The Institution of Certificated Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, South Africa

In accordance with clause 4.03 of the Constitution, the Council has pleasure in presenting the Ninety-Eighth Annual Report and Financial Statement for the year ended 31 December 2008.

The past year has been a very busy year for all. It is evident in the way individuals are juggling their time between commitments. Never mind the work load of our daily tasks. Nevertheless, the members of EXCO and Council still manage to put a tremendous amount of time and energy into the operational matters of the Institution. This Annual report serves to provide a brief summary of some of the actions taken during the year. The extent of the matters attended to are not necessarily limited to what is reflected in the report.

Activities of the Institution during the year are as follows:

An approach has been made by Council to ECSA earlier in the year about the difficulty experienced by members to be accepted as Professional Certificated Engineers by the Registration Committee. This issue has not been resolved as yet and continues to enjoy attention from Council. The main problem of this issue is the fact that the requirement for registration is a legal appointment and many firms insisting on Pr Registration before making an appointment. Secondly, there are many Certificated Engineers who are very capable and knowledgeable who do not work in the environment where an appointment is necessary and as such now cannot become Registered as a result.
There continues to be a steady increase in membership applications. This is good to see and healthy for the Institution.
The Gauteng (Central) Branch of the Institution has still not got off the ground in spite of having Dave Reading as a stand-in Chairman. The success of a central branch has always been a cause of concern. The correct solution or combination of solutions are still being sought.
Communication. Four newsletters have been produced and distributed, together with the Western Cape Bulletin, to all members during the year. One of the concerns we have about communication is the high number of members whose email addresses we either do not have or that are outdated. Somehow we need to address this issue as communication is one of the most important functions of our Institution. Our webmaster has set up a communication Blog and as yet this form of communication has still not taken off.
Bursaries. The Institution has 2 bursars registered and we are currently seeking additional candidates who would fit our profile.
Continued Professional Development (CPD). There have been a number of courses validated for CPD points. This area continues to be an opportunity for the Institution to provide useful input to members. All locally presented talks and events could be registered with ECSA as they happen.
Branches. The activity of the branches has been very disappointing. The active branches at present are Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal and Western Cape. For some reason the other branches are not operating and there has been nobody willing to take up the reins and put activities together for members. This is a concern to the Institution as we should be offering our members some activity to assist with CPD point accumulation.
Council for the Built Environment. The CBE proposed a set of Legislation which has had everyone in the engineering world worried. The Institution studied this proposed Legislation and submitted necessary comment as requested by the processes. The proposed Bill was withdrawn from the parliamentary programme for technical and legal reasons. However, the Bill is bound to be placed on the agenda again this coming year.
Mr Jack Cunnington attended the ECSA President’s Forum meeting on my behalf and Vaughan Townsend attended the launch of the National Task Force meeting and the AMRE AGM on my behalf.
Branch visits to Eastern Cape and KZN were carried out.
Prof Hu Hanrahan addressed the Council on the Certificated Engineer Initiative and what has been happening behind the scenes in respect of the future of the Certificated Engineer as a qualification. A short report on this feedback is available on our web site.
The SAQA has registered the Certificated Engineer as a qualification and this can be viewed on the SAQA website (SAQA Qual ID 63450).
Various members have attended portfolio meetings as noted under the section Council Representatives in this report, throughout the year. Thank you for your continued support and efforts!
Five member’s names have been put forward to serve as nominations for examiners to the Commission of Examiners. No result has been forthcoming as yet.

The financial status of ICMESA has remained positive and is going from strength to strength. The audited and certified annual financial report which is included in this annual report shows that the financial expenditure is well controlled and a concerted effort has again gone into the recovery of subscriptions. Well done to Robbie Holmwood and Fiona Revolta on controlling the finances so well.

The annual year end function was held on the 25th October 2008 at the Tuscan BBQ, situated in the Montecasino in Johannesburg where a buffet lunch was enjoyed by all who attended.

Thank you to Fiona and those members of EXCO who have supported me during my two years as President and for those who have attended functions on my behalf. It has been an honour and a pleasure for me to serve this esteemed Institution as President.

Congratulations to the newly elected Council and EXCO as well as the President for 2009, Jack Cunnington, and Vice Presidents who are making themselves available for the coming year. Your efforts and contributions do not pass unnoticed.

Finally, thank you to all our members. We always look forward to communicating with you and I would like to encourage further communication as that is one of the weaknesses all Institutions like ours have.

