A new scheme from the Society of Operations Engineers is helping engineering firms demonstrate competence

Published:  21 March, 2014

A new scheme from the Society of Operations Engineers (SOE) is helping engineering firms demonstrate competence and deliver professional development.

SOE’s Corporate Partner scheme accredits companies’ in-house training programmes, ensuring they meet high industry standards and deliver professional development to employees. The resulting recognition of competence gives employees access to professional registration with the Engineering Council, further strengthening their status as engineering professionals.

Roger O’Loughlin, SOE’s development manager, explains: “Competent employers want to know the training they provide meets the high standards they expect their employees to deliver. This is what SOE provides through Corporate Partnership: our Partners gain independent accreditation of training schemes, giving them a mark of quality assurance which strengthens organisation-wide CPD. This accreditation also results in employees gaining straightforward access to registration with the Engineering Council, a form of professional recognition that SOE has long supported.”

First to sign up to the new scheme was HSB Engineering Insurance. HSB has a national network of engineer surveyors providing statutory inspections of equipment across all industry types in the UK and Ireland. With HSB signed up to Corporate Partnership, the company’s in-house training will undergo review and accreditation, and HSB engineer surveyors will have a direct route to Engineering Council professional registration at Incorporated Engineer (IEng) and Engineering Technician (EngTech) levels.

Peter Milton, managing director, engineering division at HSB Engineering Insurance commented: “Operational excellence and technical expertise are at the heart of our business and we believe that membership of the SOE Corporate Partner scheme recognises our commitment to the continual professional development of our engineer surveyors, ensuring that they have the highest professional standards in the industry.”

SOE offers Corporate Partnership to companies and academic institutions affiliated with road transport, plant and engineer surveying. The scheme is aimed at both companies and academic institutions, and once Corporate Partners are signed up they can have an unlimited amount of training programmes accredited by SOE at no extra charge.