Responsible charge means having direct control and personal supervision over engineering or geoscience work, together with the knowledge to evaluate it and the authority to make or direct decisions. A licensee in responsible charge can be named on, and seal, the work, even when much of the production was done by others, because they actually directed and reviewed it.
Work may be delegated to technologists, junior staff, or other subordinates, but responsibility cannot be delegated away. The supervising professional remains accountable. "Direct supervision" requires meaningful involvement: regular, hands-on oversight, not a token signature or remote sign-off ("plan-stamping").
- You may seal subordinates' work only if you were in responsible charge of it.
- Reviewing a finished document you did not direct is checking, not responsible charge, and generally does not entitle you to seal it as your own.
- Sealing work merely sent to you by someone you did not supervise is rubber-stamping and is misconduct.
Memory hook: Delegate the task, never the responsibility. No supervision, no seal.