Every engineer in the State of Georgia is required, under the regulations set out by the licensing board, to have a Georgia PE stamp or embossed seal in accordance with their certificate of registration. You acquire this seal at your own expense, and affix it to all documents and drawings that you submit. It must be fully compliant with all the rules and regulations set out by the State of Georgia for professional engineers.
About the Seal
In the state of Georgia, you can use either an embossing seal or a rubber stamp. You can also use an electronic seal. The seal should be approximately an inch and a half in diameter, and it must include your name , your certificate number, and the phrase “Registered Professional Engineer.” The seal will be circular, and the diameter of the inner circle should be 1". You can use “PE” in front of the certificate number if you like but it is not required.
Use of the Seal
You are required to affix your seal and your signature to any reports, plans, plats or specifications that are issued by you as a registrant. If you use the seal on any document after your certificate of registration has expired or been revoked, or while you are suspended by the Board for any reason, you will be in violation of the law.
Unless you have personally performed the engineering work involved, you could again be in violation of the law. You may not use your Georgia PE stamp or seal on any specifications, plans, plats or reports unless you have personally performed the work, or it has been performed by persons under your direct, daily supervision, and then only if you have thoroughly reviewed the work and satisfied yourself that it is up to acceptable standards.
This cannot be overstated – you must not affix your seal to any reports, plans, specifications or plats unless you are fully prepared to guarantee that the work is adequate. If you do so, and the work is found to be inadequate, or if it is determined that you did not thoroughly review the work, the Board will consider you to have committed professional misconduct – in short, fraud.
Security
This brings us to our next topic, which is ensuring the security of your seal. We don’t believe that many engineers would actually affix their seal and signature to substandard work. But if your Georgia PE stamp or seal isn’t properly secured, it could be misused. When it’s important to get plans in on time, a well-meaning person in your office could use your seal. There might not be any consequences. But if something goes wrong, the results in terms of your liability and professional accreditation could be catastrophic. Always make sure that your seal is in a place where only you have access to it.
If your seal is ever lost or stolen, report the loss to the Board immediately. You will not be held liable for any use of your seal from the point where you report that it is missing.
