Consumer Affairs Victoria have published guidelines for Professional Engineers to ascertain if they required to be registered for professional engineering services.
The full guidelines on areas of engineering are available online.
ICI Australia is an approved assessment entity for both Civil and Structural Engineers.
The guidelines define these areas as:
Civil Engineers
As a guide, this may include:
- structures (including those made from steel, concrete or timber), for example, roads, railways, bridges, airports, pipelines, dams, canals, harbours, dockyards, towers and buildings
- analysing the likely behaviour of soil and rock when placed under pressure and designing above and below ground natural or build structures or foundations
- environmental impacts, for example, transport, urban development and municipal services, resource protection of building and construction of other infrastructure and service industries, and
- hydraulic supply and waste systems.
Civil engineering has many different areas of focus or speciality areas. As a guide, some of the main areas of focus are:
- structural engineering
- geotechnical engineering, and
- hydrology engineering.
Professional engineers providing professional engineering services in any of the above or main areas of focus must be registered in the area of civil engineering.
A civil engineer who intends to work in the building industry must:
- be registered as a professional engineer in the area of civil engineering, and
- have their registration endorsed to work in the building industry in the area of civil engineering.
Civil engineers working in the building industry can work with foundations and footings systems, construction materials and structural systems, and hydraulic supply and waste systems.
Structural Engineers
Structural engineering is an area of focus of civil engineering.
It primarily deals with the research, design, construction, monitoring, maintenance, rehabilitation and demolition of permanent and temporary structures. Structures include, for example, buildings, bridges, in-ground structures, footings, large tanks, silos, mining structures and various plants, and frameworks and space frames.
A structural engineer who intends to work in the building industry must:
- be registered as a professional engineer in the area of structural engineering, and
- have their registration endorsed to work in the building industry in the area of structural engineering.
As with civil engineers, structural engineers working in the building industry can work with foundations and footings systems, construction materials and structural systems.
Note: As structural engineering is an area of focus of civil engineering, to work in the building industry a professional engineer must be either registered and endorsed as a civil engineer or registered and endorsed as a structural engineer.
Still unsure?
The guidelines state It is the responsibility of a professional engineer to apply the descriptions to the professional engineering services they intend to undertake to determine whether, and in which area/s of engineering, they need to be registered with the BLA to perform those services.
This puts the onus of responsibility onto the engineer to determine if they require registration. Based on this our recommendation is to err on the side of caution to ensure you are compliant with the Act's Requirements.