The California Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologist does not mandate a license for those of us who conduct safety engineering. So how do we justify calling ourselves safety engineers.
To put the controversy to rest we submit the following legal definitions:
Safety Engineering – California Code of Regulations Title 16, Division 5, §§400-476 “…is that branch of professional engineering which requires such education and experience as is necessary to understand the engineering principles essential to the identification, elimination and control of hazards to people and property; and requires the ability to apply this knowledge to the development, analysis, production, construction, testing, and utilization of systems, products, procedures and standards in order to eliminate or optimally control hazards. The above definition of safety engineering shall not be construed to permit the practice of civil, electrical, or mechanical engineering”
Since there is no requirement for licensing of a safety engineer, qualification for the title must rely on meeting the above definition. Such experience goes hand in hand with the legal definition of who is an expert, as noted next.
Expert – Federal Rules of Evidence – Rule 702 – defines an expert witness as a “witness who is qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education…”
Expert – Blacks Law Dictionary defines an expert as “One who is knowledgeable in specialized field, that knowledge being obtained from either education or personal experience” with a further definition, “One who by reason of eduction or special experience has knowledge respecting a subject matter about which persons having no particular training are incapable of forming an accurate opinion or making a correct deduction”.
These recognized definitions are all consistent with the requirements of a safety engineer. Though it may be obvious, it is important to state that a safety engineer is limited to doing safety engineering within their field of experience, knowledge and training. Someone who does safety engineering related to medical facilities may not necessarily qualify to provide safety engineering related to aviation unless that person has the same level of knowledge in both fields.
Pacific Injury and Safety Experts, with nearly 49 years in the fields of construction, general industry, insurance, and personal injury is confident that the definition of safety engineering applies to our services and we look forward to providing those services to our clients.
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