Supporting the inspection and insurance industries

BES is SOE's group for those who work as engineer surveyors, which is a specialist role within operations engineering. Originally part of the Institution of Plant Engineers, pre-merger, BES was formed as a separate SOE sector, which currently serves around 1,200 SOE members and provides knowledge and professionalisation support to the insurance and inspection industry. We welcome engineers from large insurance firms, small independent inspection companies, those with specialised consultancy skills, and everyone in-between.

The BES Professional Sector Council (PSC) provides a forum for the industry to meet and take forward important issues. It includes representation from other important industry bodies such as SAFed and INITA, and works to ensure safe working across inspection.

Some of the issues the PSC is currently working on are:

• Making representations to ensure the IEng standard remains an attainable benchmark for Engineer Surveyors
• Providing SOE's input to relevant BSI standards
• Supporting a new Trailblazer Apprenticeship in Engineer Surveying

What makes an Engineer Surveyor?

The Engineer Surveyor role is ‘hands-on’ job, requiring practical experience, technical ability, strong customer communication skills and the confidence to make professional judgements. They are responsible for insurance and safety inspections across a range of machinery and equipment, including:

• Lift Equipment
• Crane Equipment
• Pressure Equipment
• Power Press/Hazardous Machinery
• Electrical equipment/Installations
• Local Exhaust Ventilation

Engineer surveyors may be called in before a piece of equipment is signed off for usage, during maintenance or refurbishment, or to investigate equipment failure. Members who join SOE can affiliate themselves to the BES sector, and benefit from tailored events, as well as the latest information in Operations Engineer magazine, delivered to them monthly.