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By Gene Dallaire |
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Don't reinvent the wheel! That is the best advice to any construction contractor or subcontractor striving either to establish a training program for the first time or to upgrade an existing training program. The very first step is to become aware of the enormous training resources of local chapters of construction-industry trade associations and the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER). Founded in 1995 (see box), NCCER is the greatest single resource in the construction industry for craft-training materials (e.g., textbooks and assessment tests) and consulting advice. It has developed training curricula for 35 construction crafts (e.g., carpentry, plumbing, electrical, heavy-equipment operation, and pipelaying), including excellent textbooks and other training materials. NCCER also provides free training consulting services. This article places significant emphasis on NCCER and its resources - especially those curricula, craft courses, and course modules most relevant to grading and excavating contractors. It is an absolute must for any training manager to be thoroughly familiar with NCCER and its resources - before plunging ahead with the planning of a company-training program. Not to do that would be to waste a lot of time and money reinventing the wheel. NCCER What, then, are some of the chief things NCCER has done? In an effort to develop excellent training courses for major construction crafts - including plumbing, carpentry, electrical, heavy-equipment operations, highway and heavy construction, pipe laying, and concrete placement and finishing - NCCER over the past decade has assembled leading experts in each craft area to create authoritative textbooks and other training materials.
Open-Shop Contractors: Urgent Need for Training Programs Some small contractors claim they do not need a craft-training program because the various craft unions already are doing a good job of training workers through their apprentice and journeyman training programs. One Ohio contractor hires workers from various union halls, expecting them to be well trained from the moment they start. Such might be true in certain regions, says Tommy Caldwell of Carolinas AGC (Charlotte, NC), one of AGC's top chapters. But in the Carolinas (and in some other regions of the US), he explains, there are not many union workers (less than 4% of construction workers are based in the Carolinas). In the absence of unions, the contractor has an urgent responsibility to provide high-quality training to both new and experienced workers in the various construction crafts. This training could be provided either in-house or out-of-house by a local chapter of AGC or another trade association. Yet what other compelling reasons are there for having an effective training program? Having such a program impresses prospective clients, Caldwell maintains, because a contractor then can proclaim with credibility, "All our craft workers are certified by NCCER, having passed both written and performance tests in their respective crafts. As a result, our craftsmen work more safely and more efficiently and produce a higher-quality product than uncertified workers." Another reason, Caldwell explains, is that a training program is sometimes required on government-funded projects. In the Carolinas, for instance, the winning contractor is required to train a certain number of equipment operators - all from the ranks of minorities, women, or the disadvantaged. Other Reasons a Contractor Needs an Excellent Training Program Yet many contractors continue to maintain that they don't need a training program or that training is too costly. Scott Fisher, NCCER's director of accreditation, sharply disagrees with that short-term perspective. He argues that most contractors need excellent training programs for these reasons:
Do Most Contractors Have Training Programs? As Caldwell sees it, only about 10% of construction companies have excellent training programs. Most of these are large companies with full-time training and safety managers. Yet at least 50% of contractors, he believes, have no formal training programs, their approach being to fly by the seat of the pants. Fisher likewise estimates that at least 50% of US contractors have no training programs. Many residential home builders, he says, have no training program at all. "Concerning training, the US construction industry is still in its infancy, with less than 10% of contractors taking advantage of NCCER courses." The Coming of NCCER: Standardized Courses and Cost-Effective Training As mentioned, NCCER has developed high-quality curricula for more than 35 construction crafts. For each of these craft areas, NCCER over the past decade has assembled a top team of experts together with a professional curriculum writer. The net result for each craft area has been one or more textbooks that are the most authoritative ever written. In addition to these craft courses, NCCER also has developed textbook-based courses for crew leaders, supervisors, and project and company managers, although the vast majority of NCCER efforts have gone into developing