Ron Astall from United Pumps is examining new regulations across the east coast, advocating for all PIA members.
Engineers can find themselves working in multiple jurisdictions just by the nature of their work. An engineer in Albury might be called upon to work on a project in Wodonga, or similarly, an engineer in Tweed Heads might be offered a contract in Coolangatta.
However, under existing regulations in Queensland and Victoria, someone providing professional engineering advice could be in trouble if they are not registered in each state.
“I’ve been working for a long time as an engineer, and I’d like to think that my peers respect me,” said Mr Ron Astall, former PIA President and United Pumps Senior Engineer. “The need to register in those states initially felt like a slap in the face. However, it could mean the cowboys and pretenders could get weeded out of the industry.”
This registration extends to any engineer working professionally in relevant states, and the fee is around $300. The engineer does not need to work or reside in the state to be affected.
“Consider a well-credentialed engineering consultant based in and operating wholly from the US,” said Mr Astall. “Should they design a pumping station in Victoria, they must be registered appropriately in Victoria.”
Engineers must be registered if they provide professional engineering services for Victoria under these new regulations. ‘For Victoria’ is defined as a project or purpose in Victoria, specifically related to or connected to Victoria in some way.
“I spoke to some of our suppliers and asked if they were aware of this regulation,” Mr Astall said. “They were not aware, but it did not worry them because their engineering work was being done in Los Angeles. They were shocked to realise that since the work was for Victoria, they would need one of their engineers in Los Angeles to be registered or have someone in their Victorian office registered to sign off on the work.”
The back story
State registration of engineers seeks to ensure engineers meet benchmarked education, training, professional conduct and competency standards. These standards help consumers feel confident in the abilities of the engineers they engage. They also ensure there’s a legislative framework in place to protect against poor practices.
Engineers Australia has long advocated for the registration of engineers throughout Australia. It notes that professional engineers must register in each jurisdiction that requires registration if they plan to practise there. However, under the Mutual Recognition Act 1992, if you’re registered as an engineer in one Australian jurisdiction, you can be registered as an engineer in another.
The new Victorian laws fall within the Professional Engineers Registration Act (2019) (PERA), promulgated by Consumer Affairs Victoria. It defines a professional engineering service as one that requires or is based on applying engineering principles and data. The project needs to be a design relating to engineering or a construction, production, operation, or maintenance activity relating to engineering.
According to Consumer Affairs Victoria, five areas of engineering require registration: fire safety engineering, civil engineering, structural engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. The descriptions are not intended to be comprehensive and exhaustive but to guide professional engineers about what is covered in an engineering area for the purposes of PERA.
A professional engineer is responsible for applying the descriptions to the professional engineering services they intend to undertake to determine which engineering area they need to register with the Business Licensing Authority (BLA) to perform those services.
How does it affect you?
Mr Astall believes the current requirement for engineers working in certain jurisdictions in Australia to register separately in each will be a trap for many.
“I think that engineers in New South Wales may not be across this regulation,” he said. “If they are doing work for Queensland or Victoria, they may not be aware that they are doing professional engineering work as defined by the regulations. Engineers Australia already do an excellent job of assessing people’s qualifications and putting them on the National Engineering Register.”
The requirement that mechanical engineers adhere to these regulations will be of particular interest to the pump industry. Mechanical engineers need to be registered in their field and have their registration endorsed to work in the building industry if necessary. The guidelines state that mechanical engineers in the building industry can work with mechanical systems. That includes vertical transport, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration (HVAC-R), smoke control, thermal and environmental systems, and systems to aid people with disabilities.
Do I really need to do this?
Engineers can be exempt from registration in two situations. They can be exempt if they provide professional engineering services under a registered professional engineer’s direct supervision or only per a prescriptive standard.
A prescriptive standard is defined as a document that states procedures or criteria for carrying out a design, or a construction or production activity, relating to engineering and the application of which to the carrying out of the design, or the construction or production activity, does not require advanced scientifically based calculations.
“There are many prescriptive standards out there,” Mr Astall said. “The pressure vessel code (AS 1210-2010 Pressure Vessels) could be followed step by step. Similarly, some calculation methods have been set up within my area of expertise to calculate various facets of pump design. You can get the answer if you follow them step by step.”
There are four criteria for determining whether a standard is a prescriptive one. It requires the prescriptive standard to be a document that states procedures or criteria for carrying out the design, construction, or production activity to which it relates. It also needs to require little or no engineering judgment to apply the stated procedures or criteria and not require advanced scientifically based calculations to use the stated procedures or criteria.
“The big question is whether an engineer has the technical training to understand the concept of garbage in, garbage out,” said Mr Astall. “They need to recognise that the outcomes do not match what is expected. All our engineers are degree-qualified, so they know what they are doing. Having now gone through the assessment and registration process, there is nevertheless a high degree of satisfaction and a feeling of achievement ”
In Mr Astall’s opinion, a national register of engineers could be a better solution to this situation.
“I’m worried about the spectre of having to apply for registration individually in each state and territory,” he said. “If you are on the National Engineering Register, that should cover the whole country. It seems unfair to have to separately register in each jurisdiction and go through a separate police check for each one. I think there should be one point of registration for Australia.”
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