NCEES Regulatory Compliance 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under OSHA's lockout/tagout (LOTO) standard (29 CFR 1910.147), before performing service or maintenance on machinery, workers must:
- Post a warning sign and continue working
- Isolate and de-energize all energy sources and verify zero energy state (Correct answer)
- Notify a supervisor and wear PPE
- Obtain a hot work permit
Correct answer: Isolate and de-energize all energy sources and verify zero energy state
LOTO requires complete isolation and de-energization of all energy sources, followed by verification that zero energy state has been achieved before work begins.
Question 2: The Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule under CWA Section 311 applies to facilities that store oil above certain thresholds. A PE must certify the SPCC Plan when the facility has aboveground oil storage capacity exceeding:
- 5,000 gallons
- 10,000 gallons
- 1,320 gallons aggregate aboveground (Correct answer)
- 42,000 gallons
Correct answer: 1,320 gallons aggregate aboveground
Facilities with aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity greater than 1,320 gallons (or underground storage over 42,000 gallons) that could reasonably discharge to navigable waters must have an SPCC Plan.
Question 3: When a professional engineer provides expert testimony in a legal proceeding regarding a regulatory compliance matter, the PE is ethically obligated to:
- Advocate strongly for the client who retained them regardless of facts
- Provide honest, objective, and technically accurate testimony (Correct answer)
- Decline to testify if the facts do not support the client's position
- Limit testimony to only the facts that benefit their client
Correct answer: Provide honest, objective, and technically accurate testimony
PE ethics codes require truthful, objective testimony; serving as an advocate who distorts facts violates fundamental engineering ethics principles.
Question 4: Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) Section 302, Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) must be notified by facilities that have Extremely Hazardous Substances (EHS) at or above their:
- Reportable quantities (RQ)
- Threshold planning quantities (TPQ) (Correct answer)
- Permissible exposure limits (PEL)
- Maximum achievable control technology (MACT) thresholds
Correct answer: Threshold planning quantities (TPQ)
Facilities must notify their LEPC if EHS are present at or above the Threshold Planning Quantity (TPQ), triggering emergency planning requirements.
Question 5: A PE working for a public agency discovers that a contractor's work does not meet code requirements, but the contractor claims the deviation was approved verbally by another agency official. What should the PE do?
- Accept the verbal approval and move on since an official approved it
- Require written documentation of any approved deviation and verify it meets code or obtain a formal variance (Correct answer)
- Allow the work to proceed since verbal approvals are legally binding
- Immediately report the contractor to the state licensing board
Correct answer: Require written documentation of any approved deviation and verify it meets code or obtain a formal variance
PEs must require written documentation for any code deviations and ensure all work meets applicable standards or has properly authorized variances.
Question 6: Under the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) program, Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards are based on:
- The best technology regardless of cost
- The average emission level of all sources in the category
- The emission level achieved by the top 12% of best-performing sources in the category (Correct answer)
- The lowest emission level technically achievable with no cost consideration
Correct answer: The emission level achieved by the top 12% of best-performing sources in the category
MACT floor is set at the average emission level of the best-performing 12% of existing sources in a source category, establishing a baseline technology standard.
Question 7: Which document establishes the minimum standards for the ethical practice of engineering in the United States and serves as the model for most state engineering ethics codes?
- ASCE Code of Ethics
- NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers
- NCEES Model Law (Correct answer)
- IEEE Code of Ethics
Correct answer: NCEES Model Law
The NCEES Model Law and Model Rules establish the foundational framework that most states adopt for regulating engineering practice and ethical conduct.
NCEES Regulatory Compliance 5
Under OSHA's lockout/tagout (LOTO) standard (29 CFR 1910.147), before performing service or maintenance on machinery, workers must: