La. Admin. Code tit. 46 § LXII-1501

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section LXII-1501 - Use of Seals

A. License holders must obtain a seal as per R.S. 37:711.22.

B. The following rules for the use of seals to identify work performed by a professional geoscientist shall be binding on every licensee.

1. Seal Possession

a. Each professional geoscientist, upon licensure, shall obtain an official seal.

i. In the case of a temporary permit issued to a licensee of another jurisdiction, the licensee shall affix the seal of his/her jurisdiction of licensure, his/her signature, the date of execution, and his/her Louisiana temporary permit number to all of his/her work.

2. Seal Responsibility

a. The application of the licensee's seal, signature, and date shall constitute certification that the work thereon was done by the licensee or under his/her responsible charge. The licensee shall be personally and professionally responsible and accountable for the care, custody, control and use of his/her seal, professional signature and identification. A seal which has been lost, misplaced or stolen shall, upon discovery of its loss, be reported immediately to the board by the licensee. The board may invalidate the licensure number of said licensee, if it deems this necessary, and issue another licensure number to the licensee.

3. Seal Use

a. The seal, signature, and date on a document constitute a certification that the document was prepared by the licensee or under his direct supervision. A licensee shall affix an unobscured seal, original signature, and date of signature to the original documents contained in the final version of any geoscience document as outlined below:

i. Each sheet of maps, cross sections, drawings, descriptions, charts, graphs, reports, documents, or other records of geoscientific practice shall be signed, sealed, and dated by the licensee who prepares it, by the licensee who provides direct supervisory control over its preparation, or by the licensee who reviews it in sufficient depth to fully coordinate and assume responsibility for documents prepared by another licensee.

ii. Where multiple sheets are bound together in one volume representing a singular geoscience document, report, or other record, the licensee who prepared such volume, under whose direction and control such volume was prepared, or who reviews it in sufficient depth to fully coordinate and assume responsibility thereof, shall sign, seal, and date a sheet that clearly identifies all of the other sheets included as part of the bound volume.

b. A geoscientific report, document, or other record is any document that provides an interpretation or analysis of geoscience data, including but not limited to:

i. cross sections displaying geoscience data, including geological and/or geophysical parameters;

ii. contoured drawings, such as potentiometric surface maps, isopleth maps, and subsurface data;

iii. aquifer test analyses, including yield, transmissivity, or specific storage;

iv. groundwater modeling;

v. geoscientific surface resource and availability studies;

vi. geoscientific components of groundwater management plans;

vii. soil boring logs and well logs;

viii. soil, lithology, and/or geophysical maps;

ix. interpretation of geophysical surveys; and

x. interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations for further action(s) based on these data.

c. Preliminary or draft documents do not require a PG stamp; however, each sheet or page of a preliminary or draft document shall be clearly and prominently marked "preliminary" or "draft".

d. In accordance with the Standards for Environmental Site Assessments (ESA) published by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Phase I ESAs do not require a PG stamp, unless one or more geoscientific documents, findings, or conclusions is incorporated into the Phase I ESA. However, due to the nature of subsurface work and interpretations, Phase II and III ESAs require a PG stamp in accordance with the above requirements.

La. Admin. Code tit. 46, § LXII-1501

Promulgated by the Office of the Governor, Board of Professional Geoscientists, LR 412348 (11/1/2015), Amended LR 451469 (10/1/2019).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 37:711.8.C(1).