South Dakota State Board of Engineers, Land Surveyors and Building Professionals Rules, laws and Ethics

Practice of engineering, means the practice or offering to practice of any service or creative work, the adequate performance of which requires engineering education, training, and experience in the application of special knowledge of the mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences to such services or creative work. Such service or work includes consultation; investigation; evaluation; planning; design; and design coordination of engineering works and systems; planning the use of land and water; land-use studies; teaching of advanced engineering design subjects; performing engineering studies; and the review or observation of construction for the purpose to determine whether the work is in general accordance with drawings, specifications, and other technical submissions. Any such service or work, either public or private, may be in connection with any utilities, structures, buildings, machines, equipment, processes, work systems, projects, and industrial or consumer products, or equipment of a mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, or thermal nature, insofar as they involve safeguarding life, health, or property, and including such other professional services as are necessary to the planning, progress, and completion of any engineering services.

Practice of petroleum release assessment, means the practice of directing or supervising the field crew performing activities related to assessments and environmental monitoring; developing assessment plans; directing the placement of soil borings and determining where to collect samples for analytical data; determining the location of representative soil samples for contaminant analysis; identifying and classifying soil types and soil conditions; preparing soil boring logs or supervising preparation of logs; testing and reporting on the physical and chemical properties of soils; identifying and reporting on geological conditions; developing and implementing groundwater evaluation activities; directing the placement of monitoring or observation wells; evaluating aquifer characteristics; formulating input data for ground water flow models; operating ground water models and interpreting results; directing the performance of pump tests or dye tests and other aquifer tests; interpreting the results of aquifer testing; determining capture zones for groundwater removal systems; evaluating and reporting on physical and chemical groundwater data; or offering to provide any services pursuant to this section.

1. Locates, relocates, establishes, reestablishes, lays out, or retraces any property line or boundary of any tract of land or any road, right-of-way, easement, alignment, or elevation of anyof the fixed works embraced within the practice of land surveying;
2. Makes any survey for the subdivision of any tract of land;
3. Determines, by the use of principles of land surveying, the position for any survey monument or reference point; or sets, resets, or replaces any such monument or reference point;
4. Determines the configuration or contour of the earth’s surface or the position of fixed objects on the earth’s surface by measuring lines and angles and applying the principles of mathematics.
5. Geodetic surveying which includes surveying for determination of the size and shape of the earth utilizing angular and linear measurements through spatially oriented spherical geometry;
6. Creates, prepares, or modifies electronic or computerized data, including land formation systems and geographic information systems, relative to the performance of the activities in subdivisions (1) to (5), inclusive, of this section.

Practice of petroleum release remediation, means the practice of interpreting assessment results; formulating input data for contaminant models; operating contaminant models and interpreting results; identifying the potential fate of contaminants and environmental transport mechanisms; identifying the environmental risks and health hazards of contaminants and contaminated media; directing or supervising the disposal of contaminated soil and ground water; evaluating and recommending remediation alternatives; preparing a cost estimate or cost-effective analysis for remedial alternatives; developing soil and groundwater remediation systems; preparing the plans and specifications for remedial systems; directing or supervising the installation, operation, and maintenance of remedial systems; overseeing and directing assessment and remedial activities; signing assessment plans, assessment reports, and remedial action plans; or offering to provide any of the services pursuant to this section. A petroleum release remediator may perform all the functions of a petroleum release assessor.

The seal, signature, and date shall be placed in such a manner that can be legibly reproduced on the following:

1. All originals, copies, tracings, electronic submittals, or other reproductions of all final drawings, specifications, reports, plats, plans, land surveys, design information, and calculations prepared by the licensee or under the licensee’s responsible charge when presented to a client or any public or governmental agency. A licensee may not review or check technical submissions of another licensed professional or unlicensed person and seal the documents as the licensee’s own work;
2. Preliminary work shall contain a note that the submittal is Not for Construction, Preliminary, or other such explanation that it is not final; and
3. In the case of documents for projects which involve multiple licensees of more than one technical profession, the title or index sheet shall be sealed, signed, and dated by the prime professional in responsible charge of coordinating the various technical professions involved in the project. In addition, each sheet shall be sealed, signed, and dated by the licensee or licensees who prepared or who are in responsible charge of that sheet.

Each drawing, report, or document that is signed and sealed using a digital signature shall have an electronic authentication process attached to or logically associated with the electronic document. The licensee’s use of a digital signature is optional and, if used, shall be:

1. Unique to the licensee;
2. Capable of verification;
3. Under the sole control of the licensee using it; and
4. Linked to a document in such a manner that the digital signature is invalidated if any data in the document is changed.

No person other than an architect may provide construction administration services on an architecture portion of a project that is not exempt pursuant to §36-18A-2. No person other than a professional engineer may provide construction administration services on an engineering portion of a project that is not exempt pursuant to §36-18A-3. The architect or professional engineer of record, or another designated architect or professional engineer without conflict of interest, shall provide a written report of observed deficiencies or variations from the submitted plans and specifications to the building official, owner, and builder before project completion. The board may promulgate rules pursuant to chapter 1-26 to establish construction administration services criteria including coordinating and prime professional criteria for persons licensed by the board.

If a licensee in responsible charge of the work is unavailable to complete the work, a successor licensee may take responsible charge by performing all professional services to include developing a complete design file with work or design criteria, calculations, code research, and any necessary and appropriate changes to the work.

Combining architecture, engineering, and construction services. A business entity offering any combination of architectural and engineering services together with construction services such as design-build contracting, may offer to render architectural and engineering services only if:

1. An architect and professional engineer licensed in the state participates substantially in all material aspects of the offering;
2. There is written disclosure at the time of the offering that the architect and professional engineer are engaged by and contractually responsible to the contractor, contractor as a joint venture, or owner/client;
3. The architect and professional engineer will have direct supervision of the design work and that the professional services are not terminated without the consent of the owner/client;
4. The rendering of architectural and engineering services by such professionals will conform to the provisions of SDCL chapter 36-18A and this article; and
5. Design professionals per form construction administration on the projects.