The Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics (BCPE) achieved a significant goal on October 9, 2001. Last night, International Ergonomics Association (IEA) President Waldemar Karwowski announced the endorsement of the BCPE as an accredited ergonomics certifying body and delivered a certificate of recognition to Bob Smillie, the President of the BCPE. The awards ceremony took place during the BCPE Networking Reception, sponsored in part by Ergoweb and held during the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
This important endorsement is the first of its kind, making the BCPE the only IEA endorsed ergonomics certification body in the world. A number of other ergonomics certification organizations have applications pending with the IEA, including the Centre for Registration of European Ergonomists (CREE), the Ergonomics Society of Australia, and the Ergonomics Society of New Zealand.
The primary goal of the IEA is to support ergonomics worldwide, which they accomplish through their role as the federation of human factors and ergonomics societies from around the world. The primary goal of the BCPE is to provide voluntary certification to ergonomics/human factors professionals whose education, training, and experience indicate broad competence in the application of ergonomics to products, processes and environments for the purpose of safe, comfortable, and effective human use.
“The IEA program for endorsing certification bodies was developed through extensive consultations with ergonomics societies throughout the world. The program is key to achieving the principal objectives of the IEA, including the development of the discipline and the promotion of ergonomics,” said Ian Noy, past President of the IEA.
“The endorsement process was very rigorous and difficult, and we are very pleased with this success,” commented Karol Jahns, a BCPE represntative. The BCPE is a member of the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA), maintains a cooperative agreement with the Center for Registration of European Ergonomists (CREE), and recently formalized a reciprocal relationship with the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH) whereby each organization recognizes the other as the premier certifying body for its profession.
Ergoweb is a proud supporter of both the IEA and BCPE. We are dedicated to quality and
professional development in the field of ergonomics, and encourage our members to support the IEA, BCPE, or other appropriate certification organization in their country or region. Learn more about IEA at www.iea.cc, and BCPE at www.bcpe.org.