Rationale

This Practice currently requires that a licensed professional engineer (LPE) supervise all testing. Although the rationale for this requirement is unknown, it is presumed to be that having an LPE overseeing testing was instituted to provide a recourse if testing was done improperly, specifically, having a LPE supervise a laboratory makes the LPE professionally liable for the work performed. The objective of this item is to permit individuals who are not licensed engineers to act as technical directors for ASTM C1077 accredited testing agencies. Failure to conduct a test properly would put the engineers license at risk and errors or omissions would be covered by the LPE’s insurance. This situation is not realistic because in many cases the LPE of record is a) not directly involved in testing operations, and b) does not have the technical experience to determine if testing was conducted properly. Therefore, they are putting themselves at risk, professionally, and in some cases the testing suffers from not being directed by a technically competent supervisor. Further, this arrangement does not accurately represent the risk-mitigation strategy of the testing agency. An LPE carries professional liability insurance for their actions only. The overall professional liability of the testing agency is covered by insurance carried by the agency, and that insurance extends to all full-time employes of the agency. Therefore, asking an LPE to supervise testing places the LPE’s license at risk without benefit to the agency or client and the client will be much better served by having the work supervised by a dedicated supervisor with testing experience. To strengthen the point about agency liability versus individual liability, consider that in most cases in industry broadly, engineers routinely practice without a license. Automotive producers, for example, have 100’s of engineers on staff and only a very small fraction hold a license. Yet they produce products where life safety is a concern. The company assumes the risk, not the engineers. This scenario is built into the laws governing licensure within a state. The same should be true with construction testing. The testing agency should - and does - hold the risk, not an LPE arbitrarily selected to sign for the work. The testing agencies need to ensure that their technical director, supervisors, and technicians are properly trained and have the proper certifications. The testing agency will ensure that all employees performing testing services are competent in the testing they are performing. If the client or someone requests a report to be signed by a LPE, the engineer should take a role in supervising, the testing and issue the report with their endorsement, but the actual conduct of the testing need to be under the technical guidance of an experienced, competent, individual and this will normally be a senior staff person. Most testing in testing agencies accredited for ASTM C1077 have technicians performing the work under the guidance of laboratory supervisor. Most of the testing agencies supply the test results to their client that use the data for their project or for certification of the materials. No opinions or decisions are made by the testing agency performing the testing. The testing agencies performing the testing should take full responsibility for the test results their employees are producing. The testing agency should be responsible in making sure that all their employees understand that they must conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully as to enhance the honor, reputation and usefulness of themselves and the testing agency. Below are links to cases where laboratories falsified results and the companies and employees who performed the testing were held responsible: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndny/pr/syracuse-new-york-upstate-laboratories-inc-was-sentenced-following-its-guilty-plea https://archive.citylaw.org/oath/09_Cases/09-1374.pdf https://www.enr.com/articles/32042-indictment-filed-against-new-york-rsquo-s-biggest-concrete-testing-laboratory Note : The only text open for ballot is that highlighted as a deletion (red with strike though) or an addition (red with underline). Additional text is provided only for context. The ballot item only contains those sections from the existing standard that are being changed. Sections with no proposed changes are not included in the ballot item.