craft courses. The new reality is this: Construction companies that say training is too costly are wrong. The dawn of NCCER has changed the economics of training. Training is much less costly than it once was because NCCER has lifted off the shoulders of the construction industry the biggest component of training costs: the initial cost of developing a course. Over the past decade, NCCER has spent at least $250,000 to develop the courses and modules in each craft specialty. That cost already has been borne by donations from large construction companies and many construction-industry trade associations. Company training managers now are free to take advantage of this felicitous goldmine of excellent training materials - all at a very modest cost. Training managers can purchase textbooks for about $55 each and course modules, or book chapters, for $12 each. The only thing NCCER requires of those adopting its training materials is that courses be taught by NCCER-certified instructors. If this is not done, students taking such courses are not eligible to have their grades recorded in the NCCER National Registry. A contractor can quickly and inexpensively develop its own NCCER-certified instructors by sending some of its most-knowledgeable journeymen to NCCER to take a three- to five-day train-the-trainer course. The Most Active NCCER Courses What are the 35 craft areas for which NCCER has developed curricula and textbooks? The sidebar lists many of these. Which craft curricula are the most popular with construction companies? According to Fisher, the most popular NCCER courses right now - based on textbook sales - are these (from most to least popular):
NCCER-Based AGC Courses: What's Hot Here are the NCCER-based curricula most relevant to grading, excavating, utility, paving, and subdivision-development contractors (a list of modules in each of these curricula will be provided in the next installment of this article or can be researched at www.crafttraining.com):
NCCER itself does not teach any of these craft courses; teaching is the province of NCCER sponsors, such as trade associations, construction companies, and community colleges. Accordingly a contractor will find many NCCER-based courses from the noted craft curricula offered by local chapters of AGC, ABC, and other construction-industry trade associations. Many contractors, especially larger ones, offer NCCER-based courses in-house and often permit workers from other contracting firms to enroll. Community colleges also offer NCCER-based courses. Alternatively, to hold training costs down or for convenience, a contractor, even a smaller one, might decide to offer at least some of these NCCER-based courses in-house, using its best journeymen as NCCER-certified instructors. The company training manager would be able to buy course textbooks and/or modules for employee students directly from NCCER's publisher, Prentice Hall (see box 2). Most Popular NCCER Craft Course: Core Curriculum By far, the most important and best-selling NCCER construction-craft course, NCCER staffer Danielle Dixon says, is Core Curriculum: Basic Construction Skills. This course consists of these six modules:
Construction employees working for NCCER certification in certain craft areas must take Core Curriculum before taking more specialized craft courses in electrical, plumbing, carpentry, heavy-equipment operations, highway and heavy construction, pipe laying, and so on. Core Curriculum consists of 72.5 hours of classroom instruction. The Core Curriculum textbook, consisting of all six course modules, is available from Prentice Hall for $35. To successfully complete any module of any NCCER course, Dixon explains, the student must pass both a written test and a performance test. In the latter, the student might have to correctly don safety gear or correctly operate a wide range of hand and power tools. This NCCER course, Dixon says, is offered widely not only by construction-trade associations and contractors for training construction workers but also by many vocational high schools, community colleges, and union and nonunion apprenticeship programs. NCCER Courses for Crew Leaders, Supervisors, and Project Managers As mentioned, the vast majority of NCCER courses deal with craft training. Yet NCCER has also developed some textbook-based courses, regularly taught by AGC and ABC chapters, large construction companies, and other NCCER sponsors, aimed at the educational needs of crew leaders, project supervisors, and project managers. Among them are these:
