The Practice Standard for Professional Engineers applies to all NSW registered professional engineers. It sets the clear standards of work and behaviour by engineers carrying out professional engineering work under the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (DBP Act).
On this page
What does the practice standard cover?
How were the standards developed?
How will the standards be implemented?
How will industry be supported in the transition to the mandatory standards?
Will there be a review process before the standards become mandatory?
Key information
- Compliance with the Practice Standard will become a mandatory condition of Professional Engineer registration from September 2024.
- Failure to comply with the Practice Standard from this time will attract enforcement action and penalties, including cancellation of registration.
- To support industry and engineering practitioners to understand their obligations prior to September 2024, Building Commission NSW inspectors will use the standards during audits of professional engineering work.
What does the practice standard cover?
The Practice Standard for Professional Engineers (PDF, 595.97 KB) was released in March 2024. It sets out the obligations, responsibilities and standards required of registered Professional Engineers to complete engineering work under the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (DBP Act).
Compliance with this Practice Standard is a condition of registration for all Professional Engineers registered under the DBP Act, which includes:
- Civil engineering
- Electrical engineering
- Fire safety engineering
- Geotechnical engineering
- Mechanical engineering
- Structural engineering
This Practice Standard also details how Building Commission NSW will assess a Professional Engineer’s compliance with the Practice Standard.
This Practice Standard should be understood in conjunction with other requirements and conditions of registration imposed on Professional Engineers, including:
- Code of Practice for Professional Engineers, set out in Division 2, Part 2, Schedule 4 of the Design and Building Practitioners Regulation 2021 (the DBP Regulation)
- conditions of registration imposed on design practitioners, principal design practitioners or building practitioners, where the Professional Engineer is registered as one or more types of practitioner under the DBP Act, and
- Building and Development Certifiers Act 2018, where the engineer is undertaking certification work.
How were the standards developed?
The publishing of the Practice Standard follows a targeted industry consultation and review process undertaken in the second half of 2023. Several components of the Practice Standard, particularly the fit-for-purpose requirement, were refined after the targeted consultation.
How will the standards be implemented?
Building Commission NSW is the regulator of the building industry in NSW, and its compliance team will undertake education on the new Practice Standard prior to it becoming mandatory. From September 2024, this team will also be responsible for compliance, enforcement actions and penalties.
How will industry be supported in the transition to the mandatory standards?
In the lead up to the Practice Standard becoming a mandatory condition of registration, engineers are encouraged to make appropriate adjustments to work practices to ensure they can meet the obligations under the Practice Standard by 1 September 2024.
Will there be a review process before the standards become mandatory?
A further consultation process will be held before the Practice Standard becomes a mandatory condition of licence to make any final changes required to support engineers to implement these new obligations.
The ‘Additional Obligations’ section for specific classes of engineers will be developed in consultation with industry before the Practice Standard becomes a mandatory condition of registration.
Building Commission NSW will schedule a roundtable before the Practice Standard becomes a condition of registration to provide industry the opportunity to comment on the general sections of the Practice Standard and to provide feedback on the ‘Additional Obligations’ section.
Further information
Contact Building Commission NSW
Call 13 32 20 (between 8.30am – 5pm, Monday to Friday) or contact us online.