(1) The term "responsible charge" directly relates to the degree of control a licensee is required to maintain while exercising independent control and direction of engineering or land surveying work and to the decisions which can be made only under the direct supervision of a professional engineer or a professional land surveyor.

(a) The degree of control necessary to be in responsible charge shall be such that the licensee:

(i) personally makes engineering or land surveying decisions, or reviews and approves proposed decisions prior to their implementation, including consideration of alternatives, whenever technical decisions are made. In making engineering or land surveying decisions, the licensee must be physically present or through the use of communication devices, can be available in a reasonable period of time; and

(ii) judges the qualifications of technical specialists and the validity and applicability of their recommendations before such recommendations are incorporated in the work.

(b) To be considered in responsible charge of a project, the professional licensee who signs engineering or land surveying documents must be capable of answering questions asked by equally qualified professionals. These questions would be relevant to the decisions made during the individual's participation in the project and require responses in sufficient detail to leave little question as to the licensee's technical knowledge of the work performed. It is not necessary to defend decisions as in an adversary situation, but only to demonstrate that the individual in responsible charge made the decisions and possessed sufficient knowledge of the project to make the decisions.

(i) examples of questions to be answered by the engineer could relate to criteria for design, methods of analysis, methods of manufacture and construction, selection of materials and systems, economics of alternate solutions, and environmental considerations. The individual should be able to clearly define the degree of control and how it is exercised within the organization and geographically and to demonstrate that the engineer is answerable within that degree of control.

(ii) examples of questions to be answered by the land surveyor could relate to criteria for design, methods of analysis and conclusions made including, but not limited to, the retracement of government surveys, interpretation and construction of deeds, application of proportion methods and analysis of evidence related to unwritten property rights. The individual should be able to clearly define the degree of control and how it is exercised within the organization and geographically and to demonstrate that the land surveyor is answerable within that degree of control.