May the Institution continue to represent its members in the best way possible.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen

Presidential Address: The Evolution of the Certificate of Competency

Introduction
At the beginning of the 20th century it was realised that there was a need in industry, Mines and Factories, to appoint competent person to assume responsibility for a safe working environment for the personnel, the safe operation of machines, and the surrounds of the workplace. Engineering work related safety rules, mostly derived from the British industrial rules, laws and the marine industry, were adapted and established. These later formed the basis of what became labour laws and eventually the Factories and Mines and Works acts respectively, the OSH act as we know it today. As a result of this, the first Government Certificate of Competency was issued by the then Mines Department of the Union of South Africa to the first successful candidate, Mr Wesley Ernest John during 1912. Mr Wesley Ernest John became President of this Institution in 1939.
Most certificated engineers, “ticket holders”, from the early years to the mid 60s were appointed as resident engineers at mines, utilities, factories and other industries. From the mid 60s designation changes mostly derived from the Patterson grading system in the utilities and factories environment were implemented and engineers were appointed as superintendents and later managers. This resulted in utilities and factories running plant with superintendents who were not necessarily qualified engineers. Currently the trend is being reversed and certificated engineers are again appointed as engineers, senior engineers, chief engineers and consulting engineers etc. The mining fraternity to a greater extent kept the designations of engineer, plant engineer, section engineer etc. headed by a Resident Engineer and later an Engineering Manager.

Evolvement of the Certificate of Competency
A past president or the institution ( Mr CV Rutter) asked the question during his presidential address: will there be a certificate of competence in 2000 AD?. I am not sure why he asked the question, but may have the answer later in my address. We are not sure what the exact criteria was during 1912 to be accepted as a candidate to write the prescribed examination, but assume a person had to be an artisan with strong technical abilities and knowledge of the regulations and relevant Acts. After the second world war the criteria was set that a person had to be an artisan with a specified trade, have an NTC 2 qualification, 5 years relevant experience and be at least 23 years of age.
During the late 1950s this was changed to NTC 3 plus the same criteria as above. During the late 1960s the NTC and ATC courses were replaced with N1 to N6 leading to the N Diploma courses which were well accepted by industry. Hence the criteria for acceptance as a candidate for the examination was adapted, candidate still had to 23 years of age but could be accepted as a candidate by holding one of the following qualifications: A BSc engineering graduate; a T3 with prescribed subjects and experience, an artisan from certain trades and prescribed subjects from N3 to N6 With a minimum mark of 50% per subject.
Though there were many excellent Certificated Engineers from the previous dispensations, the new acceptance criteria for candidates especially from the artisan’s pipeline produced theoretically better equipped engineers as a result of the broader educational base. Certificated Engineers from this era excelled in their field, industry recognised their engineering abilities and skills and appointed many of these certificated engineers in specialised disciplines such as design, network planning, maintenance consulting etc. where they proved themselves as competent engineers occupying senior positions.

Further Evolvement of the Certificate of Competency.
ECSA developed a model demonstrating the pathways leading to the Certificate of Competency. With the N courses now being phased out, the suggested alternative routes are:

BSc Engineering graduate.
B Tech with prescribed subjects and experience.
Artisan with prescribed new L5 and L6 courses and experience leading to a stage 1 and 2 qualifications.

It is of paramount importance that our institution participates in and influence the process to ensure the interest of our members is guarded and the status of the certificated engineer is maintained. During the 1960s the certificate of competency was evaluated by the HSRC as an M + 3 qualifications. With the new education dispensation the certificate was not submitted for evaluation, thus for a period of time not regarded as a qualification. ECSA appointed a workgroup who produced an excellent document which was submitted to SAQA for evaluation. We can proudly announce SAQA evaluated and on 22 October 2008, officially registered the Certificate as a level 7 qualification. Sadly this is not well communicated neither to the public at large nor employers.

Professional Registration
The current total number of certificates issued is 16672, of which 9690 were issued by the DME and 6982 by the DoL. Yet only 970 certificated engineers and 178 candidate Pr Cert Eng are registered with ECSA. ICMEESA, representing both the mining and factories fraternities, identified criteria in the registration process that eliminates numerous qualified certificated engineers from being registered and will engage with ECSA to revisit the registration criteria to accommodate more candidates for registration. We encourage our members to register with ECSA as we believe that every certificated engineer who meets the minimum standards should be registered with ECSA. In doing so they not only make the fact known to the public but also demonstrates they are willing to be scrutinised by their peers.

