November 2006 ISSUE
Neil Windsor, P.Eng.
Executive Director’s Message
Alberta’s Hot Economy
How Does it Affect APEGGA Members?
BY H. NEIL WINDSOR, P.ENG.
APEGGA Executive Director & Registrar
All the indicators point to an overheated Alberta economy: serious labour shortages; rising inflation; rising salaries; rising housing values; rising construction costs; low unemployment (3.6 per cent), hence thousands of workers moving to Alberta; a growing provincial surplus, and so forth.
Some of these impacts are good for Albertans while others are negative. It cannot be denied that for the engineering, geological and geophysical professions, times are generally good.
Yet we must be diligent in ensuring that these good times are not allowed to detract from our primary obligation to provide quality work in the interest of public safety, well-being and the environment. New challenges have resulted from the record high capital investments being made both in resource developments and in infrastructure. Unprecedented volumes of engineering and geoscience work are straining professional members to their limit and beyond.
We have seen huge blocks of engineering being done outside Alberta, thereby creating two concerns for APEGGA. Firstly, much work is being lost to the Alberta economy because we are simply unable to meet the time demands with our available resources. Secondly, how do we ensure that this work meets Alberta codes and quality standards?
The first issue is simply a sign of the times, and local consultants are simply unable to guarantee the work required within the time available. This is a responsible approach, which reduces the risk of work being less than adequate due to short timelines and insufficient quality controls.
The latter question has been addressed by APEGGA’s Practice Review Board, which conducted an inquiry into the matter and provided a report to APEGGA Council, entitled Outsourced Engineering in Alberta’s Major Projects. The board observed that, notwithstanding the presence or absence of any regulatory requirements to do so, proponents of major projects, out of their own due diligence, require outsourced engineering to be reviewed and approved by Alberta-registered engineers to ensure that appropriate standards are being met. APEGGA’s Practice Standards Committee is now preparing guidelines that outline the responsibilities of professionals, with regard to reviewing, stamping and signing of outsourced engineering documents.
Closer to home we must also be concerned that smaller firms might accept more work than they can responsibly handle within the time available to them. We always want to satisfy long-standing clients — but we must never do so at the expense of due diligence and quality. It is not in the best interests of the client or the consultant to be engaging in a contract that cannot reasonably be delivered on time and still be of the highest quality.
Concerns have been expressed, too, that some vendors, particularly those from outside Alberta, are reluctant to provide stamped drawings for work being done on behalf of major contractors. Where legislation or a contract requires the involvement of APEGGA members in design, that requirement must be met — if not by the vendors, then by someone else. This places the burden on other engineers to do a detailed review of the vendor’s engineering design.
While we enjoy the benefits of a strong Alberta economy, APEGGA professionals must never lose sight of our primarily responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of Albertans in all that we do.