Legal mapping · working version

Who is responsible for what?
Mapping the acts.

Precisely identify the acts that are already regulated and those for which no uniform individual professional accountability currently exists.

This page does not seek to show that the activities “belong to no one.” It instead distinguishes acts reserved to a profession, sectoral mechanisms, and areas where the existence of comparable personal professional accountability must be verified act by act.

Working document. The legal characterization of an act depends on its exact nature, the building, the system, the work context and sometimes the content of the report produced. Where a conclusion remains uncertain, it is identified as such rather than turned into a definitive statement.

Objective

Examine the act before drawing conclusions about oversight.

For each proposed activity, OPSI must verify who may currently perform it, what regime applies and whether the person performing or signing the act is personally subject to a professional mechanism comparable to that of an order.

What we verify

Legal reservation of the act, contractor licences, competency cards, technical certifications, professional order, complaints and discipline, professional inspection, continuing education, identification of the author and individual accountability.

Three different readings

Professionally regulatedVariable or sectoral oversightAccountability gap to validate

“Not reserved to an order” does not mean “unregulated.” An activity can be strongly regulated by a code, licence, trade qualification or public authority without creating the same individual professional accountability.

Act-by-act mapping

Preliminary state of existing oversight.

The table below is deliberately cautious. It describes mechanisms identified in the official sources reviewed; it is not a legal opinion.

