CANADIAN FRAMEWORK FOR LICENSURE
Element: Definition of the Practice of Professional Engineering
Step #: 1. Research
Issue Date: January 14 2013
Step 5: for Constituent Association Approval
Purpose – establishing one definition of what constitutes the practice of professional engineering
promotes a common standard, provides clarity for the public, applicants , registrants, engineering
organizations, and the engineering regulatory bodies.
A single national definition of the practice of professional engineering is fundamental, especially for
defining experience requirements and as the basis for uniform enforcement actions.
Based on the research contained in this document, it recommended that the following Key
Considerations form the basis for the Definition of the Practice of Professional Engineering:
1. The definition must accommodate new and emerging fields of engineering.
2. The definition must clearly differentiate “professional engineering” from engineering.
Differentiation occurs where the public expectation is that the practitioner is held publicly
accountable for safeguarding and protecting the public interest.
3. The definition shall state what professional engineering is, and not include what it is not.
4. Exceptions to requiring a licence to practise professional engineering should be specifically set out
in the Act, not incorporated into the definition.
5. The National Definition of the Practice of Professional Engineering states:
The "practice of professional engineering" means any act of planning, designing, composing,
evaluating, advising, reporting, directing or supervising that requires the application of
engineering principles and that concerns the safeguarding of life, health, property, economic
interests, the public welfare or the environment, or the managing of any such act.
6. The definition has three elements:
i.
Any of various particular intellectual activities or combinations of them,
ii.
The application of engineering principles, and
iii.
Safeguarding the public interest.
A particular work or undertaking is only considered to be the practice of professional engineering if
all three elements are present.
7. The accompanying interpretive notes in the Engineers Canada Guideline on the Practice of
Professional Engineering in Canada dated June 2011 provide the information required for
application of the definition.
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Definitions
Engineering principles means the professional application of the principles of mathematics, chemistry,
physics or any related applied subject.
Public interest1 - the public interest is inclusive of all people and refers to the safeguarding of life, health,
property, economic interests, the public welfare and the environment and balancing with social interests
that change as society's values and preferences evolve over time.
Research
Current Situation within Engineers Canada, January 2 2013
The exact term defined which is defined in each Act varies. This difference is important, as it makes it
appear that some acts (and activities) are allowed in some jurisdictions but not others. The terms used
include:
Practice of professional engineering
Practice of engineering
Practice of the engineering profession
Professional engineering
Engineering
Some associations have adopted a definition that is substantially equivalent to the one contained in the
Engineers Canada Guideline on the Practice of Professional Engineering in Canada dated June 2011. The
following table provides a list and notes some differences:
Associations with definitions of the practice of professional engineering
substantially equivalent to Engineers Canada
APEGS
APEGM
PEO
NAPEG
Equivalent
Equivalent
The management of any such act is the last clause
Do not include safeguarding the public
The definitions can be divided into two main types: those that list activities (actions) and those that list
specific works and systems. Activities include things such as “consultation, investigation, evaluation,
1
When courts or boards define the public interest, they usually tie the term’s meaning to the purposes of the statute
in which it appears. Accordingly, the meaning of the public interest varies depending on the subject matter of the
statute. Some boards have published their own definition of the public interest, such as the National Energy Board
which uses this definition: [t]he public interest is inclusive of all Canadians and refers to a balance of economic,
environmental, and social interests that change as society's values and preferences evolve over time. As a regulator,
the Board must estimate the overall public good a project may create and its potential negative aspects, weigh its
various impacts, and make a decision.
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planning, design, inspection, management, research and development”, while lists of engineering works
and systems typically include specific things like “public utilities, industrial works, railways, bridges,
highways, canals, harbour works, river improvements, lighthouses…”.
Some acts refer to the application of engineering principles, while others are more flexible and call out the
application of “principles of mathematics, chemistry, physics or any related applied subject”.
Finally, only a few acts make the distinction that protecting or safeguarding the public is a required aspect
of professional engineering.
Elements of the national definition included in each act
Association
List of activities
Application of
(engineering) principles
Safeguarding the public




















APEGBC
APEGA
APEGS
APEGM
PEO
OIQ
APEGNB
Engineers Nova Scotia
Engineers PEI
PEGNL
APEY
NAPEG

There are other common terms that appear in the definitions in the regulators’ acts, but that are not in the
national definition. They include:
Association
APEGBC
APEGA
APEGS
APEGM
PEO
OIQ
APEGNB
Engineers Nova Scotia
Engineers PEI
PEGNL
APEY
NAPEG
List of specific
engineering works
& systems

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“aimed at the discovery,
development or utilization of
matter, materials or energy”
Teaching engineering










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Full details are available in Appendix A.
