Innovation Summer 2024

job. In many, but not all cases, individuals who misrepresent themselves as registrants are also doing so in connection with unauthorized practice, which puts the public at additional risk. Unauthorized practice The PGA prohibits non-registrants of Engineers and Geoscientists BC from engaging in work that constitutes the “reserved practice” of professional engineering or professional geoscience. Reserved practice can be summarized as: providing advice or services based on an engineering or geoscience discipline in a scenario that requires the experience or technical knowledge of a registrant, when taking into account considerations related to public safety, health,

practice is a longstanding and common practice within professional regulation, it is more important than ever in a world where technology and professions are rapidly evolving. Enforcing against misuse of title builds and maintains public trust and confidence in a profession. Use of a protected title indicates to the public that an individual has the requisite skills, training and qualifications to work in a profession, and signals that they can be held accountable if something goes wrong. Similarly, taking action against unauthorized practice is also critical in not only maintaining public trust in the engineering and geoscience Continued on page 14

welfare, environmental protection, and workplace health and safety. While the specific definitions of reserved practice are new under the PGA , Engineers and Geoscientists BC enforced against the unauthorized practice of engineering and geoscience for decades under the former Engineers and Geoscientists Act . The PGA actually recognizes this history and provides continuity; anything that fell within the practices of professional engineering or professional geoscience under the former Engineers and Geoscientists Act is also captured in the PGA .

The importance of enforcement

Although enforcement against misuse of title and unauthorized

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