| TEEX have awarded the first NFPA 472 Hazardous Materials Container Specialist certificates |
Twenty-six employees of Bayer Corporation became the first to earn a National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 472 Hazardous Materials Container Specialist certificate, after completing a new 40-hour program offered by the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX).
TEEX's Emergency Services Training Institute was recently approved by the National Board on Fire Service Professional Qualifications (Pro Board) to grant certification in several new areas within NFPA 472, which is the Standard for Professional Competence of Responders to a Hazardous Materials Incident.
On their way to earning the Container Specialist Certificate, the Bayer hazardous materials technicians earned three Pro Board certificates in hazardous materials response to highway transportation emergencies, rail emergencies and Intermodal (IMO) emergencies.
TEEX had previously been approved to grant Pro Board certification at the NFPA 472 HazMat awareness, operations and technician levels.
"Students must be trained to the HazMat technician level and pass competency-based written and skills exams in order to earn the NFPA 472 Container Specialist certificate," said Kent Gardner, HazMat Training Manager for ESTI. "This new program provides career advancement opportunities by allowing a HazMat technician to take the next step up the career ladder to specialist."
The hands-on training, conducted at the Brayton Fire Training Field, is technical and intensive, Gardner added. Skill evaluations include valve fitting, repair and replacement, leak containment, tank clean-out, liquid and vapor transfers and vapor flaring.