IGEM Professional Code of Conduct

If you are purchasing Associate Membership of IGEM to gain full access to the Hydrogen Knowledge Centre, you hereby agree to adhere to IGEM's Professional Code of Conduct:

INTRODUCTION

This Code of Professional Conduct of the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers places an obligation on its members to act with integrity and in the public interest. The intention is to encourage members to act in accordance with the Statement of Ethical Principles published by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Engineering Council.

Complimentary to this Professional Code of Conduct are the IGEM Disciplinary Regulations. Both the code and the regulations are required under the Institution’s Royal Charter and its license from Engineering Council. Both documents are compliant with Engineering Council guidance. The following rules are made and published by the Council of the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers under the authority of the By-Laws. Please note that in this document, singular number includes the plural number and vice versa. In these Rules “member” means a member of any class referred to in the By-Laws of the Institution, “employer” includes “client” and “Council” means the Council of the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers.

A code of professional conduct designed to cover all eventualities must necessarily be written in general terms expressing broad ethical principles. Almost every case of doubt as to the proper course of action required to conform to the code of professional conduct arises from a conflict between a member’s personal interest and his/her duty to others. Rules issued by the Council to interpret the code indicate the manner in which members are required to conduct themselves in a number of situations that are frequently encountered. In other situations, members are required to order their conduct in accordance with the principle that, in any conflict between a member’s personal interest and fair and honest dealing with other members of the community, his/her duty to the community must prevail.

A member, who resigns after a complaint has been made, shall be deemed to remain in membership until the disciplinary process has reached its verdict. If this verdict is that the person be removed from membership, his/her deemed membership will allow that to be effected and shown on the record should he/she ever wish to re-join.

CODE OF CONDUCT

1. A member shall at all times so order his/her conduct as to uphold the dignity and reputation of his/her profession, and to safeguard the public interest in matters of safety and health and otherwise. He/she shall exercise his/her professional skill and judgement to the best of his/her ability and discharge his/her professional responsibilities with integrity.

2. A member shall take all reasonable steps necessary to avoid waste of natural resources, damages to the environment, and wasteful damage or destruction of the products of human skill and industry.

3. A Member shall take all reasonable steps to maintain and develop his/her professional competence by attention to new developments in science and engineering relevant to his/her fi eld of professional activity and, if he/she is an employer, shall encourage his/her professional employees to take such steps. A Member must maintain a record of their Continuing Professional Development (CPD), unless they are not professionally active. This record must be presented to the Institution upon request.

4. A member shall only undertake tasks as a Gas Engineer or Manager, where he/she is competent to discharge his/her skills and knowledge accordingly and disclose relevant limitations of competence.

5. A member shall accept personal responsibility for all work done by him/ her or under his/her supervision or direction, and shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that persons working under his/her authority are competent to carry out the tasks assigned to them and that they accept personal responsibility for work done under the authority delegated to them.

6. A member called upon to give an opinion in his/her professional capacity shall, to the best of his/ her ability, give an opinion that is objective and reliable.

7. A member whose professional advice is not accepted shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that the person overruling or neglecting his/her advice is aware of any danger, which the member believes may result from such overruling or neglect.

8. A member shall not make any public statement in his/her capacity as a Gas Engineer or Manager without ensuring that his/her qualification(s) are appropriate to make such a statement and any association he/she may have with any party which may benefit from his/her statement are made known to the person or persons to whom it is directed.

9. A member shall not, in self-laudatory language or in any manner derogatory to the dignity of the profession of gas engineers and managers, advertise or write articles for publication, nor shall he/she authorise any such advertisement or article to be written or published by any other person.

10. A member shall not recklessly injure or attempt to injure whether directly or indirectly the professional reputation of the Institution, its members, any other engineer or manager or any business with which they may be associated.

11. A member shall inform his/her employer in writing of any conflict between his/her personal interest and faithful service to his/her employer.

12. A member shall not improperly disclose any information concerning the business of his/her employer or of any past employer.

13. A member shall not accept remuneration in connection with professional services rendered to his/her employer other than from his/her employer or with his/her employer’s consent; nor shall he/she receive directly or indirectly any royalty, gratuity or commission on any article or process used in or for the purpose of the work in respect of which he/she is employed unless or until such royalty, gratuity or commission has been authorised in writing by his/her employer.

14. A member shall assess and manage relevant risks and communicate these appropriately.

15. A member shall assess relevant liability, and if appropriate hold professional indemnity insurance.

16. A member shall not improperly solicit work as an independent adviser or consultant, either directly or by an agent, nor shall he/she pay any person, by commission or otherwise, for the introduction of such work.

17. A member acting as an independent adviser or consultant shall not be the medium of payment made on his/her employer’s behalf unless so requested by his/her employer; nor shall he/she place contracts or orders in connection with work on which he/she is employed, except with the authority of and on behalf of his/her employer.

18. A member shall treat all persons fairly, without bias, and with respect.

19. A member should encourage others to advance their learning and competence.

20. A member must notify the Institution if convicted of a criminal offence (excluding motoring offences) or upon becoming bankrupt or disqualified as a Company Director.

21. A member must notify the Institution of any significant violation of the Institution’s Code of Conduct by another member.

22. A member shall raise a concern about a danger, risk, malpractice or wrongdoing, which affects others (‘blow the whistle’), and support a colleague or any other person to whom you have a duty of care who in good faith raises any such concern.