Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The Society is committed to providing members with guidance on Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Professional development is at the centre of the aspirations of the Society and we are keen that members take part. Registration with the Engineering Council carries an obligation through their code of conduct for professional development. From 2019 it is mandatory to record CPD for registrants and SaRS will sample registrants on an annual basis. More information about Engineering Council requirements here.

SaRS provides a CPD spreadsheet template as a simple way to simple way to  plan, record and monitor your activity and reflection on your CPD Record. You can download the template here

If you have any questions about CPD please email SaRS at info@sars.org.uk.

What CPD does the Safety and Reliability Society provide?

Continuing Professional Development is according to the Engineering Council’s website:

‘CPD has several purposes, which will vary in relation to your circumstances, needs and career progression. It can also take a variety of forms.  At its heart is informal learning through the challenges and opportunities of working life, and interaction with others such as colleagues, customers and suppliers, including professionals from other disciplines.  This may be supplemented by structured activities such as courses, distance learning programmes, private study, preparation of papers and presentations, mentoring, involvement in professional body activities, or relevant voluntary work. This list is not exhaustive and individual registrants are best placed to determine their needs and how to meet them.’

Here at SaRS we take CPD very seriously. CPD is now mandatory for members of SaRS who are registered with the Engineering Council. All Licensed Member Institutes will now be sampling members, so it is important to complete CPD. Wherever you see the You can record this activity as CPD sticker on the SaRS website you can add this to your CPD when completed.

We provide the following CPD Opportunities for members:

• A Peer Reviewed Journal
• Branch Meetings with Technical focus
• Webinars with international, cross industry participation
• Opportunities to represent SaRS on external Standards and in Consultations
• Opportunities to serve with cross-industry experts on SaRS Council and Committees

This list is not exhaustive and many other activities count as CPD. We are very proud of our CPD program and urge members to take part, record and reflect.

WHAT IS CPD ?

It’s the systematic way of keeping up to date in your field(s) of professional work.

WHY  DO CPD?

Working professionals from all disciplines need to refresh and widen their knowledge. All institutions and professional societies require their members to maintain current awareness within their chosen discipline; from January 2019 it is a mandatory requirement of the Engineering Council for a registrant to maintain CPD and this may be sampled. A member of an institution/society may also be required to complete CPD.

WHEN TO DO CPD?

Throughout your career. Consider your immediate and longer term professional needs, how you can satisfy them, and integrate them into your working life.

WHAT COUNTS AS CPD?

Our approach to CPD is about learning outcomes. CPD activities will vary depending on where you are in your career and what you are aiming to achieve; they are individual to each engineer, so no quantitative measures (i.e. hours spent, points based system) are required.

Much of what you do every day will count as CPD. Formal CPD such as attending a conference, going on a management course or attaining new qualifications is commonly misunderstood as the only recognised form of CPD. The value of informal learning such as reading journals and articles, taking part in technical webinars and attending branch meetings count as CPD. .  

Even your day-to-day job contributes towards your development. This includes advancing your knowledge and understanding of risk, safety and reliability through research for a new project or background reading outside your discipline. 

Serving on committees, giving presentations, and volunteer activities also count as CPD. Activities such as on the job learning, projects, problem solving, research, conferences, mentoring, volunteering, technical learning, management training and so much more – all count as valid CPD.

As long as you are able to record and reflect on an activity, and identify a learning or personal growth outcome, and that it is relevant to your discipline, it is CPD. The focus is on the learning and growth outcome rather than on time spent

I AM RETIRED OR ON A CAREER BREAK – AM I STILL ACTIVE?

If you are registered with the Engineering Council and still involved in the discipline – working, involved in volunteer activities – you must still complete CPD. Similarly, if you are on a career break and you intend to retain your registration and return to work, you need to complete CPD. In both cases your CPD may be sampled.

More details on CPD can be found here SaRS CPD overview 20190913

Other CPD Resources:
Risktec have a suite of CPD modules which are conducted on a distance learning basis