Act or activity	Who may currently perform it?	Existing oversight	Reserved act?	Individual professional accountability?	Disciplinary mechanism?	Current traceability	Situation proposed by OPSI
Periodic inspection and testing — fire alarm, detection and signalling	Depending on the work: specialized technicians, employees or contractors; electrical or construction work may require specific qualifications or licences.	Safety Code/NFC requirements; RBQ 13.2 licence for certain construction work; electrical rules where the intervention constitutes electrical installation work. A E J	No general professional reservation identified for the periodic test as such; some related work is reserved or licensed.	Yes where an engineer or another professional performs a reserved act within their field; otherwise no common professional accountability of the signer has been identified.	Variable: professional order where applicable; RBQ/CMEQ/CCQ or contractual mechanisms depending on context.	Reports retained by the parties or under applicable requirements; no common province-wide professional register identified.	Reserve the targeted periodic test and its professional report, subject to rights already recognized for other professionals.
Periodic inspection and testing — sprinkler and automatic water-based suppression systems	Fire-protection mechanics and specialized companies in many contexts; other professionals may intervene depending on the nature of the act.	The fire-protection mechanic trade notably covers installation, repair and maintenance; the CCQ also describes inspection and testing among the trade’s competencies. Contractor work may fall under licence 13.3. D K E	Trade and construction work are regulated within their fields; the periodic report is not, for that reason alone, uniformly an act of a professional order.	Individual trade oversight within the CCQ field, but not necessarily order-type professional accountability for the signed conclusion in every context.	CCQ/RBQ under their respective regimes; professional order where a regulated professional is involved.	Sectoral and tied to employers, contractors, building records or contractual requirements.	Add uniform professional accountability for the targeted periodic inspections without replacing the trade or construction licences.
Periodic inspection and testing — portable fire extinguishers	Service companies and qualified persons. The government recommends an annual check by a qualified person. I	Technical standards and applicable requirements depending on the building; no single province-wide professional card has been identified for the person performing the annual check.	No reservation to a professional order identified for the general periodic check.	No uniform individual professional regime identified for the person performing the inspection.	Primarily contractual, regulatory or company-based; no common professional syndic identified.	Local tags and reports; no common province-wide register of the author identified.	Create individual professional accountability for the targeted periodic inspections and their report.
Periodic inspection and testing — emergency lighting and exit signage	Building staff, service companies or electricians depending on the intervention; electrical repairs remain subject to the applicable electrical regime.	Safety Code/NFC maintenance and testing requirements; electrical work regulated separately. A J	No general professional reservation identified for the periodic check; electrical work is regulated separately.	Variable depending on the person and the work performed.	Variable depending on the applicable regime; no common professional mechanism specific to the periodic test identified.	Building documentation; no common province-wide professional register identified.	Reserve only the targeted periodic inspections and report, without encroaching on electrical work.
Periodic inspection and testing — smoke control, evacuation or management systems	Specialized companies, technicians or professionals depending on the system; an engineer may be required where the intervention constitutes a reserved activity related to an engineering work.	Safety Code/NFC; Engineers Act for certain inspections, tests, opinions and reports related to a covered mechanical or electrical system. B C	May be reserved to an engineer depending on the exact nature of the act and work; simply performing a periodic test is not automatically treated here as an engineering act.	Yes where an engineer or authorized P.Tech. performs the reserved act; variable otherwise.	Professional order where the act is professional; other mechanisms depending on context.	Variable and fragmented.	OPSI should intervene only in space not already reserved; engineering acts remain protected.
Production, signature or authentication of the report resulting from a periodic inspection or test	The test performer or a responsible person under the current organization; an engineer must intervene where the report itself constitutes a reserved engineering act.	Rules vary according to the system and report content. The Engineers Act notably reserves certain reports relating to covered works. B	Yes in certain professional contexts; no cross-cutting reservation identified for all reports targeted by OPSI.	Strong where a member of an order signs; otherwise depends on employment, contract, licence or sectoral regime.	Professional order where applicable; otherwise variable mechanisms.	Scattered reports; identity of the signer not centralized province-wide.	Make the professional conclusion and targeted report a personally assumed and traceable act.
Professional approval of a fire safety plan, evacuation procedures or related documents	Under several regimes, responsibility for establishing the plan rests with the owner or operator; consultants and authorities may intervene. In a private seniors’ residence, the operator must establish and maintain the plan. G	Safety Code/NFC, sectoral and municipal regulations; elements that already constitute a reserved act of an engineer, architect or other professional remain subject to that regime.	No uniform province-wide requirement for “professional approval” of a fire safety plan has been identified for all targeted buildings; some elements may already be reserved.	Variable. The owner may be legally responsible for the plan without its approver necessarily being a member of an order.	Variable depending on the author, authority and context.	Plans retained locally; continuity varies when the manager or owner changes.	Reserve the proposed professional approval while fully preserving acts already reserved to other professions.
Professional evaluation of a fire or evacuation drill	Supervisory staff may conduct the drill; a consultant may be retained to observe or assess it. The Safety Code provides for drills in certain buildings. A	Drill obligations and sectoral rules; no single province-wide profession has been identified for professional evaluation of the drill as such.	No general reservation identified, subject to the content of the opinion and acts already reserved.	Variable depending on the author; no uniform mechanism specific to this evaluation.	Variable.	Local drill reports; no common professional register.	Do not reserve the conduct of the drill; reserve only professional evaluation or attestation where it is required or voluntarily commissioned as such.
Professional attestation of training or competence of the personnel concerned	Employers, trainers and organizations may provide training; some sectors already require specific attestations. In private seniors’ residences, annual training related to the fire safety plan is mandatory for the personnel concerned. G	Sectoral training requirements and various certifications; they do not all constitute a professional attestation of competence in the sense proposed by OPSI.	Training itself is not generally reserved; some specific regulatory attestations may be governed by their own regime.	Variable; no cross-cutting model identified in which a professional personally assumes the competence assessment for all targeted cases.	According to the training regime or applicable professional order.	Attestations dispersed among employers or trainers.	Keep training open, but reserve the professional attestation of competence where the proposal requires a personal professional conclusion, while preserving the rights of other legally authorized professionals.
Professional opinion classifying non-compliance as “critical” or “dangerous” under the OPSI proposal	Practitioners and authorities can currently identify violations and exercise their powers; the OPSI categories are nevertheless a proposed classification specific to the project.	Municipal and other authorities retain their legal powers, notably for prevention and regulatory enforcement. F	There is no province-wide act currently reserved under these OPSI labels; this is a proposed mechanism.	No cross-cutting professional equivalent identified in this form.	Authorities have their own mechanisms; an order intervenes where the author is already a regulated professional.	Reports and follow-up dispersed by authority or file.	Create a defined, traceable professional opinion subject to regulatory criteria, without transferring the decision-making powers of competent authorities.

Important: the table distinguishes the periodic act, construction or repair of the system, and the professional act of design, analysis or approval. These categories may fall under different legal regimes even when they concern the same equipment.

Under the proposed model, the scope of a periodic inspection or test follows the legally applicable requirement: what it requires to be verified is within the mandate and, if it fails, falls under the non-compliance regime. A condition observed outside that scope may be recorded as an apparent anomaly without turning the intervention into a general design or installation compliance audit.