Developing Courses From Scratch: Reinventing the Wheel? Assuming that a contractor decides to offer training courses in-house, does it make sense for it to develop all of its courses from scratch? Answers Fisher, "For a construction company to do such is not cost-effective. Over the past decade, NCCER has developed excellent course materials, especially textbooks, constantly updated, on a wide range of construction crafts. Further, NCCER courses are nationally recognized and portable. If a craft worker receives training in Maine, he can move to southern California and still receive recognition through his NCCER National Registry credentials." In sum, before developing its own course materials, a contractor should at least make a careful search of what course materials NCCER has available to see if such would meet its training needs. In developing its many courses, NCCER has invested much talent, time, and expense, bringing together top experts on each craft area and hiring professional writers to create the textbooks. Typically it has cost NCCER a minimum of $250,000 to develop a single craft curriculum. This enormous resource of training materials is available for a very nominal cost to any construction company, regardless of whether it belongs to AGC, ABC, NCCER (which has no membership), or any other trade association. Developing a course is usually the greatest single training expense. Accordingly it would be most imprudent for a construction firm to fail to tap this enormous reservoir of construction training course materials. Why reinvent the wheel? Carolinas AGC: The Pacesetter in Offering Outside NCCER-Based Courses for Construction Firms How should a contractor go about starting a training program or enhancing the effectiveness of an existing one? An initial step should be to make a survey of training courses and services available through the local chapters of trade associations, such as AGC and ABC. To get a better idea of the type of training services usually available through such chapters, we now turn to the largest (with more than 3,000 member companies) and most training-oriented chapter of AGC, Carolinas AGC, which services both North and South Carolina and deals with contractors in the highways, utilities, and building fields. Seek Help First To organize an effective training program or to improve an existing one, the first thing a contractor should do, advises Caldwell, is join a trade association, such as AGC. The contractor then could call in AGC as a consultant at no charge to help him fashion an effective training program for both craft workers and supervisors. AGC, Caldwell explains, first asks the contractor to write a job description for each position in the firm and then to make a task analysis for each position, listing all tasks a worker must do to function effectively in that position. A construction laborer, for example, must know how to read a grade stake, how to service equipment, and so on. For each position, the contractor needs to lay out a sequence of tasks, or skills progression, and the worker's hourly wage rate needs to be tied to his mastery of skills in that progression. In sum, before rushing ahead to develop its own in-house training program from scratch, a contractor first should study what training courses, consulting services, and other resources are available from NCCER, from such local chapters of trade associations as AGC and ABC, and from such appropriate government agencies as OSHA. The contractor quickly will discover that there is a plethora of training courses, course textbooks, videos, and other training resources available either free or at very reasonable prices. Further, there is free consulting advice on training available from NCCER, AGC, and other trade associations. Incidentally AGC training materials and consulting are available only to AGC members. AGC company membership fees can run from $1,100 to $15,000/yr., depending on company size. With dues paid, a contractor can call in an AGC training consultant at no charge. AGC local-chapter consultants are glad to visit a construction firm to assess training needs and to help structure a training program to meet those needs. AGC staff also will teach courses on-site for a fee of $1,000 a course. Among the most popular short courses taught by AGC are these:
Advises Caldwell, "A contractor needs to view training costs as part of its operating budget. Yes, training is expensive. But ignorance is even more expensive." Types of AGC NCCER-Based Training Courses Carolinas AGC and other AGC chapters offer NCCER-based training courses, Caldwell explains, in three major areas: craft, supervisory, and management. The lion's share of this training - more than 80% - is in craft training. Some of this training is aimed at apprentices, but most is for journeymen to help them expand and sharpen their skills. A typical NCCER-based course has several levels, the first being most suitable for apprentices and the second, third, and fourth levels for experienced journeymen (see boxes). The most popular craft courses by far, at Carolinas AGC, are the electrical courses. Also very popular are carpentry and HVAC courses. In addition to these semester-long craft courses, Carolinas AGC offers numerous short courses. Typically these NCCER-based short courses are held at various sites across the Carolinas, last one day, and cost $169 per person per day. To enroll, a worker must be from a construction company that is an AGC member. The only exception is when AGC offers a short course through a community college. In that case, anyone can attend. Construction-Company Management Education Many construction companies get started this way. A worker starts as a construction laborer, works his way up to equipment operator and then to superintendent, and finally leaves to open his own business. Although he might know much about grading and operating heavy equipment, he likely knows little about