Yesterday, Professional Engineers Government of Ontario (PEGO), the association that represents professional engineers and land surveyors that work for the provincial government, put out a statement backing PEO’s recent decision to investigate the Nipigon River Bridge case.
“We support PEO undertaking this investigation as part of their regulatory mandate to ensure public safety and the proper practice of professional engineering,” said Ping Wu, President of PEGO. “PEGO encourages PEO to examine all areas of the project including design, construction and oversight, and the management of these aspects to ensure their review is comprehensive,” said Wu.
Last month, PEGO released a full statement regarding the Nipigon Bridge Report, making the case that better oversight of outsourced projects is required.
OSPE agrees that PEO must take its role as regulator seriously in order to protect the public and ensure Ontario’s infrastructure remains safe. “Self regulation of the engineering profession in Ontario is a privilege, and should remain PEO’s top priority,” said Steven Rose, P.Eng., Director on OSPE’s Board and Vice President of Malroz Engineering Inc. “Prompt and thorough action is needed from PEO in order to carry out this key mandate – to ensure that engineering work is undertaken by appropriately licensed and qualified engineers; and to discipline licence holders who fail to maintain the profession’s technical and ethical standards in order to protect the public interest.”
When PEO announced that an investigation into the incident had been initiated, Registrar Gerard McDonald, P.Eng., stated:
“As a regulator, it’s our responsibility to investigate any possible engineering practice deficiencies related to the failure and determine if engineering work was carried out by appropriately licensed people and companies. This investigation is consistent with our mandate to govern PEO licence and certificate of authorization holders, and regulate and advance professional engineering practice to protect the public interest.”
In a CBC report, McDonald stated that the investigation could take more than one year.
Photo credit: Northern Ontario Business
In investigating the technical deficiencies, I hope PEO also examines the root cause of the deficiencies – often the conditions for failure are caused by poor oversight at the management level, ie. project management and governance.