Successfully practising engineering and geoscience that helps achieve a sustainable human society demands deep study beyond our professional practice guidelines.
As a mid-career professional, I must make sure that my practice meets or exceeds the professional practice guidelines that Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia publishes. For sustainability, we need to follow Sustainability Professional Practice Guidelines, BC, V1.1.
Our sustainability guideline reminds us of how our profession defines sustainability as well as the five recognized guidelines for professional practice. We primarily use the three-part Brundtland definition with some added perspective under each element: environmental sustainability, social sustainability, and economic sustainability. Let's explore.
As engineers, we follow five responsibilities which guide how we practice engineering to fulfill our sustainability responsibilities and relate to our code of ethics:
- maintain a current knowledge of sustainability
- integrate sustainability into professional practice
- collaborate with peers and experts from concept to completion
- develop and prepare clear justifications to implement sustainable solutions
- assess sustainability performance and identify opportunities for improvement
This short guide document briefly relates sustainability in a broad sense with practising engineering and geoscience in a broad sense. To cover sustainability in this way, the authors avoid recommending particular models for understanding sustainability.
Without guidance towards sustainability models grounded in good science with strong potential, we must individually invest independent effort to confirm knowledge sets which yield sufficient rigor for application in the engineering and geoscientific arenas. Along with learning detailed sustainability principles, we must also make sure we include it in our work scope definitions so that we can actually apply our rigorous method in practice.
The sustainability professional practice guideline available in 2018 leaves a significant opening between reminding members of responsibility and guiding members toward successfully meeting the guideline requirements for practising professionals.
When defining sustainability, the guide mentions carrying capacities, quality of life, and standard of living. The guide reminds members of their significant role developing a sustainable society and accounting for long term considerations. That sustainability is fundamental to proper practice of engineering and geoscience.
The guide includes brief descriptions of the five responsibilities along with longer "amplifications" which expand on each responsibility with plenty of "should" and "may". Yet, members practising engineering and geoscience must consciously work to apply the deepest understanding of the five responsibilities whenever practising to meet our first professional ethic while also confronted with current conditions in the engineering industry and the engineering community.
Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public and the protection of the environment; and promote health and safety within the workplace.