running a business. To help fill that construction-education need, Carolinas AGC recently started a Contractor Business Academy. It offers a five-day course (with the five days spread over five weeks) for a total cost of $850. Among topics covered are how to organize a company, how to incorporate, insurance and bonding, and scheduling. Another program Carolinas AGC has for project managers and top managers includes its one-day topic-focused short courses. Some recent popular short courses teach risk management, bond and lien law, and construction law. Craft training is where most of the action is in training both at NCCER and at trade associations, such as Carolinas AGC, accounting for more than 80% of students enrolled. Nonetheless NCCER has developed a number of courses for crew leaders, supervisors, and managers. A complete description of supervisory and management courses is available on the NCCER Web site (www.nccer.org) in the left column under "Safety" and "Management Education." Maximizing Benefits From Trade-Association Courses How can a contractor take maximum advantage of short courses, craft courses, and other offerings of trade associations? Caldwell has these suggestions:
Offer Training Courses In-house? A basic training question then for a construction firm is this: Should it send its workers for training to outside courses offered by NCCER sponsors, such as AGC and ABC, or should it become an NCCER sponsor itself, offering at least some NCCER-based craft courses in-house? To offer NCCER courses in-house, the firm first must send some of its most experienced supervisors to NCCER or AGC to take the Train-the-Trainer program. At Carolinas AGC, this program is a three-day session held at the Carolinas AGC headquarters. Says Caldwell, "We train supervisors in teaching methods, in ways to train adults. A typical supervisor knows the technical aspects of his field well but knows little about effective teaching. He is an expert in operating construction equipment but knows little about lesson plans, about how people learn, about how to hold student interest. Over the past six years, Carolinas AGC has trained over 1,300 instructors from member construction companies, making them NCCER-certified instructors." As suggested above, here is how some construction companies hold the line on training costs. As Caldwell explains, a contractor will send a supervisor, already NCCER-certified as a craft instructor, to Carolinas AGC to take a short course or a craft course. He then will return to his company and teach appropriate construction workers the course. By taking the Carolinas AGC NCCER-based course, the supervisor has gained legitimate access to the course texts, tests, and other course materials. Since company workers will be taking an NCCER-based craft course, using NCCER textbooks (ordered from Prentice Hall), and being taught by an NCCER-certified instructor, they will receive NCCER credit for the course. Test results must be sent to the NCCER National Registry, so construction-worker students can receive permanent credit for the course. Anyone Can Study an NCCER Textbook on His Own and Receive Credit According to NCCER's Debbie Norton, anyone - whether working for an NCCER-sponsor construction company or not - can purchase NCCER textbooks or modules for any of the NCCER craft-training curricula (see sidebar). These can be ordered through Prentice Hall at 800/922-0579. As previously mentioned, textbooks sell for between $50 and $80 each, and modules sell for $12 each. But for someone studying one of these craft courses to get industry-recognized credit through the NCCER National Registry, Norton explains, the student has to take the course from an accredited sponsor or study the course on his own and then take both written and performance exams for a fee through an NCCER sponsor. (For a list of NCCER sponsors and assessment centers across the US, see www.nccer.org.) Cornucopia of Training Videos -- For Rent or Purchase In putting together an effective training program, a construction-company training manager would be remiss if he did not take advantage of the plethora of excellent training videos available. Some trade associations have video libraries and/or video catalogs from which a member contractor can either rent or purchase training videos. Carolinas AGC, for instance, has a training-video library from which members can rent out videos for two weeks - at no charge. And national AGC has an extensive training-videos catalog (www.agc.org), from which members can purchase videos for about $150 each. Beyond the trade associations, other institutions have construction-industry training videos. OSHA has an extensive library of safety-related videos that can be rented out. There are also some publishers, such as Delmar and American Tech, that publish construction-related textbooks and videos. In the next issue, Grading & Excavation Contractor will continue the discussion, focusing on the mechanics and cost of launching a company training program. Author Gene Dallaire is a frequent contributor to technical and engineering journals and currently teaches history at Lansing (MI) Community College. GEC - May/June 2004
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