ASTTBC PPE flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Engineer of record

The registrant who takes legal and professional responsibility for a design, its seal, and its compliance with applicable codes, regardless of who performed the detailed work.

Scope of competence

The boundary of tasks a registrant may perform unsupervised, established by education, training, and documented experience, and exceeded only under appropriate supervision.

Seal and signature

A mark certifying that the sealed document was prepared or directly supervised by the registrant, who accepts professional responsibility for its technical content.

Continuing competence record

A dated log of professional development activities retained by the registrant to demonstrate currency of knowledge when the regulator conducts an audit.

Public interest paramount

The principle that where client or employer interests conflict with public safety, the registrant's duty to protect the public takes precedence over confidentiality or loyalty.

Conflict of interest

A situation where a personal, financial, or family interest could reasonably be perceived to influence professional judgment, requiring written disclosure and possible withdrawal.

Confidentiality exception

Client information may be disclosed without consent only where required by law or court order, or where necessary to prevent a clear risk to life safety.

Mandatory self-reporting

The obligation to notify the regulator in writing, within the prescribed period, of a conviction, judgment, or disciplinary finding affecting fitness to practise.

Factor of safety

The ratio of ultimate or yield strength to allowable working stress, set higher where loads are uncertain or failure consequences are severe.

Young's modulus

The ratio of tensile stress to tensile strain in the elastic range, a measure of a material's stiffness expressed in units of pressure.

Thermal expansion stress

Stress generated when restrained material is prevented from expanding; it equals the modulus of elasticity multiplied by the coefficient of expansion and the temperature change.

Ohm's law

The relationship stating that voltage equals current multiplied by resistance in a linear circuit, with power equal to voltage times current.

Continuity equation for pipes

For incompressible flow, the volumetric flow rate equals cross-sectional area times velocity, so reducing diameter increases velocity proportionally.

Measurement uncertainty

A quantified range expressing the doubt in a measured value, combining instrument accuracy, resolution, and repeatability, and used to round the reported result.

Design basis document

A record of the code edition, load cases, assumptions, and references used in a design, sufficient for an independent reviewer to reproduce the calculations.

Superseded drawing control

The practice of marking earlier revisions as void while retaining them in the record, so that only the current revision is used for construction.

Written confirmation of instruction

A dated written record of a verbal site direction, issued within the contract period, which makes the instruction enforceable and retrievable.

Observation versus interpretation

A reporting convention separating measured facts from the author's inferences, so that conclusions remain traceable to stated evidence.

Hierarchy of controls

The ranking of hazard controls from most to least effective: elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and finally personal protective equipment.

Lockout tagout

A procedure isolating all energy sources, verifying a zero energy state by test, and removing locks only by the person who applied them.

Confined space entry permit

A written authorization requiring pre-entry atmospheric testing for oxygen, flammability, and toxicity, plus an attendant and a rescue plan.

Incident investigation purpose

To establish the sequence of events and contributing causes so that recurrence is prevented, with findings kept separate from disciplinary proceedings.

Life-cycle assessment

An accounting of environmental impacts across material extraction, manufacture, use, and end of life, expressed per functional unit for valid comparison.

Embodied carbon comparison

A comparison of greenhouse gas emissions per declared unit that is valid only where system boundaries and service life assumptions match between options.

Phased environmental site assessment

A staged investigation beginning with records review and a site visit, proceeding to sampling and analysis only where the first phase identifies potential contamination.

Fail-safe design

A design approach ensuring that loss of a single element produces warning and controlled behaviour rather than progressive collapse or sudden failure.

Permit to practise

The annual authorization issued by the regulator allowing a registrant to practise, separate from a business licence or a municipal building permit.

Title protection

A statutory provision reserving a professional designation for registrants, making its use by a non-registrant an offence under the governing Act.

Cease-and-desist order

A regulator's direction halting work that presents an immediate risk to public safety, effective before any hearing is convened.

Independent check

A verification step performed by a qualified person who did not prepare the work, documented with the checker's identity and the date.

Critical path

The longest duration sequence of dependent activities through a project network, whose delay directly delays project completion unless the path changes.

Cost performance index

Earned value divided by actual cost; a value below one indicates the work performed has cost more than the budgeted amount.