Situation in Engineering World Wide
Most other jurisdiction, worldwide, do not regulate the practice of engineering, instead it is more common
to regulate the use of the title “engineer”, or its affiliates: professional engineering, chartered engineer,
registered engineer, etc. As a result, there is no need to define the practice of professional engineering in
most jurisdictions. Those who do define it include:
National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying
From the 2012 Model Law:
8. Practice of Engineering –The term “Practice of Engineering,” as used in this Act, shall mean any service
or creative work, the adequate performance of which requires engineering education, training, and
experience in the application of special knowledge of the mathematical, physical, and engineering
sciences to such services or creative work as the following:
a. Consultation, investigation, expert technical testimony, evaluation, planning, design, design
coordination, and/or commissioning of engineering works, products and systems
b. Planning the use of land, air, and/or water
c. Teaching of advanced engineering subjects
d. Performing engineering surveys and studies
e. The review and/or management of construction for the purpose of monitoring and/or ensuring
compliance with drawings and specifications
Any of the items above that embraces such services or work, either public or private, in connection with
any utilities, structures, buildings, machines, equipment, processes, work systems, projects,
communication systems, transportation systems, and industrial or consumer products, or equipment of a
control systems, communications, mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, chemical, environmental,
or thermal nature, insofar as they involve safeguarding life, health, or property, and including such other
professional services as may be necessary to the planning, progress, and completion of any engineering
services are considered the practice of engineering.
Design coordination includes the review and coordination of those technical submissions prepared by
others, including as appropriate and without limitation, consulting engineers, architects, landscape
architects, surveyors, and other professionals working under the direction of the engineer.
Engineering surveys include all survey activities required to support the sound conception, planning,
design, construction, maintenance, and operation of engineered projects, but exclude the surveying of real
property for the establishment of land boundaries, rights-of-way, easements, and the dependent or
independent surveys or resurveys of the public land survey system.
A person shall be construed to practice or offer to practice engineering, within the meaning and intent of
this Act, who practices any discipline or branch of the profession of engineering; or who, by verbal claim,
sign, advertisement, letterhead, card, or in any other way represents the person to be a professional
engineer, or through the use of some other title implies that the individual is a professional engineer or
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that the person is licensed or authorized under this Act; or who holds the person out as able to perform, or
who does perform any engineering service or work or any other service designated by the practitioner
which is recognized as engineering.
Engineers Ireland
The “Chartered Engineering Regulations” define a professional engineer in a way that is helpful to this
discussion:
A professional engineer is competent by virtue of his / her fundamental education and training to apply
the scientific method and outlook to the analysis and solution of engineering problems. He/she is able
to assume personal responsibility for the development and application of engineering science and
knowledge, notably in research, design, construction, manufacturing, superintending, managing and in
the education of the engineer. His/her work is predominantly intellectual and varied and not of a
routine mental or physical character. It requires the exercise of original thought and judgement and the
ability to supervise the technical and administrative work of others.
Engineers Australia
From the 2002 Professional Engineering Act (Queensland):
professional engineering service means an engineering service that requires, or is based on, the
application of engineering principles and data to a design, or to a construction or production activity,
relating to engineering, and does not include an engineering service that is provided only in accordance
with a prescriptive standard.
Other Definitions of Engineering
General definitions of “engineering” can be in many dictionaries and include:
1.
The application of science for directly useful purposes, as construction, propulsion, communication or
manufacture2
2.
The application of science and mathematics by which the properties of matter and the sources of
energy in nature are made useful to people3
3.
The application of scientific and mathematical principles to practical ends such as the design,
manufacture, and operation of efficient and economical structures, machines, processes, and systems4
4.
Engineering is the science, skill, and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, economic, social,
and practical knowledge, in order to design, build, and maintain structures, machines, devices,
systems, materials and processes.5
2
“engineering.” The Canadian Oxford Dictionary. First edition1998. Print.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/engineering, retrieved on January 2, 2013
4
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/engineering, retrieved on January 2, 2013
5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering, retrieved on January 2, 2013
3
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5.
Engineering is the profession in which knowledge of the mathematical and natural sciences gained by
study, experience, and practice is applied with judgment to develop ways to utilize economically the
materials and forces of nature for the benefit of mankind.6
Some of these definitions touch on the broader applications of engineering, including economic and social
implications. However, none of them embrace the concept of a profession.
