|
Archives
RETA Implements National Skill Standards Program
The Refrigerating Engineers & Technicians Association (RETA) Board of Directors
has announced plans to fulfill a major goal: a nationally accepted skill standards
program that will provide consistency in training across the country for industrial
refrigeration operators. Once the process is complete, it will provide many
benefits for industrial refrigeration operators and the industry.
Jeff Nank, chair of the project to create the standards, reported that an advisory
committee of industry associations including RETA, IIAR and IARW, plus representatives
from various end users including IBP, Tyson, Nestle USA and Kraft, met to discuss
the new National Skill Standards Project.
"This program was developed in direct response to the concerns we were
hearing from our members across the country" said Nank. "RETA, as
the voice of the industrial refrigeration operator, is taking the lead in developing
and implementing national skill standards that will provide a well defined career
path and a consistent educational program for operators. However, it is with
the full support of the industry through member association such as IIAR and
the IARW that all segments of the industry are able to address specific training
needs and issues."
The proposed standards will define specific job levels and outline skills and
abilities at each level. The skill standards will shape and update training,
education programs and certification so that industrial ammonia refrigeration
systems across the country will be operated safely and cost effectively by qualified
technicians. Project completion is estimated by the end of 2003.
Don Stroud, advisory committee member and Infrastructure Design Team Leader,
Kraft Foods, says of the standards: "A national certification program is
important to establish a base level of knowledge and skill for ammonia refrigeration
operators. Such a program would also establish a recognized consistent approach
for certification of training required by process safety management.
Archives
|