Conclusion
The Institution needs to adapt to a changing and challenging environment. The traditional feeding pipeline for Certificated Engineers has changed, due to less apprentices enrolled, thus producing less artisans. Complimenting this is the fact that the N courses are being phased out. Not only are more certificates now issued to BSc graduates and B Tech candidates than N stream candidates, but they also outnumber new applications for acceptance as candidates for the examinations, which seem to follow the natural process evolving. This could be expected to change with the implementation of the new L courses. Although the South African Certificate of Competency is not recognised by other countries, it is starting to appear on advertisements for vacancies in Australia, Dubai and elsewhere.
As incoming President, I expect a challenging year ahead. The role of the institution of Certificated Mechanical and Electrical Engineers will however remain to focus on the interests of its members and promoting the general advancement of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering sciences.

Thank you.

Financial Report for 2008

The financial situation of ICMEESA remains sound with the financial year of 2008 ending on a positive note. It is now a pleasure to report with such regular monotony on the sound financial state of our institution. Again, thank you to you, the members for your positive reaction to the prompt payment of subscription fees. With the sound control of operational costs by our secretary, Mrs Fiona Revolta, the income from subscriptions exceeded expenditure, resulting in us ending the year with a slight surplus on operational expenditure. The financial statements will be submitted to the auditors for formal presentation at the Annual General Meeting on 5th March 2009. We have managed to maintain this positive trend for the past few years and have managed to accumulate a healthy foundation to cater for any unforeseen expenditures. Subscription income is our main source of income with which we need to operate the administrative function of the Institution. This includes the payment of 10% of subscriptions received, to the various Branches on a pro rata basis of membership subscriptions received from members of that Branch. This is to cover administrative costs of branch activities. Hence the reference above to “operational” expenditure, as it ignores income from interest from investments, and income from the WP Jones Bursary Trust Fund.

At the November Council meeting it was agreed that subscription increases will be restricted to a 6% increase. For the main membership base of Member and Senior Member grades, it is a R32 increase. The subscription fees for 2009, including VAT, will be as follows:

Senior R 570.00
Member R 570.00
Associate R 570.00
Student R 448.00
Patron R 1141.00
Retired <20years membership R 285.00
Retired >20years membership R 143.00
Retired >30years membership R 0.00

Engineering Council (ECSA)

During 2008 the Institution and individual Professional Certificated Engineers continued to play a significant role in the various activities of ECSA. Various issues which have a direct impact on the Institution and Professional Certificated Engineers were addressed during the year, included the withdrawal of the controversial Built Environment Professions Bill by the Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge, the sudden passing of Professor Ravi Nayagar, CEO of ECSA and the appointment of Professor Hu Hanrahan as the acting CEO of ECSA.

Registration Committee for Professional Certificated Engineers
Meetings of the Registration Committee for Professional Certificated Engineers were held regularly depending of the number of applications. A number of applications from both the mining and factory sector were received during the year. The registration committee has raised a concern regarding the availability of willing mentors to sign off the candidates applications. Further more, applications are not been accepted due to the lack of proof of legal appointments. The challenge is that industry is not necessarily appointing candidates in the legal positions as required by the current criteria which the registration committee uses.
Registration of Professional and Candidate Certificated Engineers
The number of new registrations has increased significantly as shown in the statistic below:.
ECSA REGISTRATION STATISTICS
948 4.5

Period ended Candidate Certificated Engineer Professional Certificated Engineer* % of Registered professionals

1999 60 784 3.3

2000 74 791 3.42

2001 78 791 3.48

2002 90 797 3.57

2003 107 810 3.57

2004 106 816 4.1

2005 114 831 4.22

2006 136 948 4.5

2007 163 979 4.8

2008 168 1009 4.85

* includes holders of certificates of competency as electrical and mechanical engineers for factories and mines, marine engineers and mine managers.

We are expecting a 7% increase in the fees for the next financial year which is the inflation index minus 3%.

Continuing Professional Development (Cpd) And Renewal Of Registration
Since the implementation of the renewal of registration through CPD requirement in January 2006 and the amendment of the rules, the co-operation from registered persons is still very disappointing even after each registered person being allocated two Category 1 credits for 2006 and 2007.
Members are urged to register with ECSA.

