INNOVATION-July-August-2020

L E T T E R S

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DR. RON DEVALL: A LIFE SPENT MAKING BUILDINGS SAFER IN EARTHQUAKES No one has done more to make Canadian buildings safer in earthquakes than Dr. Ronald DeVall, P.Eng. (Retired).

Ron served as Chair of the Canadian National Committee on Earthquake Engineering (CANCEE), which wrote the seismic design provisions in the National Building Code from 1985 to 2009. Until last year, he remained one of the most active contributors to what became the Standing Committee on Earthquake Design (SC-ED). He also contributed to other parts of the National Building Code as a member of other national committees. Ron was also an active member of the Technical Group within CSA A23.3 that writes the seismic design provisions for concrete buildings. He played a leadership role in development of Clause 21 in the 1984, 1994, 2004, 2014, and 2019 editions of CSA A23.3. In 2006, Ron was appointed to Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s Seismic Peer Review Committee of the Seismic Retrofit Guidelines for BC schools. For the past 14 years, Ron up to date and reporting your area of practice. These requirements will come into effect over the next 12 months. To date, the most significant component of our work to transition to this new legislation has been revising our current Bylaws to ensure compliance with the PGA, as well as drafting new Bylaws required for the organization and our registrants to be able to operate in our new regulatory landscape. The first milestone of this work is now complete. Council reviewed each of the Bylaw amendments at their meeting on June 19, and the Bylaw package has been submitted to the Office of the Superintendent of Professional Governance (OSPG) for review and approval. The OSPG will complete a rigorous review of

played a crucial role challenging his peers to ensure the innovative performance-based approach was technically sound and well-documented. When Ron passed away on June 8, Canada lost a great structural engineer, and many of us lost a great friend; but Ron’s legacy will live on in the improved seismic safety of Canadian buildings as a result of the building codes, standards, and guidelines that he so strongly influenced during his lifetime. Dr. Perry Adebar, P.Eng., Professor of Structural Engineering, UBC Jeff Corbett, P.Eng., Struct.Eng., FEC, Managing Principal, Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. Amemorial student award will honour the important accomplishments of two great structural engineers: Ron DeVall and JimMutrie, P.Eng. For more information, visit memorial.support.ubc.ca/devall-mutrie. the Bylaws over the summer, and may seek additional changes or revisions to ensure compliance with the requirements of the PGA. Council will complete a final review of the Bylaws in September, and they will come into force along with the PGA in November 2020. A number of communication initiatives are being planned to keep registrants informed on this important topic in the lead up to November. On August 6, Engineers and Geoscientists BC hosted a webinar and Q&A on the PGA with President Lianna Mah, P.Eng., FEC. A recording of the webinar will be available on our website by late August.

After completing his civil engineering degrees at UBC, Ron spent his entire 40-year career at Read Jones Christoffersen (RJC) in Vancouver. He was the Engineer of Record on a number of notable projects that utilized “leading edge” structural solutions such as Vancouver Library Square and Park Place (office tower). As RJC’s structural engineering technical lead, he developed technical standards, quality control guidelines and training protocols, many of which are still in use today. And, he mentored generations of structural engineers. Ron had a remarkable talent for simplifying complex structural problems, and he was very generous when it came to sharing his insights for the betterment of the structural engineering profession and the improved safety of buildings. Geoscientists BC has been working to align our current policies, procedures, and regulatory framework with the requirements of the Professional Governance Act (PGA)—new legislation for Engineers and Geoscientists BC and the engineering and geoscience professions that will come into force in November 2020, replacing the 100-year-old Engineers and Geoscientists Act . The PGA will introduce new regulatory tools for Engineers and Geoscientists BC, including the regulation of engineering and geoscience firms, and new requirements for registrants— including an updated Code of Ethics, mandatory continuing education, and new requirements for keeping contact information

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PROGRESS TOWARDS IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROFESSIONAL GOVERNANCE ACT For the past two years, Engineers and

To learn more about the Professional Governance Act , visit egbc.ca/PGA .

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