Ethics and professional conduct: Les matingénieurs series continues in 2014 with workshops on business practices and supervision of engineering works

MONTREAL, Jan. 29, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - More than 200 engineers who work for consulting engineering firms, cities, contract providers or as consultants participated today in Quebec City and yesterday in Montreal in the third of four workshops on ethical and professional conduct issues experienced by engineers in their daily work. The breakfast workshop series, known as Les matingénieurs, is put on by the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec and will continue in February.

By addressing business practices in this week's workshops, the series went right to the heart of the crisis that is currently affecting civil engineering and, by extension, the entire profession. It is not the technical expertise of engineers that has ever really been in question, but rather the practices of certain firms and individuals involved in business development that have brought about the current situation. The workshop provided participants with some ideas about how to better distinguish ethically acceptable activities with contract providers and lobbying from other business development practices.

"Les matingénieurs are one of many information, training and prevention initiatives developed by the OIQ to provide more support to its members. To better protect the public, it has become necessary to monitor companies more. That is why the OIQ is now pushing the boundaries of the professional system by creating an audit program for consulting engineering firms that will take a closer look at their business practices," explained Daniel Lebel, Eng., FEC, PMP, President of the OIQ.

These initiatives, along with the hundreds of disciplinary inquiries that are now being conducted by the OIQ's Office of the Syndic, are directly aligned with the OIQ's Commitment to better protect the public interest and propose concrete solutions to prevent the current situation from recurring.

Next event: supervision of engineering works

The next Les matingénieurs event will be a workshop on supervising engineering works on February 25 in Quebec City and February 27 in Montreal.

At each workshop, experts present concrete examples of real experiences in the field. To make the activity more interesting, participants answer questions and engage in stimulating discussions by televoting.

About the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec

Founded in 1920, the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec has a membership of 60,000 engineering professionals in all fields, except forest engineering. The mission of the OIQ is to ensure the protection of the public by supervising the practice of the profession within the framework of its constituent laws and ensure that the profession serves the public interest. For more information, go to http://www.oiq.qc.ca.

SOURCE: Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec

Aline Vandermeer
Communications Advisor
Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec
514 845-6141 or 1 800 461-6141, extension 3253