5.3 Establishing and Running a Survey Practice

5.3 Establishing and Running a Survey Practice

Sources: SURCON Act ss.7, 17, 19; SURCON published forms and guidelines (application for professional examination; enlistment of survey companies; company enlistment / renewal guideline); Survey Law s.4; Survey Regulations regs. 14, 26, 28, 29, 39.

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1. The scope of the right to practise (section 19(1))

A registered surveyor shall, (but to the extent only of his particular qualifications) be entitled to practise as a surveyor throughout the Federation.

Two halves, and both matter.

Throughout the Federation. Registration is national. A surveyor registered by SURCON is entitled to practise in any State without a separate State licence - although he remains subject to the Survey Law and Regulations of whichever State he works in, including the deposit obligation to that State's Surveyor-General under section 4.

To the extent only of his particular qualifications. The entitlement is bounded by what the surveyor is actually qualified to do. This is the statutory reason Part D of the professional examination application form asks the candidate to declare areas of professional specialisation - Land Surveying, Photogrammetry / Remote Sensing, Hydrographic Surveying, or Others. A registered surveyor whose qualification and experience are wholly cadastral, who accepts and signs an offshore bathymetric contract, is exposed under section 19(1) before any question of technical failure arises.

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2. Enlistment of survey companies

SURCON operates an enlistment scheme for companies practising surveying, distinct from the registration of individuals. The Council publishes:

• an application form for enlistment of survey companies;
• a Company Enlistment / Renewal Guideline; and
• facilities to verify a surveyor, verify a company, and report unethical practice.

The architecture is the same as in other regulated professions: individuals are registered, firms are enlisted, and enlistment is renewable. Because the specific requirements and fees are set by the Council and revised from time to time, the correct examination answer describes the scheme and says that the current requirements are those in the Council's published guideline for the year in question - rather than reciting figures that may be stale.

What the scheme achieves is worth stating, because it is the substance of the answer:

1. A client can check. A company holding itself out as a survey practice can be verified against the Council's list before instruction.
2. Corporate accountability. A firm that fails professionally can be dealt with as a firm, not only through the individual who signed.
3. Renewal is leverage. An annual or periodic renewal cycle gives the Council a recurring point of contact and compliance.
4. It supports enforcement. Sections 18 and 20 of the Act operate against individuals; the public list of eligible companies extends the same transparency to entities.

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3. Staying on the register

Registration is not a permanent status conferred once. Several provisions can remove or interrupt it:

The practical lesson from section 7(8) is mundane and important: keep your registered address current. A surveyor who moves practice and does not notify the registrar can be removed from the register through nothing worse than unopened post.

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4. The systems a practice actually needs

A survey practice can be run compliantly with a small number of disciplined routines, each keyed to a statutory obligation.

(a) Job opening

• Written instruction: client, parcel, purpose, deliverables, datum and belt, fee basis.
• Archive search at the Survey Department under regulation 39 - adjoining plans, existing beacons, available Government control. Record what was searched and what was found, including nil results.
• Determine under regulation 4 whether Government control exists within three miles; if not, plan the local origin and the two supporting beacons.

(b) Field

• Field book per regulation 5(D): ink, as measured, no erasures, no pages torn out, instruments identified, tape error and date of last standardisation recorded.
• Demarcation per regulation 15 - prior to or simultaneously with the measurements - and beacons per regulation 10, stamped with your two allotted identification letters and the number.
• Where a beacon is placed by computed data or in line, record the proof by actual measurement required by regulation 17.

(c) Office

• Computations on approved forms per regulation 5(E); areas from coordinates.
• Plan per regulations 30 and 31, with the LB / CAL / P.O. / AZ annotations.
• Date of completion inserted on the plan (Survey Law s.4(1)(a)).

(d) Statutory returns

• Copy to the Surveyor-General within one month of completion; obtain the certificate of deposit (Survey Law s.4).
• Monthly beacon return to the Surveyor-General, including a nil return (reg. 14).
• Reports under regs. 26 (mark removed or defaced), 28 (data disagreement or damage to Government beacons) and 29 (instructions carried out).

(e) Records retained

• Field books, computations, plan originals, correspondence, the archive search record, and evidence of deposit. These are the practice's defence in a boundary dispute years later, and the raw material of any pupil's Folio.

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5. Supervising pupils

A practice that takes pupil surveyors takes on a statutory duty. Section 13(3) of the Act provides that it is the duty of the employer, being a surveyor supervising the work of a person employed with a view to obtaining a certificate of experience, to ensure that the person is afforded proper opportunities of acquiring the practical experience required.

That obligation has consequences for how a practice is organised. A pupil confined to office drafting is not being afforded proper opportunities, and the pupil has a statutory grievance and an appeal under section 13(4) if a certificate is then refused. A practice should be able to show, for each pupil, exposure to cadastral, control and specialist work, and supervision that was personal - section 13(2)(b) requires experience acquired under the personal supervision and guidance of one or more surveyors.

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6. Reporting and being reported

The Council provides a public channel to report unethical practice, and the disciplinary machinery in section 16 begins with an allegation that a registered person has misbehaved in his capacity as a surveyor. Two practical points:

• A complaint is not a finding. The Investigating Panel conducts a preliminary investigation and decides whether the case should be referred; only the Disciplinary Committee determines guilt, on rules of procedure and evidence made by the Attorney-General of the Federation, with a legal assessor advising and a right to be heard and to be represented by a legal practitioner.
• Reporting is sometimes a duty. Regulation 26 obliges a surveyor to report in writing to the Surveyor-General the removal, obliteration or defacement of any survey mark coming to his notice. Regulation 28 obliges a full report of data disagreements. These are duties owed to the system, not discretionary courtesies.