PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND PRACTICES - COLUMN 157
Topical Index-Table of Contents to the Professional Ethics and Practices Columns
A topically based Index-Table of Contents, “pe&p index.xls” cov ering columns, articles, and letters to the editor that have been referred to in the PE&P columns in Excel format is on the AIPG web site in the Ethics section. This Index-Table of Contents is updated as each issue of the TPG is published. You can use it to find those items addressing a particular area of concern. Suggestions for improvements should be sent to David Abbott,
dmageol@msn.com
Compiled by David M. Abbott, Jr., CPG-04570, 5055 Tamarac Street, Denver, CO 80238, 303-394-0321, fax 303-394-0543,
dmageol@msn.com
Continuing Professional Development Revisited
Most geoscience professional ethics codes encourage geo- scientists to engage in continuing professional development (CPD). Some geoscience professional organizations require members to engage in a minimum amount of CPD to maintain a particular membership status. Currently eight of the 30 Association of State Boards of Geology require some amount of CPD in order to maintain a professional or registered geolo- gist’s license as do some state engineering boards. AIPG has always encouraged CPD and briefly required new-at-the-time CPGs to report CPD. This program soon died for a variety of reasons.
Some professional societies have recently either initi- ated required CPD programs or are considering doing so. In particular, the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (APEG or APEGBC) is in the process of establishing a required CPD program. British Columbia is the last major Canadian mining province that has not required CPD. Some believe that after British Columbia requires CPD, the requirements for recognition as an overseas professional organization for NI 43-101 reporting purposes will be changed to require reported CPD. Should the Canadian rules be changed, AIPG will be forced to come up with a program of required CPD for those who wish to continue to be recognized as Qualified Persons for NI 43-101 reporting purposes. The Mining and Metallurgical Society of America (MMSA) is actively working to develop a required CPD reporting program.
The most important thing in tracking one’s CPD hours for either a voluntary or a required CPD program is keeping a log of one’s CPD activities. CPD activities can include (require- ments vary by organization):
field trips
leading field trips
e.g. regula- tory courses to maintain mining or environmental certifica- tions
meetings/mentoring
There are rules on how much of some activities may be counted and other details depending on the particular CPD reporting program. But in order to report these activities, you need a record or log of the activities you engage in.
The Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists recently reported that much of its enforcement activity involved licens- ees who (1) didn’t think they had to report CPD, (2) failed to report their CPD, or (3) did an inadequate job of doing so. I asked the members of the MMSA CPD committee to log their CPD in a draft reporting form to identify problems with the proposed CPD reporting form or accompanying instructions. The committee members realized that if they had a log or cal- endar of meetings, etc. they could easily record the minimum number of hours being considered as a reporting minimum, a number that initially seemed daunting. The needed CPD log is easier to compile than the time sheets most of us have to fill in so that our employers, or those of us who are independent consultants, can bill our clients.
Keeping a simple log of the foregoing types of activity pro- vides the data needed to fill out any CPD reporting log. I use a OneNote1 page with a table format that is easily ported to Excel at year’s end for classifying and summarizing informa- tion. The data can consist of the following: the date of the activity, the hours spent on the activity, a description of the activity, and the sponsoring organization’s name, if relevant. The following list is my log for September 2015.
09/01/15 1 CO Sec ExCom
09/05/15 2 SME Valuation Committee re Standing Committee status in SME
09/08/15 1 MMSA QP committee conf call on CPD 09/14/15 1 DMC Colorado Soda solution mining 09/18/15 7.5 AIPG National Ex Com & Advisory Board 09/21/15 8 AIPG Annual meeting, includes my talk 09/22/15 5 AIPG Annual meeting talks 09/24/15 0.5 GSL SP 419 read & review 09/25/15 0.5 GSL SP 419 read & review 09/28/15 4 work on MMSA CPD program 09/30/15 1 MMSA QP committee conf call
1. OneNote is part of Microsoft Office and a handy program for electronically capturing all sorts of information and synchronizing it between your computers and smart phones and tablets. Evernote is a similar program that is free at the basic level. I’ve used both and been very happy with both.
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