NPER Areas

1. General Areas of Practice

Professional engineers on NPER are normally registered in at least one general area of practice, in which they satisfy the Australian Engineering Competency Standards for Professional Engineers at Stage 2. To find out further information on Chartered Status click here. Engineers may also be listed in a specific area of practice if it is essential to their practice.

Information on the general areas of practice on the National Professional Engineers Register (NPER) give a reasonable indication of services likely to be delivered by registered professional engineers.

aerospace	biomedical	building services	chemical	civil
electrical	environmental	management	mechanical	structural
naval architecture	ITEE

The number of general areas of practice is limited to avoid excessive overlap between them. More specialist registration may not give the community any greater degree of quality assurance, or encourage greater improvement in the technical and professional standards maintained by engineers, than can registration in the above general areas of practice.

The most substantial protection for the community lies in the requirements of the code of ethics that registrants must practise within the limits of their personal and professional competence, and in the assurance that they will be subject to effective disciplinary action if they fail to observe that constraint. The code of ethics for registered practitioners is based on Engineers Australia's Code of Ethics. Non-members are required to sign an undertaking to comply with its requirements and to submit to the disciplinary provisions that underpin it if a complaint is made against them.

The National Engineering Registration Board ensures that the broader community, in whose interests NPER has been established, is effectively represented in deciding how the register will be run.

2. Specific Areas of Practice

In response to government and industry demand, five much more specific areas of practice have been made available to practitioners registered in one of the general areas of practice (categories) on NPER. Information on the specific areas of practice on NPER also gives a reasonable indication of services likely to be delivered by registered professional engineers.

Pressure equipment design verifier	Fire safety engineer
Heritage and Conservation Engineering	Subdivisional geotechnics
In-service inspectors of amusement rides and devices	Landslide Risk Management Coming soon
Electrical Equipment in Hazardous Areas Coming soon

Further specific areas of practice will be added in response to the requirements of government, industry and community demands for improved safety and protection from risks arising from the asymmetry of knowledge between procurer and provider of engineering services.

National Engineering Registration Board