Self-Regulation
Every APEGA registrant has important responsibilities to ensure the safety and resiliency of all Albertans. Ensure you know your obligations and contribute to the sustainability of the professions.
Shared Obligations and Duties
Alberta’s engineers and geoscientists have earned the privilege of self-regulation. As APEGA registrants, you are part of an exclusive community with important obligations and responsibilities that help keep Alberta safe and resilient.
Everyone licensed to practise engineering or geoscience in Alberta is expected to assist in the task of self-regulation to ensure skilful, ethical, and professional practice. Through self-regulation, APEGA fulfils its obligations under the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act. APEGA’s duties under the Act are to:
- protect the interests of the public
- protect the integrity of the professions
- regulate the practice of the professions
- regulate the competence of registrants
The Importance of Self in Self-Regulation
By Matthew Oliver, P.Eng., APEGA’s former deputy registrar and chief regulatory officer
A question I run into whenever there is an event involving poor engineering or geoscience is “When will APEGA do something about this?” This question comes as often from APEGA members as it does from the greater public, which is a sign that we have more work to do to communicate with our membership about how self-regulation works.
Every member is integral to the success of self-regulation. Let me unpack this assertion.
It would be impossible for APEGA, as a regulator, to be an expert in every technical standard for every act of engineering or geoscience that takes place in the province. With more than 56,000 licensed professionals and 4,600 corporate permit holders executing thousands of engineering and geoscience decisions per day, our presence in all those processes is simply not possible.
The breadth and the depth of knowledge and skill required in our professions demand high levels of integrity and trustworthiness. In a high-performance self-regulatory framework, everyone licensed to practise is expected to assist in the task of regulating, with the legal regulator being the final step in a four-part process:
- Members regulate themselves by exceeding expected performance and professional standards and supporting regulatory activities.
- Members regulate each other by openly and ethically addressing issues with other members that deviate from the established standards.
- Corporate members (permit holders) oversee the practice of staff and other permit holders, with the added obligation to ensure all members in their employ are engaged in self-regulation.
- Finally, APEGA regulates as the final tier of protection of the public welfare and setting standards and expectations for practice.
This means the onus to regulate rests on every person or corporation that holds a licence to practise in Alberta. For this reason, the obligation to protect the public is written right into our professional Rules of Conduct.
Canada is one of the last places where self-regulation still exists in a traditional form. If we value the privilege of self-regulation and wish to maintain the present framework, every registrant must be an active part of self-regulation.
Video: About Self-Regulation
What does self-regulation mean to professional engineers and geoscientists in Alberta? Hear what former APEGA deputy registrar and chief regulatory officer, Matthew Oliver, P.Eng., has to say.
If you have questions or concerns about self-regulation, please contact [email protected].