Construction World June 2022

CESA WELCOMES ECSA’s NEW CPD VALIDATION

PROCESSES C onsulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) welcomes the Engineering Council of South Africa’s (ECSA) decision to refine its processes for validating CPD Category 1: Developmental Activities (courses, conferences, webinars etc.) for CPD point allocation. This has been necessitated by the many unscrupulous training providers in the industry who have been falsely advertising CPD validated training courses and conferences that often do not match their CPD points allocation. Brenda Lacey-Smith, Manager CESA School of Consulting Engineering (pictured) explains, “Often the CPD allocation for the training being provided does not match the quality and content requirements for the allocation of the level on which the CPD points were initially awarded”. In efforts to improve the governance

and quality of CPD training and the points that are claimable, ECSA has implemented new standards and processes to which all voluntary associations and academic institutions offering training or CPD validation services must abide, when awarding CPD points. “This process started during 2020 and is now in its final stages of providing recognition to industry bodies such as CESA. This recognition has been awarded to CESA following a comprehensive audit by ECSA of the organisation’s systems and processes”, continues Lacey-Smith. It is unfortunate that there may be frustration experienced by some CESA member firms and industry partners during the transition to the new system, however, CESA, in ensuring that both the quality of training and the CPD point allocations are maintained

at a high standard, welcomes this important development. CESA has aligned its systems with the new standard and has been successfully audited and approved as a recognised ECSA certified License Body, to be a CPD validation agent. “We now in a position to offer this CPD validation service and subsequently ensure that both our training and CPD point allocations can stand up to any scrutiny by ECSA. This will ensure that when registered persons claim such points in the future, they can do it confidently having the CESA CPD validation stamp of approval,“ concludes Lacey-Smith. 

9 CONSTRUCTION WORLD JUNE 2022