Our Regulatory Role
How Regulation Protects You
Regulation serves as a cornerstone for public safety and trust, ensuring that professional engineers and geoscientists in British Columbia possess the necessary training and skills to perform their work with competence and professionalism. By mandating registration with Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia, provincial legislation establishes a framework that ensures only qualified individuals can practice within these fields. This rigour helps maintain high standards of practice, thereby protecting the public from the risks associated with unqualified practitioners. Our public register further enhances transparency and accountability, allowing anyone to verify the credentials and status of engineering and geoscience professionals. Through these measures, regulation not only safeguards the integrity of these professions but also upholds the public interest by ensuring reliable and safe engineering and geoscience practices throughout the province.
Engineers and Geoscientists BC Protects and Serves the Public By:
- Registering only those engineers or geoscientists, from anywhere in the world, who meet the high standards for entry to their profession;
- Regulating engineering and geoscience firms to ensure quality management standards are met;
- Disciplining professional engineers or geoscientists who breach our professional or ethical standards;
- Ensuring all registered professional engineers and geoscientists are qualified to be doing the work they’re doing through regular audits;
- Mandating continuing professional education for every single practising registrant so that they stay up to date on the latest in their area of expertise;
- Taking action against people who deceive the public and illegally describe themselves as an engineer or a geoscientist;
- Investigating complaints brought to us about unlicensed, unprofessional, inadequate, or incompetent engineering or geoscience services;
- Conducting dispute resolution and holding hearings;
- Preparing guidelines and practice advisories to serve as benchmarks for quality of work in the engineering and geoscience profession; and
- Providing guidance and support to our professional registrants on maintaining the high standard that is expected of them.
If you have concerns about the work of a professional or firm, contact us at [email protected].
If you suspect a person or company is practising engineering or geoscience without a licence, please submit a concern intake form.
Responding to Complaints
Your protection is further ensured through our statutory authority to address complaints. We take action upon receiving reports of alleged unsafe, unethical, or unprofessional practices. Engineers and Geoscientists BC deals with complaints against registrants and firms, as well as against non-registrants unlawfully claiming to be professional engineers or geoscientists.
Under the Professional Governance Act, registrants of a number of professions are also legally obligated and have a duty to report certain types of conduct by other practitioners, including unsafe practice and professional misconduct.