Knowledge Centre

PEO encourages and empowers licence holders to identify and pursue learning activities with content that licence holders deem to be relevant and sufficiently technical for their continuing professional development needs, as well as being suitably accessible to them. 

PEO does not prescribe, review, validate, or accredit continuing knowledge activities and the content. PEO does not prescribe, review, pre-approve, prequalify, or endorse providers of continuing knowledge activities. 

Activities count towards your continuing knowledge hours when they are learning sessions with technical knowledge that maintain or update your competence in engineering. Activities dealing with other professional development skills—such as communications, project management, scheduling, leadership, equity, business management—generally do not count towards your continuing knowledge hours. 

However, PEO recognizes learning sessions with content on the “management of engineering activities” as continuing knowledge activities when those activities reinforce or supplement knowledge of how to appropriately manage acts of professional engineering in a competent and professional manner. These activities would involve an understanding of the requirements for carrying out acts of professional engineering as per PEO guidelines and the Professional Engineers Act for Ontario. Managing engineering activities requires knowledge of the responsibilities of professional engineers, an understanding of codes and standards, and knowledge of best practices in engineering activities to properly allocate licence holders with appropriate skills. 

Unlike other regulators, the Practice Review in Ontario is a voluntary (optional) initiative to ensure the acceptable manner of operating and managing a professional engineering practice.

Activities count towards your continuing knowledge hours when they are learning sessions with technical knowledge that maintain or update your competence in engineering. Activities dealing with other professional development skills—such as communications, project management, scheduling, leadership, equity, business management—generally do not count towards your continuing knowledge hours. 

However, PEO recognizes learning sessions with content on the “communication of engineering information” as continuing knowledge activities when those activities reinforce or supplement knowledge of how to appropriately communicate acts of professional engineering in a competent and professional manner. These activities would involve an understanding of the engineering disciplines involved, the responsibilities of professional engineers, an understanding of codes and standards, and knowledge of best practices in engineering activities, and an understanding of the requirements for carrying out acts of professional engineering as per PEO guidelines and the Professional Engineers Act for Ontario. 

A Practice Review is a review of a workplace providing professional engineering services to assess whether the processes and procedures for carrying out professional engineering activities are consistent with the profession's standards. Generally, the essential purpose of a practice review is to assess the fundamental policies and procedures in place for how the practice of engineering is conducted. These reviews intend to provide an opinion on the compliance of non-technical practices with the Professional Engineers Act and industry best practices for operation and management.

Activities count towards your continuing knowledge hours when they are structured learning sessions with technical knowledge that maintain or update your competence in engineering. While staying knowledgeable about most health and safety protocols—like training or being trained to work safely at heights, follow the workplace hazardous materials information system or conduct tests and field work for engineering purposes—would not align with the PEAK program, some continuing knowledge activities that involve health and safety issues would. 

PEO recognizes learning sessions with content on “health and safety issues” as continuing knowledge activities when those activities reinforce or supplement knowledge of how to appropriately develop and manage engineering health and safety issues in a competent and professional manner. These activities would involve developing health and safety protocols and involve an understanding of unsafe situations, the technical engineering knowledge related to those situations, the responsibilities of professional engineers, and the best practices in health and safety issues and engineering. These activities could include the time spent to research these protocols, develop them, and present them for training purposes. 

Yes, PEO provides guidance for how these reviews can be carried out fairly, consistently, thoroughly and in a manner that complies with the purpose of the review. The primary purpose of the Conducting a Practice Review guideline is to define the content of practice reviews so reviews can be conducted consistently. Here is the link to the "Conducting a Practice Review" guideline: https://www.peo.on.ca/sites/default/files/2019-10/Conducting-a-Practice-Review_1.pdf

Licence holders, practising and non-practising alike, are expected to complete one “new” module at the start of each licence period.

Providers of continuing knowledge activities are offered the following suggestions regarding the advertising of their learning activities in relation to PEAK: 

1. PEAK encourages PEO licence holders to engage in continuous learning in the areas of technical engineering knowledge, statutory and regulatory knowledge, and engineering professionalism and ethics, and acquired across any available and affordable learning format. 

2. PEAK is a uniquely practitioner-driven program where licence holders decide whether a learning activity is adequate for their continuing competence needs as well as their reporting needs for PEAK. This involves the licence holders: 

   • Self-identifying which activity content to pursue and which activity providers to seek out. 

   • Completing the activities. 

   • Reporting their completed activities to PEO through an online PEAK reporting form, and marking the true time they spent on the activities (1 hour spent is 1 hour marked).

3. PEAK assigns to practising licence holders a CPD recommendation of up to 30 hours towards continuing knowledge activities for each yearly licence period. 

4. PEO does not endorse any provider of continuing knowledge activities; nor does PEO validate or accredit any continuing knowledge activity. However, providers may advertise their events as offering technical or regulatory knowledge that participating practitioners may consider for their continuing professional development (CPD) needs, at the practitioner’s discretion, depending on the rules for the CPD program they are completing. Also, providers may supply badges and certificates of attendance or completion but these are not required for PEAK. Having said that, providers should never suggest that PEO or PEAK has endorsed, accredited or evaluated any part of the learning activities being provided or advertisements for the learning activities. 

Note: PEO does not arrange, prequalify or endorse sessions which count towards PEAK-relevant learning. However, local PEO chapters may provide professional development activities.

PEO provides resources for licence holders, including Frequently Asked Questions, guidelines, a video overview and information sessions.