SAASTA

(South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement)

Johannesburg Observatory is a facility of SAASTA , a business unit of the National Research Foundation, which receives its mandate from the National Research Foundation Act (Act No. 23 of 1998). Johannesburg Observatory acts as a science advancement facility for SAASTA and does this through a range of programmes, events and activities. It is home to various tenants, organisations and partners such as SAIEE, TRAC (funded by Murray and Roberts), ASSA, Phaphama, ICMEESA, Ekupholeni and SAITS. The facility is open for schools and members of the public.

(The ICMEESA administration office is located at the Observatory site)

Department of Labour (DoL)

The Minister of Labour held a workshop on 11 and 12 November 2008 where the main theme was about the Building And Construction Industry and non compliance of the OHSAct and Regulations in this regard. The Construction Regulations is currently being amended. Engineers should study these regulations as it is applicable to all construction work which normally takes place, even on any plant where equipment is installed or where alterations or extensions are carried out.

Department of Minerals and Energy (DME)

Regulations continue to be promulgated under the Mine Health and Safety Act and, simultaneously, regulations that were in effect under the Minerals Act (and in force in terms of Schedule 4 of the Mine Health and Safety Act) are being repealed as they become obsolete.
The Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate continues to strive towards improvement of conditions and practices at mines and thereby reduce the exposure of mine employees to acceptable levels of risk to their health and safety. The mining industry was subsequently subjected to a national audit, the results of which are due to be released early in 2009. The Inspectorate in their pursuit of zero harm also issued numerous Section 54 and 55 notices stopping parts of mines and in some cased complete mines for periods of up to 7 days.
Certificate of Competency exams did not provide exiting results in that the pass rate for plant knowledge was barely 12.3% and Legal knowledge 30%.

Reasons given by the Commission of examiners are:

Lack of knowledge in applying the technical theory obtained at tertiary institutions to practical applications.
Candidates do not prepare for the examinations through obtaining the required exposure to the practical side of the functions of engineers on mines.
The practical questions are poorly answered and it is as if the candidate has never been exposed to the practical situation.
The candidates do not answer the question asked but list information they think may be relevant.
Candidates do not learn the definitions in the law book which counts between 10 and 20%.
A lack of understanding of the definitions.
Candidates answer legal knowledge questions with what they think should be in the regulations instead of what actually is required in the regulations.
Candidates answer legal knowledge questions by stating “ as prescribed by the regulations” when the required answer is the prescribed regulation.

This is a major concern to industry as candidates are receiving far more attention and focused training with no real improvement. Industry and members of ICMEESA are meeting with representatives of the DME in an attempt to understand the reasons for the poor results.
The DME is committed to the continuous improvement of the quality of life for mine employees. This is only possible with the ongoing co-operation and participation of all persons associated with the mining industry.

Membership

The Committee meets prior to Council and Executive meetings to consider applications and make the appropriate recommendations.
There has been an encouraging ongoing increase in applications for membership in 2008 ranging from students to certificated engineers with 25 years experience. 71 new members were approved during the year. New applications for student members and members were in the majority and we were honoured by having an international engineer apply for membership as well.
Despite the fact that we are continuously appealing to members to inform the secretary of personal information changes, specifically address changes, there are still numerous mailed documents returned “address unknown”.

Obituary. Members deceased in 2008
LJ Clark
RC Dubber
HW Gehm
BJC Felthuis
EE Higginson
M Mameli
TW Trevorrow
NA Wienand

Editorial

Communication with our members transpires through the following sources:

The quarterly newsletter “ICMEESA NEWS”.
The quarterly Western Cape Branch produced “Engineering Bulletin”.
Distribution of magazines such as Vector.
The web site www.icmeesa.com

Although intended to be more interactive in nature, member contributions rarely occur. There is occasional feedback from members on articles which is of a positive tone. The introduction of an interactive blogging site will hopefully stimulate more interactive participation.

Bursary Awards and Prizes

Although both students were repeating a number of subjects at their own cost in 2008, they both delivered acceptable results and subsequently the council agreed to continue supporting them in 2009. Bursaries covered the costs of tuition and books for subjects not being repeated only.

The bursary holders are:

Jasoda Naidoo from Chatswarth in Durban. Jasoda is registered as a fourth year student at the Universtity of KZN studying electrical engineering.
Ernest De La Hunt from Rustenburg in the North West. Ernest is registered as a third year student at Potchefstroom University studying mechanical engineering.

Both bursars are children of members of ICMEESA.
Council agreed that at least two additional students should be recruited for financial support during 2009, due to the accumulation of Trust funds available.