We provide resources to assist our stakeholders in understanding our regulatory role and how we protect the public interest.
As part of its regulatory mandate, PEO establishes, maintains and develops: standards of knowledge and skill; standards of practice for the profession; standards of professional ethics; and promotes public awareness of its role. The following are resources to assist PEO stakeholders--licence holders, applicants, and the public--in understanding their roles and responsibilities and the regulator’s work protecting the public interest.
Resources
Ontario professional engineers are part of a community of more than 87,500 PEO licence and certificate holders committed to enhancing the quality of life, safety and well-being in the province.
PEO’s Engineering Intern (EIT) program provides guidance and assistance to engineering graduates as they acquire the 48 months of acceptable engineering work experience, including annual reviews of experience.
As the regulator of engineering in Ontario, it’s PEO’s role to assure the public that licensed practitioners are competent to practise in their chosen discipline, and that they are taking responsibility for the outcomes of their work.
As Ontario’s engineering regulator, PEO relies heavily on its volunteers. More than 1,000 professional engineers, engineering interns and non-engineers volunteer their time each year on behalf of the association through their participation.
PEO's mandate, as described in the Professional Engineers Act, is to ensure that the public is protected and that individuals and companies providing engineering services uphold a strict code of professional ethics and conduct.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many questions are in the questionnaire?
The questionnaire has 20 questions.
What is the purpose of the practice evaluation questionnaire?
Existing information on PEO licence holders, such as current employer and contact information, is significantly flawed and incomplete. To correct this, and to obtain additional data needed for policy development purposes, all licence holders are asked to verify their personal information in the Member Portal. The questionnaire is designed to ensure that PEO has sufficient and necessary information on its licence holders to effectively carry out its role as the regulator of the profession.
Does the PEAK program increase my licence fees?
PEO does not anticipate that a fee increase would be required to implement the present version of the PEAK program.
How much does the program cost?
There is no cost for completing the PEAK program on-line documentation or the on-line ethics module. Cost of the continuing knowledge activities undertaken by individual licence holders depends on the type of activity chosen. PEO does not provide any continuing education course nor make any recommendations concerning the knowledge activities suitable for individual licence holders. Choosing these activities and the associated costs is the responsibility of the licence holders or their employers.
What are the consequences of not completing the various components of the PEAK program?
While completion of the PEAK program is not mandatory, should a licence holder refuse to complete any element of the program in the allotted time, this information will be publicly noted on PEO’s online directory of practitioners.
How do I know whether I am considered to be a “practising” or “non-practising” licence holder?
A person is considered to be practising professional engineering if he or she is carrying out any act of designing, composing, evaluating, advising, reporting, directing or supervising, or the managing of any of these acts and those acts:
- involve the safeguarding of life, health, property, economic interests, the public welfare or the environment, and
- require the application of engineering principles.
The definition applies to all situations where this particular combination of intellectual activity, societal protection and methodology exists regardless of whether the position is in industry, government or consulting. A person does not have to be employed in a firm holding a Certificate of Authorization in order to be classified as practising. Nor does a person have to seal engineering documents.
A person is considered non-practising if he or she is licensed by Professional Engineers Ontario but is retired, unemployed, on leave, or employed in a position that does not involve carrying out any of the acts described in the “practising” definition. When on fee remission, a person cannot engage in any practice activity for any purpose whether paid or unpaid. Others who self-identified as non-practising retain full right of practice and can engage in any practice actively as long as it is done in full compliance with the Professional Engineers Act and its regulations.
What does PEO do with the data it collects from members?
The data collected from the practice evaluation questionnaire is used to update licence holder information such as current employer and contact information. It is also used for policy development purposes such as percentage of practising vs non-practising licence holders and to develop a more accurate and up-to-date regulatory profile of licence holders. This helps ensure PEO has sufficient information to effectively carry out its role as regulator of the profession.
Is the information I submit as part of the PEAK program made publicly available?
PEO’s online directory of practitioners only makes publicly available the completion status of all elements of the program for each licence holder.
Does PEO provide support to members regarding the PEAK program?
PEO provides resources for licence holders, including Frequently Asked Questions, a video overview, guidelines and information sessions.
Is completion of the PEAK program recommended annually or over a multi-year period?
Licence holders are asked to complete the PEAK program annually.