Alabama § 34-11-2 - Practice of Engineering and Land Surveying Regulated.

§ 34-11-2. Practice of Engineering and Land Surveying Regulated.

(a) A person in either public or private capacity may not practice or offer to practice engineering or land surveying, unless he or she shall first have submitted evidence that he or she is qualified so to practice and shall be licensed by the board as hereinafter provided or unless he or she is specifically exempted from licensure under this chapter.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, all engineering design of buildings, structures, products, machines, processes, and systems that can affect health, life, safety, welfare, and property shall be conducted under the responsible charge of a licensed professional engineer.

(c) In order to safeguard health, life, safety, welfare, and property, the practice of engineering in this state is a learned profession to be practiced and regulated as such, and its practitioners in this state shall be held accountable to the state and members of the public by high professional standards in keeping with the ethics and practices of the other learned professions in this state. It shall be unlawful for any person to practice or offer to practice professional engineering in this state to hold himself or herself out or refer to himself or herself by any title or description stating or implying the person is licensed to engage in the practice of engineering, or to use in connection with his or her name or otherwise assume, use, or advertise any title or description including, but not limited to, the terms engineer, engineers, engineering, professional engineer, professional engineers, professional engineering, P.E., or any modification or derivative thereof, tending to convey the impression that he or she is a professional engineer unless the person has been duly licensed or is exempt from licensure under this chapter. A person whose firm name shall have contained the word “engineer,” “engineers,” or “engineering,” or words of like import, for more than 15 years before September 12, 1966, shall not be prohibited from continuing the use of such word or words in his or her firm name.

(d) In order to safeguard health, life, safety, welfare, and property, the practice of land surveying in this state is a learned profession to be practiced and regulated as such, and its practitioners in this state shall be held accountable to the state and members of the public by high professional standards in keeping with the ethics and practices of the other learned professions in this state. It shall be unlawful for any person to practice or offer to practice professional land surveying in this state, to hold himself or herself out or refer to himself or herself by any title or description stating or implying the person is licensed to engage in the practice of land surveying, or to use in connection with his or her name or otherwise assume, use, or advertise any title or description including, but not limited to, the terms land surveyor, land surveyors, land surveying, professional land surveyor, professional land surveyors, professional land surveying, P.L.S., or any modification or derivative thereof, tending to convey the impression that he or she is a professional land surveyor unless the person has been duly licensed or is exempt from licensure under this chapter.

(e) As used in this subsection, the term professional land surveyor shall include the agents, the employees, and any personnel under the supervision of a professional land surveyor.

(1) A professional land surveyor may go on, over, and upon the land of others which is not enclosed by any device installed to deter entry to or exit from industrial facilities or plant sites by humans or vehicles, if necessary to perform surveys for the location of section corners, quarter corners, property corners, boundary lines, rights-of-way, and easements, and may carry and utilize equipment and vehicles. Entry under the right granted in this subdivision shall not constitute trespass. A professional land surveyor shall not be liable to arrest or to a civil action for trespass by reason of this entry.

(2) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as giving authority to a professional land surveyor to destroy, injure, damage, or move anything on the lands of another without the written permission of the landowner and nothing in this section shall be construed as removing civil liability for the damages.

(3) A professional land surveyor shall make reasonable effort to notify adjoining landowners upon whose land it is necessary to enter.

(4) No owner or occupant of the land shall be liable for any injury or damage sustained by any person entering upon his or her land under this subsection.

(5) Nothing in this subsection shall limit the rights of condemning authorities under Sections 18-1A-50 to 18-1A-55, inclusive.