Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission Te Komihana Rūwhenua o Waitaha Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission – Te Komihana Rūwhenua o Waitaha

Those who lost relatives and friends in the 22 February earthquake can be assured that there will be a very thorough inquiry into the failure of buildings that resulted in loss of life.
Chair, Justice Mark Cooper
 

Engineering Profession Hearing

On Monday 10 September 2012 the Royal Commission conducted a public hearing into the training and education of engineers and aspects of the engineering profession.  The hearing included two panel discussions to address each topic. Participants included representatives of professional and learned societies, the University of Canterbury, private engineering and construction firms and professional engineers.

Timetable

Date Time   Topic Speaker
10 September  10am  Training and education of engineers  

Opening statement

Mark Zarifeh, counsel assisting the Commission
10.15am

Panel discussion:

  • Education and training requirements to enable engineers to achieve ‘chartered professional engineer’ status, including the framework for assessment;
  • Extent to which engineers operate outside the CPEng and IPENZ regulations, in particular Code of Ethics;
  • Effectiveness of IPENZ complaints and disciplinary processes for both Chartered Professional Engineers and IPENZ members.
  • Code of Ethics obligation for engineers to work within area of practice for which their competence has been assessed; whether there is a case for additional information to be provided publicly to enable identification of an engineer’s area of practice or special skills and expertise; and whether there is sufficient uptake of reporting to IPENZ of poor performance or breach of the Codes of Ethics by engineers (eg by other engineers and Building Consent Authorities).
  • The case for requiring engineers to have specialist skills for certain works, and how it would be recorded and recognised, particularly for the analysis and design of complex structures and the assessment of structural integrity of buildings.

Panel members:

  • Nicki Crauford and Andrew Cleland,IPENZ
  • Stuart George, SESOC
  • Win Clark, NZSEE
  • John Gardiner, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
  • David Prentice, Opus
  • Mark Spencer, Beca
  • Steve McCarthy, Christchurch City Council
  • Professor Andy Buchanan, University of Canterbury
  • Derek Bradley
  • Joanne McGregor, Lund & Son
  • Peter Millar, Tonkin & Taylor
11.30am

BREAK 

 
11.45am

Panel discussion (continued)  

 
1pm

BREAK 

 

Co-ordination and roles of the engineering professions’ learned and professional societies 

 
2.15pm

Opening statement 

Mark Zarifeh, counsel assisting the Commission

 
2.20pm

Panel discussion:

  • The roles of professional and learned societies in the engineering profession, and in particular the desirability of volunteer members developing standards and guidance without regulatory oversight or independent review.
  • The effectiveness of professional and learned societies in co-ordinating information and problem sharing across the various professions in the construction industry, and across engineering disciplines.  Particular interest is on interactions between structural engineers and architects; and between structural engineers and geotechnical engineers.

Panel members:

  • Nicki Crauford and Andrew Cleland, IPENZ
  • Stuart George, SESOC
  • Win Clark, NZSEE
  • John Gardiner, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
  • David Prentice, Opus
  • Mark Spencer, Beca
  • David Sheppard, NZIA
  • Peter Millar, Tonkin & Taylor
3.35pm

HEARING COMPLETE