While engineering is simply the application of science to practical ends for the benefit of humankind,
professional engineering encompasses a responsibility to society. The fundamental principles of a
profession and what it means to be a professional engineer are explained in the Engineers Canada
Guideline on the Practice of Professional Engineering in Canada of June 2011.
A complete definition of the practice of professional engineering for the Canadian context should address
both sides: the technical work, and the societal responsibilities.
6
The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)
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Appendix A
Definitions of the Practice of Professional Engineering
in the Engineering Acts
APEGBC
1 1 “practice of professional engineering” means the carrying on of chemical, civil, electrical, forest,
geological, mechanical, metallurgical, mining or structural engineering, and other disciplines of engineering
that may be designated by the council and for which university engineering programs have been
accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board or by a body which, in the opinion of the
council, is its equivalent, and includes reporting on, designing, or directing the construction of any works
that require for their design, or the supervision of their construction, or the supervision of their
maintenance, such experience and technical knowledge as are required under this Act for the admission by
examination to membership in the association, and, without limitation, includes reporting on, designing or
directing the construction of public utilities, industrial works, railways, bridges, highways, canals, harbour
works, river improvements, lighthouses, wet docks, dry docks, floating docks, launch ways, marine ways,
steam engines, turbines, pumps, internal combustion engines, airships and airplanes, electrical machinery
and apparatus, chemical operations, machinery, and works for the development, transmission or
application of power, light and heat, grain elevators, municipal works, irrigation works, sewage disposal
works, drainage works, incinerators, hydraulic works, and all other engineering works, and all buildings
necessary to the proper housing, installation and operation of the engineering works embraced in this
definition;
APEGA
1 (q) “practice of engineering” means
(i) reporting on, advising on, evaluating, designing, preparing plans and specifications for or directing the
construction, technical inspection, maintenance or operation of any structure, work or process
A. that is aimed at the discovery, development or utilization of matter, materials or energy or in
any other way designed for the use and convenience of humans, and
B. that requires in that reporting, advising, evaluating, designing, preparation or direction the
professional application of the principles of mathematics, chemistry, physics or any related
applied subject, or
(ii) teaching engineering at a university;
APEGS
2 (1) (m) “practice of professional engineering” means any act of planning, designing, composing,
measuring, evaluating, inspecting, advising, reporting, directing or supervising, or managing any of the
foregoing, that requires the application of engineering principles and that concerns the safeguarding of
life, health, property, economic interests, the public interest or the environment;
APEGM
1 "practice of professional engineering" means any act of planning, designing, composing, measuring,
evaluating, inspecting, advising, reporting, directing or supervising, or managing any of the foregoing, that
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requires the application of engineering principles and that concerns the safeguarding of life, health,
property, economic interests, the public interest or the environment; (« exercice de la profession
d'ingénieur »)
PEO
1 “practice of professional engineering” means any act of planning, designing, composing, evaluating,
advising, reporting, directing or supervising that requires the application of engineering principles and
concerns the safeguarding of life, health, property, economic interests, the public welfare or the
environment, or the managing of any such act; (“exercice de la profession d’ingénieur”)
OIQ
II 2. Works of the kinds hereinafter described constitute the field of practice of an engineer:
(a) railways, public roads, airports, bridges, viaducts, tunnels and the installations connected with a
transport system the cost of which exceeds $3,000;
(b) dams, canals, harbours, lighthouses and all works relating to the improvement, control or utilization of
waters;
(c) works of an electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, aeronautical, electronic, thermic, nuclear, metallurgical,
geological or mining character and those intended for the utilization of the processes of applied chemistry
or physics;
(d) waterworks, sewer, filtration, purification works to dispose of refuse and other works in the field of
municipal engineering the cost of which exceeds $1,000;
(e) the foundations, framework and electrical and mechanical systems of buildings the cost of which
exceeds $100,000 and of public buildings within the meaning of the Public Buildings Safety Act (chapter S3);
(f) structures accessory to engineering works and intended to house them;
(g) temporary framework and other temporary works used during the carrying out of works of civil
engineering;
(h) soil engineering necessary to elaborate engineering works;
(i) industrial work or equipment involving public or employee safety.
3. The practice of the engineering profession consists in performing for another any of the following acts,
when they relate to the works mentioned in section 2:
(a) the giving of consultations and opinions;
(b) the making of measurements, of layouts, the preparation of reports, computations, designs, drawings,
plans, specifications;
(c) the inspection or supervision of the works.