RBQ — NFC requirementsMaintenance of systems in good working order and applicable prevention framework.

Engineers Act — ss. 2 and 3Reserved activities and covered works, including certain mechanical and electrical systems.

Activities that may be performed by a professional technologistSharing of certain reserved engineering activities under the conditions provided.

Vocational-training regulation — constructionDefinition of trades, including fire-protection mechanic and electrician.

Contractor qualification — RBQSubcategories 13.2 fire alarm and 13.3 fire suppression.

Fire Safety ActPowers and responsibilities of public fire-safety authorities.

Private seniors’ residences regulationExample of obligations relating to fire safety plans, supervision and training.

Professional CodeProfessional roll, professional inspection, syndic and discipline of members of an order.

Gouvernement du Québec — fire extinguishersAnnual check recommended by a qualified person.

Master Electricians ActElectrical installation work and master-electrician regime.

CCQ — fire-protection mechanicAssessed competencies, including system inspection, maintenance and testing.

OIQ — engineers’ obligationsContinuing education, professional inspection and syndic investigations.

Analytical category

Acts currently orphaned in terms of professional accountability.

This expression must be used cautiously.

“Orphaned” does not mean “without rules.”

Within the OPSI project, the expression instead refers to an act for which technical standards, contractual obligations, business licences, competency cards or regulatory requirements may exist, but for which there is not necessarily a uniform individual professional accountability comparable to that imposed on a member of a professional order.

an individually identifiable professional;
a common ethical obligation;
professional inspection;
a professional syndic;
a professional disciplinary process;
a professional register;
uniform verification of competence;
personal accountability attached to the act.

The mapping does not yet conclude that every proposed activity is “orphaned.” It instead identifies areas where that hypothesis appears plausible and must be validated with the bodies that already have jurisdiction.

What OPSI would change

Add a professional layer where it is genuinely missing.

The project does not seek to replace technical standards, licences, trades or competent authorities.

Current situation — depending on the act

a technical standard may already prescribe how to inspect or test;
a company may have to hold a licence;
a worker may have to hold a competency card or qualification;
an engineer or another professional may already be required for part of the mandate;
but the person who produces the periodic conclusion is not necessarily listed in a common professional register or subject to a cross-cutting disciplinary regime.

Situation contemplated with OPSI

the person performing the reserved act would be identifiable;
they would need the competence required for the mandate accepted;
they would be personally accountable for the act or conclusion they sign;
their practice could be inspected;
a complaint could lead to the syndic and disciplinary process;
the act could be linked to the registry where filing is required.

Professional boundaries

OPSI does not seek to take over acts already reserved to other professions.

The Engineers Act already reserves certain activities when they relate to the works it covers. A regulation also allows certain professional technologists to perform reserved engineering activities under the conditions it sets. These rights must be respected. Engineers Act P.Tech. regulation

Likewise, the CCQ, RBQ, CMEQ, municipal and other authority regimes continue to apply within their jurisdictions. The purpose of the mapping is precisely to draw the boundary between acts already reserved, acts adequately regulated, sectoral oversight and professional-accountability gaps.

If the analysis shows that an act currently proposed by OPSI is already adequately covered by an existing profession, the proposal should be revised rather than artificially creating overlap.

Conclusion

The objective of the OPSI project is not to regulate what is already adequately regulated. It is to identify areas in which acts having a direct impact on public safety can be performed without clearly assigned individual, uniform and readily verifiable professional accountability.

The possible creation of a professional order should be considered only for activities where this gap is actually demonstrated and where no existing mechanism or less restrictive solution can provide equivalent protection of the public.

Data availability Why the professional system? Evidence file Why a registry? Articles 7 à 12 proposés

Responsabilités et dossiers demeurent attribués. La pratique multidisciplinaire ne modifie ni les actes réservés ni les pouvoirs des autorités compétentes. Chaque professionnel répond de ses propres signatures; le détenteur d’un dossier assure sa garde, et l’Ordre surveille uniquement ses membres. Voir le règlement proposé

Professional duties and records stay attributable. Multidisciplinary practice changes neither reserved activities nor competent authorities’ powers. Each professional answers for their signatures; a custodian preserves the record and the Order oversees only its own members. Read the draft regulation