Engineering Regulations Monitoring and Enforcement
Monitoring and enforcement powers
COREN monitors compliance with the Act and engineering regulations through registration checks, site and facility inspections, investigations and complaints. Enforcement tools include advisory notices, conditions on practice, suspension, removal from the register, prosecution and sealing of unregistered practice. Monitoring covers individuals and firms and extends to engineering services, construction and products. Due process matters: investigation, notice to the party, hearing, decision, and a route of appeal.
Inspections and complaints
Inspectors may verify whether the person signing drawings or supervising works is registered and whether the firm is registered. Complaints can come from clients, regulators, professional bodies or the public. Findings should be documented and referred through the proper disciplinary or legal channel, not resolved informally on site.
Worked example
A site uses an unregistered person to sign structural drawings. A COREN monitor finds this during inspection. The correct response is to document the drawing and signatory, verify the register, invite the person and firm to respond, and refer the case for disciplinary or legal action. The site is not automatically condemned, but the non-compliant drawings must be reviewed by a registered engineer, the client should be notified, and the firm may face sanctions.
Traps that cost marks
- Assuming enforcement is the NSE's role rather than COREN's statutory function.
- Thinking only individuals, not firms, can be sanctioned.
- Skipping due process before imposing a sanction.
- Confusing a site safety defect under another regulator with registration enforcement.