JUNE 2005 e-PEGG
THE IMPORTANCE OF
CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Do you think failing to keep up with mandatory Continuing Professional Development is no big deal? Perhaps you should think again. The program is a direct result of public calls for more accountability, and it’s been approved by Council and the membership.
BY LIANNE LEFSRUD, P.ENG.
Assistant Director of Professional Practice
Self-governance allows professional engineers, geologists and geophysicists a significant degree of autonomy, prestige and influence. Professional status should not be taken lightly; the privilege of self-regulating is not without responsibility and associated accountability.
To protect public welfare, APEGGA members must conduct themselves to the highest ethical and professional standards, not only when it is convenient or when there is no perceived victim. We must be self-checking.
If professional standards are not maintained, the privilege of self-governance can be revoked. Given the recent incidence of misleading financial statements, conflict of interest, and insider trading in the U.S. , self-governance has effectively been revoked for the accounting profession there. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board was established to directly report to the Security Exchange Commission.
Self-governance has been effectively revoked for the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand. Following controversy with leaky homes and structurally unsound buildings, the public demanded higher standards of professional conduct. A statutory body was established to oversee the registration, the code of ethics, and the complaints and disciplinary processes of the Institution of Professional Engineers.
In conjunction with the initial registration requirements, ongoing practice reviews,and the discipline process, continuing professional development provides greater assurance to the public that it’s being served by professionals who meet acceptable professional standards.
In 1997, APEGGA Council established the Continuing Professional Development program in response to the public’s demand that professional regulatory bodies provide more accountability. The membership and Council decided that this program needed to be mandatory.
In the spring of 2003, the legislation was amended to include consequences for noncompliance with the CPD program. Since that time, the Practice Review Board has systematically enforced compliance with the CPD program.
The Practice Review Board’s activities are reported regularly to Council and to members through The PEGG and the APEGGA Annual Report. From July to December 2003, 116 members were cancelled for failing to report CPD activities. In 2004, 164 members were cancelled for failing to report. And so far in 2005, 16 members have been cancelled.
Many of those cancelled have been subsequently reinstated – when they fulfill the CPD requirements. CPD reporting is now current and is enforced on a monthly basis.
It is your duty and obligation to report CPD activities at the time of membership renewal. This can be don e by submitting the CPD Annual Report by mail, fax, e-mail or online. Over a one year period, APEGGA sends a series of reminders, warnings and, finally, a 30-day notice-to-produce to members who have not reported.
Only if members still have not reported their CPD activities after the lapse of this notice- to-produce is membership is cancelled. This is don e in accordance with section 19.1 of the EGGP Act.
The Practice Review Board has focused its attention to other facets of the CPD program, as well. The CPD program description has clarified the activity categories, reporting requirements, special consideration request process, and consequences of non-compliance.
Special consideration is available to professional members who are not practicing on a full-time basis. Members are considered to be practicing unless they have submitted a non-practicing declaration.
The CPD Annual Report form has been simplified. The web page has been made more informative and user-friendly.
For more information on the CPD program refer to the website at: www.apegga.com/Regulatory/CPD/toc.html.
Click here for a PEGG Readers’ Forum opinion against the CPD program, as well as links for even more information.