Frequently Asked Questions about Consulting Engineers

To practice professional engineering in Canada, you must have a licence, just like doctors and lawyers do. Engineering in Ontario is a self-regulating profession under the Professional Engineers Act (R.S.O. 1990, Chapter P.28). This legislation defines professional engineering to be:

"any act of designing, composing, evaluating, advising, reporting, directing or supervising wherein the safeguarding of life, health, property or the public welfare is concerned and that requires the application of engineering principles."

Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) is the body created to administer the Act in Ontario. The Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) ensures that all Canadian university engineering schools offer programs of the same high standard. Following graduation from a CEAB-accredited program and a minimum of four years' appropriate experience, a graduate engineer can apply for a licence from PEO. In addition to meeting these stringent academic and experience requirements, applicants must pass examinations on the ethical and legal aspects of engineering before PEO will consider awarding a licence.

Applicants from non- accredited universities may be required to successfully complete PEO technical exams before being granted a licence. In Ontario, only PEO-licensed professional engineers may use the designation P.Eng.

In Ontario, professional engineers who provide engineering services directly to the public must have a Certificate of Authorization. This certificate is issued to individuals or firms and the professional engineers on the certificate require at least five years of relevant experience after the conferral of the engineering degree or the completion of an equivalent engineering education. Individuals and firms holding PEO Certificates of Authorization must adhere to the professional liability insurance regulations required by the Professional Engineers Act.

PEO prepares performance standards and guidelines as benchmarks for quality of service in the engineering profession.

To protect the public, PEO investigates all complaints brought to it about unlicensed, unprofessional, inadequate, or incompetent engineering services, and takes appropriate disciplinary action.

This stamp is your assurance that a licensed professional engineer is working for you.

Why Employ a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.)? Professional engineers are: well educated, especially in applied sciences; tested by their peers before they are licensed; required to have at least five years of experience after graduation (a total of at least nine years of education and experience) before providing services directly to the public; policed by their peers; prepared to apply the best, up-to-date technology in an environmentally sustainable and cost-effective way to benefit society's evolving needs; responsible for safeguarding life, health and public welfare; and qualified to design and supervise the creation of many things today's society needs at work, rest and play.

Certain work must be completed or approved by a professional engineer, for example, engineering drawings, which require sign-off.

Ultimate responsibility for engineering work requires a professional engineer. While research, testing and drawing may be delegated to others, only the professional engineer can take responsibility for engineering work that affects public health and safety.

Professional engineers are qualified practitioners who can help you:

• turn your ideas and concepts into successful working projects/products/services;
• reduce your costs and save money;
• protect the environment and public safety;
• maximize productivity and opportunities; and
• overcome or minimize limitations.

They can help you to incorporate your ideas into something of real value in the real world.

How to Engage a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.)

Engineers may be engaged as consultants or as employees.

PEO's Guideline for the Selection of Engineering Services offers selection processes that can be used when choosing a professional engineer. The term "Consultant," or "Consulting Engineer," applied in connection with providing professional engineering services, requires that the person using the term be authorized to do so by PEO. The PEO's Schedule of Fees for Engineering Services lists representative prices for various engineering tasks.

When hiring an employee engineer, the employer may find the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) Employer Salary Survey helpful. In addition to listing salaries by field of specilization, year of graduation and type of work, the surveys also provide details about other forms of compensation and about benefits.

PEO also publishes a guideline on Qualification-based Selection of Consultants (to help get the best value for money in professional engineering).

The March/April 2001 issue of Engineering Dimensions was also devoted to this subject.