charge of the work is unavailable to complete the work, or the work is a site adaptation of a standard design plan, a successor licensee may take responsible charge over, and complete the work, in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter.

(n) Prototypical design plans- A licensee may take responsible charge over a standard, prototypical design plan, including drawings and specifications in printed or electronic form, for the purpose of adapting the plan to a specific site in this state, provided the licensee's work is completed in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter. This provision shall apply to both site adaptation of new structures and site adaptation for construction in an existing structure.

(o) Any revision to a document containing the seal and signature of a licensee shall be identified and dated. Revisions not done by the original licensee must be signed and sealed by the licensee in responsible charge of the revision. At no time shall a successor licensee remove the seal and signature of the original licensee in responsible charge of the work.

(p) Record drawings prepared to reflect changes made during construction based on the record of changes made to construction drawings and changes to the construction observed by the licensee or on the licensee's behalf or reported by contractors is deemed a drafting service and shall not require a licensee's seal, signature, and date of signature.

(q) In the case of a firm, each separate document, the first page of a bound document, and, in the case of multiple licensees, the portion of the work for which each firm is responsible, shall also show the name of the firm, the firm's Certificate of Authorization number and contact information for the firm.

(r) Engineering or surveying technical submissions given to an architect for a project must be signed and sealed by the professional engineer or land surveyor in responsible charge of the work prior to the architect taking responsible charge of the work as the prime professional for the project.

(s) Consultants hired to do work on behalf of the firm must sign, seal, and date their work and include their contact information, and Certificate of Authorization information, if applicable, on the work. Consultants may not be the designated managing agent for the firm to which they are consulting.