Tom McBride

 This report on the PPIR Project proposes a way of defining and formally recognising how professional engineers interact with, and respond to, their clients, their professional peers and the community.  This approach also defines and recognises how clients, professional peers and the community can gain best advantage of the professional engineer's skills, knowledge and experience.

 Courts will decide cases of negligence based on what they determine is an appropriate or expected standard of care  Courts may seek guidance of an appropriate professional body about the expected standard or care  The rising number of very expensive IT disasters make it inevitable that IT professionals will face cases of negligence

 A key feature of the approach is that it introduces The Warren Centre Professional Performance, Innovation and Risk Protocol (PPIR Protocol), to: ◦ inform and guide the professional engineer acting individually or as a member of a team on the essentials of performance in undertaking an engineering task ◦ inform and guide all parties to, and stakeholders in, an engineering task on the role and obligations of the professional engineer and the effective use of professional engineering services ◦ define the essentials of performance against which the 'duty and standard of care' of the professional engineer can be assessed objectively, both in prospect and in retrospect.

 The Australian engineering profession has a generally accepted and well-defined set of ethical standards, published by EA and supported by APESMA and by similar standards of the ACEA. The obligation to comply with these standards applies only to members of these organisations.

 The Australian engineering profession also has a range of competency standards that are accepted or required in various contexts as generic criteria of capacity to act in a particular professional role. The most highly regarded competency standard for a professional engineer is EA‘s Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng).

 However, ethics and competency are only two of the three dimensions of professionalism: the third dimension is performance.  The Australian engineering profession and its constituent industries do not have a generally applicable and widely shared view of just what constitutes performance for the professional engineer.

 The Working Group also explored how the engineering professions around the world define professional performance or professionalism and found that, again, these terms are invariably defined by strong statements of ethics, values and competencies, but rarely in terms of what each professional expects of himself and his peers in terms of performance.

 The duty and standard of care as used in this report encompasses two legal concepts: the 'duty of care' is designed to ascertain whether there is a duty to apply a standard of reasonable care in the particular circumstances; and given that duty, the 'standard of care' is about the appropriate standard in those circumstances.  The standard of care owed by professionals is determined by what can reasonably be expected of a person professing the professional skill, taking into account all the relevant circumstances at the time – that is, the appropriate professional performance in that particular situation.

 1. Define ‘professional performance’ in the practice of engineering by expressing in words: ◦ the profession’s expectations of itself in terms of best practice in undertaking and managing an engineering task in any field of engineering ◦ the basics of managing the overall risk environment of the engineering task, particularly the special risks of engineering innovation ◦ the framework that should govern the working relationships between the professional engineer and all the parties to an engineering task what society should reasonably expect in relying on the special qualifications of the professional engineer ◦ the legal basis from which the duty and standard of care of the professional engineer should be assessed in retrospect.

 2. Propose a set of initiatives to bring about change in the professional, liability and legal frameworks that govern everyday engineering, so that: ◦ there is recognition of engineering professionalism in the law ◦ there is a greater recognition of engineering issues and engineering innovation, particularly in contractual frameworks ◦ the relevance and quality of engineering expert testimony is improved ◦ fewer professional liability issues arise and outcomes are more predictable ◦ innovation re-emerges as a driving force in Australian engineering practice.

 3. Ensure that the outcomes of these changes offer material benefits to everyone involved in buying, selling and using engineering products and services.

 A series of workshops and other consultative groups of, and individual consultations with, practising professional engineers representative of a wide range of engineering industry and profession stakeholders, to draw extensively on their knowledge, experience and input to: ◦ confirm whether the Working Group’s presentation of the issues represented the ‘real world’ for practising professional engineers ◦ test various approaches to defining performance, by applying each version to case studies drawing on real-life situations.  As the workshops and consultations progressed, the material presented on the issues and the approach to defining performance were modified in response to the inputs received from the more than 200 professional engineers and others who participated.

 The PPIR Project Team’s work has also included two desk studies to determine if there are approaches in other professions similar to that envisaged by the PPIR Project.  The first was a review of the approaches taken by engineering professions in the EU and 13 non-EU countries to defining professional performance and related matters.  The responses were mostly by the leading professional association in each country. The results confirmed that, apart from various registration regimes, there was nothing similar in aim or substance to a definition of professional performance.

 The second was a review of the approaches to defining professional performance in the Australian legal, medical, accounting and architectural professions. While each of these has a form of regulatory regime, some backed by legislation, none has anything similar in aim or substance to a definition of professional performance.

 In essence, the PPIR Project has sought to put together a set of words that make it possible for there to be a shared view – in prospect and in retrospect – of what defines professional performance in any engineering task context.  As such, it describes not only what the professional engineers expect of themselves, but also what they should expect of each other. From the viewpoint of other parties and stakeholders, it describes what they might reasonably expect of the role of the professional engineer and how that role should be carried out.  The end aim is that this ‘shared view’ – the one that is the same whether it is viewed in prospect or in retrospect – can become the basis for the sole legal test as to what is appropriate professional practice, and what is less than acceptable practice, in handling any engineering task, in any task context. That is, it provides the platform from which to assess the professional engineer’s duty and standard of care and the context in which to assess the applicability and relevance of many existing practice and technical standards.

 Only necessary between a professional person or organization that abides by the PPIR protocol and an person or organization that doesn’t.  i.e. Where commercial contracts might override professional practice obligations.

1. Preamble ◦ This PPIR Protocol documents the essentials of performance for Professional Engineers acting in a professional capacity. 2. Relevant Parties and Other Stakeholders ◦ The Professional Engineer should develop a clear understanding of the Relevant Parties to and Other Stakeholders in the Engineering Task and the relationships between them. 3. The Engineering Task ◦ The Professional Engineer should consult and agree with the Responsible Person the objectives and extent of the Engineering Task.

4. Competence to Act ◦ The Professional Engineer should assess and apply the competencies and resources appropriate to the Engineering Task. 5. Statutory Requirements and Public Interest ◦ The Professional Engineer should identify and respond to relevant statutory requirements and public interest issues. 6. Risk Assessment and Management ◦ The Professional Engineer should develop and operate within a Hazard and Risk Framework appropriate to the Engineering Task.

7. Engineering Innovation ◦ The Professional Engineer should seek to use engineering innovation to enhance the outcomes of the Engineering Task. 8. Engineering Task Management ◦ The Professional Engineer should apply appropriate engineering task management protocols and related standards in carrying out and accomplishing the Engineering Task. 9. Contractual Framework ◦ The Professional Engineer should ensure that any contract or other such evidence of agreement governing or relevant to the Engineering Task is consistent with the provisions of this PPIR Protocol.

 To develop a protocol and standard for professional practice, innovation and risk for the IT profession  Do this within ISO before a number of national protocols are developed  Develop the protocol and standard in an accelerated timeframe