THE NEWSLETTER OF THE SYDNEY DIVISION OF ENGINEERS AUSTRALIA
SEPTEMBER 2012
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Acceptable Engineering Practice Sydney Division Key Sponsors
Our purpose as an engineering profession is to provide for the existing and future needs of community. But what is engineering, and what can our employers, clients and community reasonably expect of engineers? What do we expect of ourselves in terms of ‘acceptable’ engineering practice? Following it’s inception a decade ago in 2002, a comprehensive review of professional performance, innovation and risk in contemporary Australian professional engineering practice has since been undertaken by a team of leading engineering professionals, backed by participating sponsors representative of a wide range of engineering industry and profession stakeholders, under the auspices of The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering, with support from the likes of Engineers Australia, Consult Australia, and APESMA. The first stage of what is now commonly known as The PPIR Project was completed in 2009 with the release of the PPIR Report. The PPIR Project has explored and considered the generic role of the professional engineer and, in particular, the performance, innovation and risk management aspects of that role; community and client expectations of the engineering professional; the contemporary commercial and professional realities impacting on the work of the engineering professional; the effects of the complex minefields of law and liability that govern everyday engineering; engineering risk and responsible risk-taking; and particularly the relationships between professional performance, innovation and risk. At the core of PPIR is the “PPIR Protocol” which documents the essentials of performance
for Professional Engineers acting in a professional capacity. The objectives of the PPIR Protocol are to: • inform and guide the Professional Engineer acting individually or as a team member on the essentials of performance in considering and undertaking an Engineering Task; • inform and guide all Relevant Parties and Other Stakeholders on the role and obligations of Professional Engineers and the effective use of their services; and • define the essentials of performance against which the duty and standard of care of Professional Engineers can be assessed objectively in prospect and in retrospect. PPIR is applicable to individual engineers working alone or as part of an engineering team; from young engineers to experienced engineers; applicable to all disciplines of engineering; and across all industry sectors. The PPIR Project is now in an implementation phase, with methodologies and tools being developed to assist adoption by industry and the engineering profession at large. Further information about PPIR can be obtained from www.ppir.com.au. Brendyn Williams, BE(Civil)(Hons) MIEAust FIPWEA President, Engineers Australia Sydney Division