The work professional engineers do is high stakes - whether those stakes are based on worker or public safety, financial outlay, industry reputation or the ability to get the job done (or a combination of these). Engineering failure can cost a lot to fix, reduces capacity and/or can have life-changing ramifications. We see this all too often when equipment or infrastructure failure on a worksite or in the community causes harm and investigators espouse that the incident was preventable had due diligence been undertaken.
The Registered Professional Engineer Queensland (RPEQ) certification provides client and public confidence that a RPEQ certified design has been professionally examined and audited for assessment of its intended purpose, the quality of the design (and manufacture, where applicable), associated risks, as well as the safety considerations and implications. RPEQ certification can only be undertaken by engineers who have been assessed by the Board of Professional Engineers Queensland as meeting the required standards of qualifications, skill, competency and professionalism. RPEQ engineers are regulated by the Board of Professional Engineers Queensland under the Professional Engineering Act 2002 (Qld).
The RPEQ system of registering and regulating professional engineers in Queensland is designed to ensure a high standard of competence, ethical and professional conduct in engineers who are relied upon by the regulator to uphold and discharge a duty of care. RPEQ certification is a key component of this duty of care as its purpose is intended to protect clients and society at large against inappropriate, unsafe, poorly designed or poorly manufactured engineering output.
Thus, it is not enough for a simple ’yeah, looks about right’ type sign-off.
Technically, the RPEQ certification process is the provision of a professional engineering service which requires the “application of scientific and mathematical principles and data to the design, construction and operation of human-made structures, machines, systems and processes” . Put in simpler terms, we must reverse engineer your design using mathematics, Standards, multiplex modeling software and a great deal of risk and consequence interaction analysis. This then provides a basis of a determination as to whether your design is suitable, safe and fit for its intended purpose. It is about ensuring an evidential basis for the determination of RPEQ certification and it is the only way to provide the duty of care required of RPEQ engineers.
Incomplete auditing and assessment of a design for RPEQ certification increases potential risks to clients and the community as the certification is based on an unsteady foundation of insufficient information or a ‘feeling’ rather than being based on evidence and analysis. This fails to meet the purpose of RPEQ certification as due care has not been taken to ensure that the design is fit for purpose, that risks have and can be mitigated, and that safety has been properly considered. In this case, the client has potentially paid good money for a substandard certification. The risk is, if it fails or something goes wrong, many in the chain of responsibility could be held accountable.
It is important to point out, that not everything that is submitted for RPEQ certification is passed. It is the job of the RPEQ engineer to audit and assess the design. If it is not to the required standard of quality, risk mitigation and safety, then passing the design does a disservice to all stakeholders. While hindsight is 20/20, the RPEQ certification process, done with due diligence, offers the opportunity of foresight to see into the future of the design and, if necessary, seek to amend any issues early, before ramifications become potentially catastrophic.
It is misleading to call RPEQ certification, a simple ‘sign-off’. This conjures up ideas and confusion that the RPEQ engineer just has to sign the drawing or write a letter. It is far more involved – as it should be in order to protect clients and the public.