Competency Without Tears Or Liability The Pathway For Ethical Professional Practising Engineers
If you obtained your undergraduate engineering degree from a university program that is accredited under the Washington Accord, or if you have been assessed and are eligible for registration on the National Registers, that means that you have achieved the competencies necessary to be a professional engineer.
But what if you are asked to carry out tasks that are beyond your competency? What are your obligations? Do you have any liability? How does this affect your professional standing? And how can it affect your employment?
This seminar will help you navigate the ins and outs of working as a practising professional engineer. We will explore the competency framework and your ethical and professional conduct obligations, and how these interact with your duties as an employed professional. And we will find ways for you to practice as an ethical and professional engineer without jeopardising your employment or your professional standing.
About the speaker:
Melissa Kirby is a lawyer and strategist who likes difficult problems, wherever and whenever they might occur. She specializes in working with engineering and technical professionals, supporting clients and keeping their businesses safe through difficult times during the Asian Financial Crisis, the Global Financial Crisis and all the times between.
Prior to founding Sharpe & Abel, Melissa was counsel at the NYSE listed multi-billion dollar company, Honeywell, advising its Automation and Control Solutions business group in the Asia Pacific, sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East regions and a director of its local subsidiary. Melissa has also headed up the legal, regulatory and compliance department of a major Australian utility company. She is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese and holds an LL.B from the Australian National University.
Principal, Sharpe & Abel
Melissa Kirby is a principal of Sharpe & Abel, Australia’s only specialist law and strategy firm for the industrial, engineering, and technical sectors. When you meet Melissa, you might not know that she has been a director and in house lawyer at Honeywell across Asia Pacific, sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East regions, that she’s headed up the legal, regulatory and compliance department of a major Australian utility company or that she’s worked for some of the best English and US law firms in the world. Or that she also taught university for a while either. But what you will quickly know is that Melissa more than curious: from working with microbiologists who treat sewerage to tackling thorny problems on technically challenging sites, Melissa loves to don a pair of steel caps, roll up her sleeves and figure out how the law applies to some of the most complex sits on earth. Having advised clients through the Asian Financial Crisis, the Global Financial Crisis, the recent COVID-19 pandemic and every business cycle in between, Melissa considers her job well done when clients don’t end up in Court, are paid on time and in full and are growing and thriving in their business.