APEGNB
2 (1) “engineering” means the application of scientific principles and knowledge to practical ends such as
the investigation, design, construction, or operation of works and systems as defined in sub-section (2);
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“practice of engineering” means the provision of services for another as an employee or by contract; and
such services shall include consultation, investigation, evaluation, planning, design, inspection,
management, research and development of engineering works and systems;
2(2) Without restricting the generality of the definition of “practice of engineering”, engineering works
and systems shall include:
(a) transportation systems and components related to the movement of goods or people by air,
water, land or in outer space;
(b) works related to the location, mapping, improvement, control and utilization of natural
resources;
(c) works and components of an electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, aeronautical, electronic, thermic,
nuclear, metallurgical, geological or mining character and others dependent on the utilization or
the application of chemical or physical principles;
(d) works related to the protection, control and improvement of the environment including those
of pollution control, abatement and treatment;
(e) the structural, electrical, mechanical, communications, transportation and other utility aspects
of building components and systems;
(f) structures and enclosures accessory to engineering works and intended to support or house
them;
(g) systems relating to surveying and mapping;
(h) investigations, evaluations, consultations or management relating to geoscientific properties,
conditions or processes that may affect the well-being of the general public;
(i) the discovery or development of water resources, and investigation of surface or subsurface
geological conditions; and
(j) the use of computer systems and software relating to any engineering performed under
paragraphs (a) to (i).
2(3) The practice of engineering and geoscience includes the use of computer systems and software
relating to such practice.
Engineers Nova Scotia
2 (g) "engineering" means the science and art of designing, investigating, supervising the construction,
maintenance or operation of, making specifications, inventories or appraisals of, and consultations or
reports on machinery, structures, works, plants, mines, mineral deposits, processes, transportation
systems, transmission systems and communication systems or any other part thereof;
(n) "professional engineering" means application of engineering for gain, hire or hope of reward, either
directly or indirectly;
Engineers PEI
1 (s) “professional engineering” or the “practice of engineering” means the provision of services for
another as an employee or by contract, and such services shall include consultation, investigation,
instruction, evaluation, planning, design, inspection, management, research, development and
implementation of engineering works and systems;
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(k) “engineering works and systems'' includes
(i) transportation systems and components related to air, water, land or outer space, movement of goods
or people,
(ii) works related to the location, mapping, improvement, control and utilization of natural resources,
(iii) works and components of an electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, aeronautical, electronic, thermic,
nuclear, metallurgical, geological, mining or industrial character and others dependent on the utilization or
the application of chemical or physical principles,
(iv) works related to the protection, control and improvement of the environment including those of
pollution control, abatement and treatment,
(v) the structural, electrical, mechanical, communications, transportation and other utility aspects of
building components and systems,
(vi) structures and enclosures accessory to engineering works and intended to support or house them, and
(vii) systems relating to surveying and mapping;
PEGNL
2 (h) "practice of engineering" means reporting on, advising on, evaluating, designing, preparing plans and
specifications for or directing the construction, technical inspection, maintenance or operation of a
structure, work or process
(i)
that is aimed at the discovery, except by the practice of geoscience, development or
utilization of matter, materials or energy or is designed for the use and convenience of
human beings, and
(ii)
that requires in the reporting, advising, evaluating, designing, preparation or direction the
professional application of the principles of mathematics, chemistry, physics or a related
applied subject,
and includes providing educational instruction on the matters contained in this paragraph to a student at
an educational institution, but excludes practising as a natural scientist;
APEY
1 “practice of engineering” means
(a) reporting on, advising on, evaluating, designing, preparing plans and specifications for, or directing the
construction, technical inspection, maintenance, or operation of, any structure, work, or process
(i) that is aimed at the discovery, development, utilisation, storage, or disposal of matter,
materials, or energy, or is in any other way designed for, the use and convenience of persons; and
(ii) that, for the protection of persons, requires in the reporting, advising, evaluating, designing,
preparation, or direction, the professional application of the principles of engineering or any
related applied subject; and
(b) teaching engineering at a university or college; « exercice de la profession d’ingénieur »
Nunavut
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1 "professional engineering" means any act of planning, designing, composing, measuring, evaluating,
inspecting, advising, reporting, directing or supervising, or managing any of those acts, that requires the
application of engineering principles; (profession d’ingénieur)
NWT
1 "professional engineering" means any act of planning, designing, composing, measuring, evaluating,
inspecting, advising, reporting, directing or supervising, or managing any of those acts, that requires the
application of engineering principles; (profession d’ingénieur)
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