Immediate Personal Supervision

PURPOSE: This rule defines immediate personal supervision for architects, professional engineers, and professional landscape architects. (1) Immediate personal supervision is a combination of activities by which a licensee maintains control over those decisions that are the basis for the findings, conclusions, analysis, rationale, details, and judgments that are embodied in the development and preparation of the technical submissions. Immediate personal supervision requires providing personal direction, oversight, inspection, observation, and supervision of work being performed. (2) Communications between the licensee and those persons who are performing the work include, but are not limited to, use of any of the following ways: direct face-to-face commu nications; written communications; U.S. mail; private express package delivery; electronic mail; facsimiles; telecommunica tions; or other current technology, provided that the licensee retains, maintains, and asserts continuing control and judg ment. (3) The licensee who signs and seals technical submissions in accordance with the provisions of section 327.411, RSMo, must be knowledgeable of decisions made during preparation of the technical submissions in sufficient detail as to be able to personally answer any questions regarding substantive decisions as to the design. (4) Specifications, drawings, reports, design surveys, or other technical submissions will be deemed to have been prepared under the immediate personal supervision of a licensee when the following circumstances exist: (A) The licensee, or an employee of the licensee’s corporation, firm, partnership, association, or other entity authorized to do business, shall be in direct contact with the client requesting preparation of specifications, drawings, reports, design surveys, or other technical submissions; (B) The licensee provides initial direction in development of the design and supervises each step of the preparation of the specifications, drawings, reports, design surveys, or other technical submissions and has input into their preparation prior to their completion; (C) The licensee is not employed solely for the purpose of reviewing and approving specifications, drawings, reports, design surveys, or other technical submissions prepared by an unlicensed person, employee, or contractor of the client; (D) The licensee reviews the final specifications, drawings, reports, design surveys, or other technical submissions and is able to, and does make, necessary and appropriate changes to them; and (E) In circumstances where a licensee in responsible charge of the work is unavailable to complete the work, or the work is a site adaptation of a standard design drawing, or the work is a design drawing signed and sealed by an out-of-jurisdiction licensee, a successor licensee may take responsible charge by performing all professional services to include developing a complete design file with work or design criteria, calculations, code research, and any necessary and appropriate changes to the work. The non-professional services, such as drafting, need not be redone by the successor licensee but must clearly and accurately reflect the successor licensee’s work. The burden is on the successor licensee to show such compliance. The successor licensee shall have control of and responsibility for the work product and the signed and sealed originals of all technical submissions. (5) The specifications, drawings, reports, design surveys, or other technical submissions shall be signed and sealed per the provisions of section 327.411, RSMo. AUTHORITY: section 327.041, RSMo 2016.* This rule originally filed as 4 CSR 30-13.010. Original rule filed Dec. 8, 1981, effective March 11, 1982. Amended: Filed Dec. 16, 1988, effective Feb. 24, 1989. Amended: Filed Oct. 30, 2002, effective June 30, 2003. Amended: Filed Dec. 1, 2005, effective June 30, 2006. Moved to 20 CSR 203013.010, effective Aug. 28, 2006. Non-substantive change filed Oct. 21, 2015, published Dec. 31, 2015. Amended: Filed March 20, 2018, effective Sept. 30, 2018. Amended: Filed June 21, 2021, effective Dec. 30, 2021. Amended: Filed Feb. 17, 2026, effective Aug. 30, 2026. *Original authority: 327.041, RSMo 1969, amended 1981, 1986, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2010, 2014.