Hydrography CPD

Continuing Professional Development

The Commission, through the HCNC, seeks to ensure that appropriate CPD opportunities are available to members and will publish a list of these activities on the Hydrography Commission pages of the SSSI website. It is expected that CPD activities will include those arranged in accordance with the SSSI regions, the Australasian Hydrographic Society and third party providers.

In accordance with SSSI policy, the CPD requirement for all Commission members including those hydrographic surveyors certified by the AHSCP (whether they are Commission members or not) is 15 points annually, applicable from 01 July to 30 June each year.

While non-certified members have the ability to use the pro-rata rule as they are required to re-certify yearly, the applicant’s declaration, AHSCP Guidelines and certification certificate require that Certified Hydrographic Surveyors achieve the 15 CPD points by the end of each Financial Year (FY). 

IMPORTANT - CPD Submission Requirements

Members of the SSSI and S+SNZ: Provision of compliant CPD each financial year ending 30 June, will provide continued certification into the new financial year. For this reason, it is important that CPD records are updated before the submission deadline of 31 July.

In accordance with SSSI policy, the CPD requirement for all Commission members including those hydrographic surveyors certified by the AHSCP (whether they are Commission members or not) is 15 points annually, applicable from 01 July to 30 June each year.

Should a Certified Hydrographic Surveyor consider that they will not be able to obtain the required annual CPD points by 30 June, they should formally write to the Chair of the Hydrography Commission (chair.hc@sssi.org.au) requesting an extension in order to comply. The extension will not normally be greater than three (3) months from 30 June.

CPD returns are assessed at the end of July and non-compliant Certified Hydrographic Surveyors automatically lose certification in accordance with the rules and are removed from the list of Current Certified Hydrographic Surveyors shortly thereafter.

Those Surveyors identified as likely to be non-compliant are notified via the last contact details provided to the SSSI, S+SNZ or AHSCP in order that they can update their CPD record prior to audit date closure.  Notification is taken as given once an attempt via the last contact details has been made and for this reason, it is highly important that Certified Hydrographic Surveyors maintain their contact details.

In order to re-gain a place on the list and certification, Surveyors will be required to complete the re-certification process as indicated on the Re-certification Flowchart. 

Non-Members:

Non-members are required to re-certify each year through the AHSCP re-certification process. The AHSCP Re-Certification Process Flowchart has been prepared to guide applicants through this process.

Continuation of Certification - The Onus Lies with the Professional

As you would deal with a client’s contract with due diligence, so too you should deal with your own contract of certification. 

There are three phases in the audit process for Members:

1. 01 June (approx), initial notification -  Call for CPD is distributed to all certified members
2. 01 – 31 July – Opportunity for all members to update CPD records and capture activities conducted in June. Commence audit and if necessary a warning notification is sent to those likely to be non-compliant.  In this phase, you will be assisted in how to apply the CPD policy correctly and identifying appropriate CPD
3. 01 August (approx) – There is no requirement for the AHSCP, HCNC or S+SNZ to notify an individual of their removal from the list post completion of the CPD audit. The rules for certification are such that Non-compliance is loss of certification, compliance is continuation.  The list will be published to reflect current certifications.

While non-certified members have the ability to use the pro-rata rule as they are required to re-certify yearly, the applicant’s declaration, AHSCP Guidelines and certification certificate require that Certified Hydrographic Surveyors achieve the 15 CPD points by the end of each Financial Year (FY). 

Method of CPD Submission

SSSI Members, the preferred method is via the SSSI website Member Online service. Should access to the Member Online service not be available, CPD can be submitted using the manual CPD Record Sheet and sent to membership@sssi.org.au.

S+SNZ Members, the S+SNZ will advise the SSSI Hydrography Commission that the Certified Hydrographic Surveyor is still a Member and has achieved his/her CPD target in accordance with S+SNZ policy. 

Tips on how to achieve CPD for hydrographic surveyors

• Prepare and present a presentation, and submit the presentation for assessment.  Notify the HCNC when you would like to present it and we'll work on getting a local event/meeting happening. Please be advised that we would require as much notice as possible to organize and advertise the local event/meeting.

• Remember that some CPD activities have limits on the amount of points you can claim in a year so please refer to the SSSI CPD policy.

• PARTICIPATE in the Commission. Join a panel, committee, Australasian Hydrographic Society position.

• Volunteer in seminar preparations or propose and run a local workshop.

• The SSSI Hydrography Commission Committee can evaluate your workshop for CPD points (in order to do this we'll need to see your topics and timings) and advertise to commission members.

• Offshore? Ask a fellow professional to give you a brief on their spatially orientated activities. Prepare your evidence in case of an audit: note the start and end time, note the date, note presenters name, background, contact details if possible and maybe get a signature.
• Going for a tender? There is bound to be something new to learn.
• Did you get a brief on a spatial topic you didn't know too much about? That can count towards CPD (just be sure to retain some evidence in case of audit).