With continuing interest in training courses designed to boost the skills, knowledge, and expertise, of existing Authorising Engineers working in key disciplines such as decontamination (AE (D)) and medical gases (AE (MGPS), and in the routes via which aspiring AEs can attain the standards required to secure formal registration.
IHEEM has been in discussions with several training providers with a view to establishing optimal training and qualification ‘pathways’. Among the training organisations to have contributed especially positively to this ‘ongoing dialogue’ has been Eastwood Park Training in Gloucestershire (HEJ – September 2012), which has been looking at developing an AE ‘Development and Registration Programme’. The aim would be for the majority of candidates wishing to gain formal registration as an Authorising Engineer to be suitably trained and qualified within two years. Eastwood Park stresses that candidates working towards registration via such a Framework would be able to gain the necessary training, support, and help, from a number of different training providers. Julian Amey, IHEEM’s CEO, explains: “Both the Education and Training Committee, and the Institute’s Decontamination and Medical Gas Technical Platforms, will be continuing to look at the options for training and qualification programmes and frameworks for AEs. The goal is to establish the most effective and workable routes to ensure that those seeking registration, for example as an AE(D) or AE (MGPS), possess not only the right qualifications and training, but equally the practical expertise, interpersonal and management skills, and professionalism, to carry out their roles effectively. Prior learning and experience will be fully taken into account. “While much of the initial focus has been on establishing a pathway towards registration as an AE (D), IHEEM plans to look next at a similar ‘route’ for Authorising Engineers (MGPS), and, in future, for other specialist AEs. “The different ‘competencies’ considered essential to achieve registration will be determined, as indeed they are currently, by personnel working within the particular discipline with the appropriate knowledge and expertise. We will keep IHEEM members fully informed on how discussions progress.”
