Pressure to Seal Another Firm’s Nonconforming Drawings
You are a licensed PE at a small consulting firm. A general contractor, who is a long-time client, asks you to seal a set of structural drawings for a two-story retail building. The drawings were prepared by an unlicensed designer at the contractor’s office. The contractor needs the permit set submitted by Friday because the owner has a lease commencement penalty. You review the drawings and find two problems: the second-floor guardrail is detailed at 1.0 m above the floor with balusters spaced 180 mm apart, and the anchor bolts for the steel columns are specified as 12 mm diameter with 100 mm embedment in a 200 mm slab-on-grade, although the column reactions show uplift. The contractor says, “Just seal it; the field crew will fix the guardrail and we’ll add epoxy to the anchors.” You have not performed the structural design, have no calculation package, and are not the engineer of record. Your firm’s insurance policy requires review of all sealed work.
1. What are your ethical and legal obligations regarding the contractor’s request?
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A PE may seal only work that the PE prepared or directly supervised in responsible charge. Sealing another firm’s drawings, prepared by an unlicensed designer, would misrepresent your role and would violate the responsible-charge requirement. You also cannot seal drawings that you know are nonconforming simply because the contractor promises field corrections.
The guardrail is deficient: a 1.0 m height is below the 1.07 m minimum commonly required for guardrails, and 180 mm baluster spacing exceeds the 100 mm sphere limit. The anchor bolts are also deficient for uplift: 12 mm diameter with 100 mm embedment in a 200 mm slab is unlikely to develop the required tension capacity, and epoxy alone is not a design fix without an engineered post-installed anchor system.
Your obligations are to refuse to seal, explain the specific deficiencies in writing, and offer a proper path: either the contractor retains the original designer to complete the design under responsible charge, or your firm contracts to perform the structural design and review from the beginning. You should document the request and your refusal, notify your firm’s principal or legal counsel, and avoid any implication that the drawings are approved. Public safety takes precedence over the lease penalty.
2. How should you handle the guardrail and anchor deficiencies if the contractor agrees to fix them in the field?
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Field correction does not eliminate the need for a proper design. The guardrail height and baluster spacing are prescriptive safety requirements, but the guardrail also needs a sealed detail showing anchorage to the floor structure, post capacity, and connection to the wall or columns. A field crew’s verbal promise is not a design.
The anchor condition is more serious because the columns have uplift. A 12 mm anchor with 100 mm embedment in a 200 mm slab-on-grade may be governed by concrete breakout, pullout, or slab bending rather than steel strength. Adding epoxy without an ICC-evaluated adhesive anchor, a qualified design, and special inspection would not demonstrate capacity. The slab thickness and reinforcement also need review for the uplift demand.
If your firm agrees to take responsible charge, you should produce calculations and revised sealed details for both items, specify the post-installed anchor system and installation criteria, require special inspection, and verify the slab capacity. You should not seal the original drawings as a shortcut. If you are not engaged to perform that work, you should decline and let the contractor retain an engineer of record.
3. What would you do if the contractor threatens to report you to the board for abandoning the project?
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You should not let the threat change the engineering judgment. You have not accepted responsible charge, so you are not abandoning a project you sealed. You should respond professionally in writing: restate that you cannot seal work you did not prepare or supervise, identify the specific code deficiencies, and offer a defined scope under which your firm could perform the design review and sealed corrections.
Keep a complete record of the drawings reviewed, the deficiencies identified, the contractor’s request, and your refusal. Copy your firm’s principal and notify your professional liability insurer if a claim or board complaint is threatened. If the contractor submits a complaint, cooperate fully and provide the record. Do not alter or backdate any document, and do not seal the drawings to avoid the complaint.
If the building is already under construction and the guardrail or uplift anchors present an imminent safety risk, you may have a duty to report the condition to the building official or owner, even if the contractor objects. The ethical obligation to protect public safety outweighs the business relationship and the schedule pressure.