January 2007 ISSUE
Professional practice & Ethics Corner
APEGGA members with professional practice or ethics questions are welcome
to send them to Ray Chopiuk, P.Eng., Director, Professional Practice, APEGGA,
1500 Scotia One, 10060 Jasper Ave. NW, Edmonton, AB T5J 4A2, fax 780-426-1877,
or e-mail rchopiuk@apegga.org.
Q Are there any rules dictating how long after a project is completed that we should keep our files containing engineering, geology and geophysics documents?
A There are no rules, per se, in the Engineering, Geological and Geophysical Professions Act or regulations that prescribe the length of time professional documents must be retained. Section 3.3 of APEGGA’s Practice Standard for Authenticating Professional Documents provides some advice, however:
“A professional member (or permit holder) should endeavour to retain the authenticated original document and issue an authenticated reproduction to the client. If the original is provided to the client, the professional member should retain a duplicate authenticated original or an authenticated reproduction for record purposes. The document should be identified as a record copy to the effect: ‘This copy or document is for record purposes and shall not be revised.’
“A professional member should keep a professional document at least until
the period of professional liability expires or longer as circumstances may require.
The Alberta Limitations Act that came into force on March 1, 1999, provides for
a total maximum time of 10 years to discover an ‘injury’ and make
a claim. Within those 10 years, the claim must be made within two years from
the date that the necessary basis of a claim was discovered. Therefore, a document
should be kept for at least 10 years.”
One of the reasons that professionals should keep copies of their documents is
to assist in defending themselves against complaints or claims arising from their
professional services. Incidentally, the practice standard is available on APEGGA’s
website.
Q APEGGA says that preliminary documents issued where someone may rely on them must be stamped. If they are issued without a stamp and someone relies on them and goes to court because his or her decisions were in error based on those documents, is the APEGGA member relieved of liability because they haven’t been stamped?
A If a member issues a document without stamping it, he or she would not be relieved, by APEGGA, of professional responsibility for the document. The member would be accountable for not having stamped the document in addition to being accountable for the work contained in it. In other words, a member can’t avoid professional responsibility for a document that he or she prepares and issues by simply not stamping it.
Whether there was any liability on the part of the member arising out of the person’s reliance on the preliminary document would need to be determined by a court. While APEGGA has no authority to determine liability, it does have the jurisdiction to determine professional responsibility. If a complaint was made to APEGGA and the matter was put before a Discipline Committee panel, the circumstances connected with the issuance and use of the document would need to be examined closely before any such decision could be made.
The Practice Standard for Authenticating Professional Documents suggests that the specific intended purpose or limitation of a preliminary document be clearly indicated on the document. It is possible that the document was prepared properly but used inappropriately (not for the purpose intended). On the other hand, it is equally possible that the document was used appropriately, but that the information it contained was incorrect.