Requirements to retain hard (paper) copies of calculations? 3

[AnimusVox]

Hey all,

For backstory, I'm a 3rd year EIT (planning on taking the FE this coming fall), and annual reviews just made their rounds last week.

One of my main suggestions for our company was a transition into keeping much less paper records (specifically for sealed calculations and sealed shop drawings) and keeping mostly digital record-copies (with remote backups of course).

One of the push backs I received to this idea was that there were some states that require hard copies of calcs and/or shop drawings. I then asked which states, and a definitive answer couldn't be provided.

So I'm going to throw this out: Are any of you aware of any state-based requirements for hard copies of engineering work, structural or otherwise? Does anyone else work in an office that has gone fully digital?

Thanks!

 

[r13]

I think digitalize is a good idea, if everything is kept in a unified format (such as PDF, image file) that will not outdate. The worst thing is you have all files in computer, but no program can open the files for view, or print. It happens quite often, how you counter it?

 

[JAE]

I'm licensed in 22 states (and have been in others as well) and none that I'm aware of dictate the format of records kept by engineers.

 

[Ron]

In my state you are required to keep an original, signed and sealed document in your files for a period of 3 years. Since the advent of electronic/digital seals/signatures, I believe that digital copies will suffice for the records requirement, thus keeping a digital file should be fine. Check with the state board (or several of them) to get a more definitive answer.

We keep very few hard copies of anything. So little in fact that over the past 15 years we have done about a thousand projects and we don't have even 1 full file cabinet. We have multiple terabytes of digital files though.

 

[Guest090822]

In my state the requirement for keeping copies is only 6 years. In the digital world they no longer require hard copies. We typically scan the design calculations at the end of the project and archive everything in pdf format.

 

[oldestguy]

This old guy reporting. Part of my work experience was with a consulting engineering company of about 30 to 50 employees doing geotech reports (borings,tests and reports). We also did other civil engineering including significant structure. To my knowledge all plans and reports were kept. One big vault needed. The only re-use was added work on old jobs when the old plans and reports (very few) bought out the old files. That was a 20 year Thereafter on my own about 20years plus (all files saved) period. None needed later.

 

[msquared48]

No need in Washington that I know of.

I am operating digitally and so did the last firm I worked for.

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA, HI)

 

[mtu1972]

At my last job we had a problem with storage space. Management decided to purge the files of all project calcs, specs, etc. that were over seven years old. That length of time was chosen for some legal liability criteria. We did keep all drawings. The purging was done by two summer interns under the direction of the print department manager.

The very next year we got a job with an old client that was a new process facility adjacent to two buildings that had been designed by our firm years before I got there. We did not have the calcs or the soils reports. The client could not find the soils reports either.

The existing foundations were on piles and I reverse engineered the probable pile capacities on both existing projects, and designed the new foundations accordingly.

During the bidding process, questions were directed through my bosses regarding the costs, etc. of the foundations. The project was delayed as we reviewed the foundation design. New soil borings were requested. The new soil borings confirmed my original design concepts. A lot of time could have been saved if the files were not purged.


gjc

 

[BrentG]

In Alberta, Canada,our licensing body (APEGA) recommends keeping records for 10+2 = 12 years. The limitation period is ten years, claims must be made within two years.

 

[IRstuff]

The alternative is to digitize all the paper, since PDF is likely to be a valid document format for as long as PCs/Macs will be around, and even beyond.

I'm not in your discipline, but I've worked at getting rid of all paper documents, because a 10-cubic inch box can hold 2.5 million documents, and they come up with denser storage media nearly every year. And, 2 more such boxes will give you triple redundant storage, which you certainly cannot contemplate with paper.

Alternately, you might consider microfiche, but there's risk in the media as well as whether the readers will stay available.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
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[skeletron]

We keep paper files, not sure of the reasoning. I've always been a fan of digitizing the calcs as soon as the project has wrapped up. A couple drawbacks:
1) You can have mega large PDFs that become cumbersome to transfer share. Same problem with paper files though...
2) You need a naming scheme for the files. Dumping them into the computer doesn't take care of that...
3) If the intent is to keep records for legality, the PDF should probably be secured. And I think the PDF/A format is the go-to for archival stuff.

 

[XR250]

I have digitized everything for the past 8 years and have recycled all of my previous job folders that were more than 7 years old. I don't even own a file cabinet at this point. Gonna make it nice when I adopt the VanLife and work out on the open road .