July 2010

PEGNL Co-sponsors PIEVC Engineering Protocol Workshop

A Continuing Professional Development Workshop “How Will Climate Change Impact Civil Infrastructure in Newfoundland & Labrador?”, sponsored by PEGNL and Engineers Canada, was offered in St. John’s in June. 

30 PEGNL members and others gathered to avail of this opportunity to learn about the Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC) Engineering Protocol for Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment which will likely become the national engineering guideline for potential climate change effects on infrastructure in Canada.

The PIEVC Protocol should be an essential tool for individuals involved in the design, operation, maintenance and management of infrastructure.

The one-day workshop offered tools for assessment of the climate change challenges facing current and future civil infrastructure and provided the techniques needed to meet current and future challenging issues regarding climate change effects on infrastructure.

“This was a wonderful opportunity to learn from the experts,” says PEGNL CEO Geoff Emberley, P.Eng. ”This is a good tool for working with the many aspects of climate change as part of the engineering process.”

Engineers Canada, in partnership with Natural Resources Canada, has developed and tested the PIEVC Engineering Protocol – a structured procedure using standard risk assessment methodologies to assess and fully document the vulnerability of infrastructure to the impacts of future climate change.

Two facilitated group workshop sessions demonstrated the steps in the Protocol through hands-on, small group exercises to define the infrastructure components and climate parameters and to undertake a qualitative risk assessment using completed case studies to illustrate real life applications.

More information is available at www.pievc.ca.

© Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Newfoundland and Labrador