Institute revoking membership for 15% of members over failure to comply.
But at the IDE’s annual general meeting – the first since he took over the hot seat from Terry Quarmby this time last year – Woodward has demonstrated that he is willing to protect the reputation and standards of the Institute at all costs; even if that means excluding around 15 percent of its members for their failure to satisfy the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) scheme requirements that has been a condition of membership for the past two years. “If engineers want to be members of the only institute of demolition engineers in the world, then they must be prepared to demonstrate their commitment to their CPD and their institute,” Woodward says. “If they cannot do that, then we must bid them farewell.”
The fact that Woodward and his council of management has taken such a firm stance at a time of economic hardship – when membership numbers are already under intense pressure – speaks volumes for the integrity and strength of an Institute that was close to financial collapse just over a decade ago.
In many ways, the debacle over CPD points is reminiscent of the NFDC’s firm stance over its Accredited Site Audit Scheme (ASAS). During his reign as NFDC president, David Darsey – who is now on the IDE’s council of management – took an equally hard line over the ASAS, often against the wishes of some NFDC members. However, three years on, and the ASAS is recognised as an industry standard in its own right and even Darsey’s staunchest dissenters are forced to admit that – with the benefit of hindsight – his bold stance was the correct one.
The same will likely be said of Woodward’s firm position on CPD. Yes, the IDE may lose a few members in the short-term; and no, that decision will not be popular with every IDE member.
But, as the saying goes, you can’t please all the people all the time. And if the IDE is to achieve its ambition of demolition engineering as a qualification on a par with civil engineering, Woodward is right to pursue his philosophy of quality over quantity.
Below is a photo slideshow from today’s IDE AGM:
