How to verify a Professional Engineer in Singapore (in two minutes)

Before an engineer stamps your drawings, it takes about two minutes to confirm they are entitled to. You need three facts: their registration, their branch, and a current practising certificate.

Step 1: search the PEB directory

The Professional Engineers Board keeps an online directory of Professional Engineers. Search by name or registration number. The same data is published as open data on data.gov.sg ("Directory of Professional Engineers with Practicing Certificate"), with registration number, name, branch and date of registration.

Step 2: match the branch to the work

Registration is by branch: civil, electrical, mechanical or chemical, with separate specialist-PE categories. A mechanical PE endorses ACMV, fire protection and plumbing. An electrical PE endorses electrical installations. A PE should not endorse outside their branch.

Step 3: confirm the practising certificate

Registration shows the engineer qualified. A practising certificate is what allows them to supply professional engineering services now, and it must be renewed. The PEB's practising directory lists only engineers who hold one.

Step 4: check the practice

When professional engineering services are supplied through a company or partnership, the Professional Engineers Act requires that entity to be licensed. The PEB publishes a Directory of Licensed Corporations and Partnerships. The PEB also publishes a list of suspended and recently deregistered PEs.

A worked example

Red flags

• A stamp with no registration number, or a number that doesn't match the name on the directory.
• An endorsement outside the engineer's branch.
• "Stamp-only" offers with no review of drawings or calculations. Under the Act, the PE is responsible for what they endorse.
• Reluctance to put the engineer's name in writing.