The accreditation of engineering professionals is aimed at maintaining high standards and regulating unfair practices.
The Ministry of Labour recently issued a notice to all establishments working in the construction field of the need to start implementing the professional accreditation system for all job titles included in the engineering profession.
The ministry instructed all working engineers, or those to be appointed, to apply to the Oman Society of Engineers (OSE) for professional accreditation, which will be a prerequisite for issuing and renewing work permits from February 1.
As of October 22, there are 696,804 expatriates working in the principal auxiliary and engineering occupations compared to 50,087 Omanis.
According to details provided on the OSE website, the Engineering Professional Accreditation is a classification system to bring up engineering expertise to high professional levels.
It will also seek to raise Omanisation rates in the engineering profession by eliminating the number of expatriate engineers who are not qualified to perform engineering work.
It will also enable the Ministry of Labour to issue appropriate permits to individuals and institutions.
The classification system will help companies and organisations assess the engineers’ levels and expertise, maximise the utilisation of their capabilities, and prevent forged engineering practices.
The Professional Accreditation System seeks to verify the academic qualifications of the engineers through verification partners, evaluate their capacities, experience and levels of professionalism and classify them accordingly into different professional grades.
The system will validate the qualifications of engineers wishing to work in the Sultanate of Oman, decide the field of engineering qualification and engineering expertise accordingly, evaluate the practical experiences, knowledge and skills acquired by workers in this profession, and then define the duties, responsibilities and standards for practicing the profession.
