Inventing the wheel isn\u2019t always necessary when it comes to curriculum and training. For SMART Sheet Metal Local 22 in Crawford, New Jersey, finding something new was more about bringing back something that worked years ago, dusting it off and adding to it.
\nLocal 22 hosted its last Building Inspectors Program in 2007. It was brought back when Dave Castner, organizer, marketing director and instructor, inspected at a school improperly installed fire dampers that both the building department and fire inspector had approved. After the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs got involved, the repair was awarded to a union contractor.
\nRecently, leadership at the local \u2014 including Tom Fischbach, president and business manager; Castner; and Charlie Beelitz, training coordinator \u2014 saw a niche in the community the program could fill and resurrected it. The first class was held in April 2016 with 50 building inspectors in attendance.
\nThe program uses the curricula of the ITI and hosts local building inspectors to educate them on the correct installation, operation and inspection of fire and smoke dampers.
\nThrough a partnership with Rutgers University and the Department of Community Affairs, Local No. 22 was able to offer the course as a continuing education sponsor, which allowed them to provide continuing education units (CEUs), which every inspector needs to maintain his or her license. Local No. 22 also made the class mobile, filling a 7-foot-by-12-foot trailer with equipment and holding the class on campus.
\nIn five classes in 2016, approximately 200 building inspectors, out of 900 to 1,000 in New Jersey, will complete the program. Fire marshals, engineers and construction managers have also attended the class. Local No. 22 offers this service free of charge, although its investment has weight.
\n\u201cI\u2019m hoping the program will do a couple things,\u201d Fischbach said. \u201cI hope it will educate the people we are trying to touch \u2014 be it the building inspectors or fire inspectors \u2014 on what we do and how we do it. In turn, hopefully, it will level the playing field and gain some contractor base in the smaller markets we\u2019re not involved in and protect the larger contractor markets we are in.\u201d
\nIn July 2017, due to New Jersey HVACR Licensing, building inspectors will begin inspecting duct work as well as fire dampers. This class teaches them what they\u2019re seeing, how to detect problems and when to contact experts to provide maintenance. Dampers prevent smoke and fire from traveling through the ventilation system, keeping it contained to the ignition point and away from occupants of the building. Properly working dampers save lives and allow for first responders to enter a building and extinguish a fire safely.
\nDampers that were bolted shut during the MGM Fire in 1980 contributed to smoke inhalation cases, which was the leading cause of death during that incident. Dampers take a skilled eye and hand to inspect, and many building inspectors were never taught how to spot a faulty damper.
\n\u201cThrough this program, we\u2019re finding out now the building inspectors aren\u2019t looking at the fire dampers,\u201d said Castner, who instructs the program. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to raise awareness; you have to look at the fire dampers. They don\u2019t have the knowledge of the functioning of the whole system. They look at it as cool air and heat, and that\u2019s it.\u201d
\nFire damper inspection is only one part of the larger goal Local No. 22 is trying to accomplish with the program.
\n\u201cWe want to bring awareness to what the systems do,\u201d Castner said. \u201cWe\u2019re starting with the building inspectors, but we\u2019re trying to get deeper into it. If these people \u2014 building inspectors, fire inspectors, fire officials \u2014 understand what they\u2019re looking at and how to tell if they\u2019re installed correctly, they will see what effect it has on the efficiency of the system.\u201d
\n\u201cThe program is designed to make them look at all contractors a little bit closer, making them provide an efficient, functioning system where we\u2019re more competitive,\u201d Fischbach added. \u201cIt levels the playing field a little bit more.\u201d
\nThis is only the first step in a master plan of education and networking for Local No. 22.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re surprised to see how little changes in design or fittings can really affect the system, and they are really interested in the fire damper inspections,\u201d Castner said. \u201cThey come to us, and they know they\u2019ll get the right answers. I think this is the first time in a long time we\u2019re at the front of something, and we\u2019re not trying to chase it.\u201d
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Inventing the wheel isn\u2019t always necessary when it comes to curriculum and training. For SMART Sheet Metal Local 22 in Crawford, New Jersey, finding something new was more about bringing back something that worked years ago, dusting it off and adding to it. Local 22 hosted its last Building Inspectors Program in 2007. It was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":9,"featured_media":40852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"member_types":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n