INNOVATION July-August 2018
D I S C I P L I N E A N D E N F O R C E M E N T
DI SCIPL INARY NOT ICE : BJARNE CARLSEN, KELOWNA BC
to establish and maintain documented quality management processes for his practice; failing to retain, for at least 10 years, documentation relating to the project; failing to conduct regular, documented checks of his engineering work; and failing to ensure a documented independent field review of the project during implementation or construction. As part of the Consent Order, Mr. Carlsen agreed to resign his membership in the association effective June 30, 2018, and not to re-apply for membership or licensure. Between May 28 and June 30, 2018: 1. He must make reasonable arrangements for the orderly transfer of his ongoing professional engineering project files to other professional engineers; 2. He must limit his practice to those projects files that he is currently engaged on and not take on any new project files or other engineering work; 3. To the extent that he performs any professional engineering during this period of time, his professional engineering work must be peer reviewed pursuant to the association’s Discipline Committee Ordered Peer Review Policy; and 4. The peer reviewer must be approved in advance association’s legal costs within 30 days of May 28, 2018. If Mr. Carlsen fails to comply with any of the terms of the Consent Order from May 28, 2018 to June 30, 2018, his membership in the association will be suspended until every default has been remedied in accordance with the terms of the Consent Order. The full text of the Consent Order can be found on the Disciplinary Notices section of the association’s website www.egbc.ca. NOT ICE OF REGI STRAT ION HEARING DECI S ION: APPL ICANT B Section 13 of the Engineers and Geoscientists Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c 116 requires an applicant to submit evidence that is satisfactory to Council that he or she is of good character and repute. Per section 7(c) (5) of the association's bylaws, if the Registration Committee has serious concerns regarding an applicant’s good character or good repute they in writing by the association’s Registrar. Mr. Carlsen agreed to pay $7,000 towards the
Engineers and Geoscientists BC issued a Notice of Inquiry to Bjarne Carlsen, in January 2018, regarding engineering services he provided for a residential property, relating to a composite lock-block wall and rock-fill slope. Instead of proceeding to a disciplinary inquiry, Mr. Carlsen agreed to a Consent Order dated May 28, 2018. In the Consent Order, Mr. Carlsen admitted that he had demonstrated unprofessional conduct in connection with engineering services he provided to the owner of a residential property in Summerland, BC. The Consent Order included his admission that: 1. He failed to conduct adequate slope stability and factor of safety analysis for the project, including by basing his work on an incorrect slope angle, failing to account for known groundwater flow conditions, and basing his analysis on graphical aids not appropriate for the purpose; 2. He prepared a geotechnical report in July, 2007 that failed to incorporate the wire mesh fence that he subsequently proposed be built at the toe of the project’s slope, to address the risk of rocks under 100 pounds falling down the slope; 3. He failed to consider the impact and significance on the slope stability and factor of safety calculations of the relocation of the project’s lock-block wall from the crest of the slope to the toe of the slope. He considered this a minor change when it was in fact a significant change; 4. He failed to obtain approval for the relocation from the Authority Having Jurisdiction; and 5. He failed to retain, or has been unable to produce, important documentation relating to the engineering services he provided. In the Consent Order, Mr. Carlsen also admitted that this conduct is contrary to Principles 1 and 2 of the Code of Ethics. He admitted he failed to comply with section 20(9) of the Engineers and Geoscientists Act by failing to affix his stamp or seal to the 2007 geotechnical report. He also admitted that he failed to comply with section 14(b) of the Bylaws. This included a failure
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