Raising a concern of misconduct about an IChemE member

Guidance for complainants on raising a concern of misconduct about an IChemE member

If you have any concerns that a member or members of IChemE may have behaved in a way that constitutes misconduct, please refer to our guidance document and disciplinary regulations. If you wish to proceed in raising a complaint you should submit a completed professional conduct complaint form to The Clerk (clerk@icheme.org). Anonymous complaints will not usually be considered under IChemE processes.

In some circumstances your concerns may constitute whistleblowing. Please consider the Engineering Council guide in this regard.

Misconduct includes but is not limited to behaviour that is:

a breach of the IChemE Code of Professional Conduct (including a breach of the policies referred to in the Code);
a breach of the IChemE By-laws;
a criminal offence; and/or
personal insolvency (dependent on the circumstances of that insolvency. Personal insolvency per se is not misconduct.)

Your complaint will be reviewed by the Clerk, who will firstly check whether the allegation/complaint is about a member's conduct whilst they were a member of IChemE; and secondly will consider whether the allegation/complaint should be dealt with under the disciplinary regulations, or should be dealt with under another process. The Clerk may refer the allegation/complaint to any other appropriate process. Depending on the nature of your complaint, you should consider whether following the Preliminary Steps is appropriate before raising the complaint formally. The Clerk may also suggest that the Preliminary Steps be followed before a complaint or other process is pursued further.

The next steps depend on which process applies. However, in general:

you may be asked to provide further information to the Clerk;
if a matter proceeds further you may be asked to engage with an early resolution process, to give evidence to an investigator, or to give evidence at a hearing;
information about members who are the subject of complaints or who are subject to disciplinary proceedings should be disclosed to as few people as possible, and usually only to those involved in investigating or deciding the matter
it is not normal practice to withhold the identity of complainants during investigations or disciplinary proceedings. To do so may put the member who is the subject of the complaint at a disadvantage. If you do not agree to them knowing your identity it may not be appropriate to rely on your evidence
you may be informed about any decision made about the allegation/complaint and the reasons for that decision, but this is not a right.