PERC Restructures Safety, Education, and Compliance Team; Hires New Staff

(October 17, 2019) — The

recently added four new staff members to guide its restructured

. This team will develop and deploy educational and compliance materials to meet the challenges that employers face while addressing the educational needs of a changing workforce. The goal is for education, training, and compliance materials to be available in shorter programs, with a variety of easy-to-use delivery and documentation options. PERC will also have the capability to produce materials in-house, providing a faster turnaround time so that code and regulatory changes can be addressed, and customization of educational and training materials is available to states and companies.

“Safety and training are a key focus and top priority for PERC,” said PERC president and CEO Tucker Perkins. “This team of experts is going to build on that foundation and create new innovative training and safety materials and new innovative ways to deploy the material and access the training.”

To that end,

, a longtime propane industry veteran, has joined PERC as

, where he will head the team that advises senior management and the Council on all matters related to safety, education, and code compliance. Kuster has been a member of the PERC Advisory Committee since 2003 and is a former chairman of its Safety and Technical Training Working Group. In his new position, he will help guide the creation of innovative safety programs and direct the team’s ongoing work to transform workforce safety training materials to meet the evolving trends and demands of the industry.

Kuster most recently served as director of safety and certification for the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA), where he oversaw the CETP certification program. He was also a member of NPGA’s Education, Safety & Training Committee, where he received the NPGA chairman’s award, and is a past contributor to the NFPA 58 handbook. Prior to his work at NPGA, Kuster was assistant vice president of risk engineering at Crum & Forster; served 15 years at Fairmont Specialty Insurance as risk engineering manager; for nine years was a terminal manager and director of safety and training for Tri-Gas & Oil Co.; and for five years was a district manager at Ferrellgas.

,

, will oversee PERC’s safety and compliance program offerings and will be responsible for incorporating industry regulations, codes, standards, and best practices into PERC education and safety resources. Rickards will also provide subject matter expertise in his engagement with companies, industry organizations, and committees related to safety compliance and training.

He was previously at Eastern Propane and Oil in Rochester, N.H., for 23 years. Rickards most recently served as assistant vice president of risk management, managing and developing safety; regulatory compliance; and technical training programs. He also developed training curriculum for 150 service technicians, drivers, and field service and sales personnel. He is a member of NPGA’s TS&S Committee and PERC’s Advisory Committee.

, will be responsible for creating all course content for the council’s safety education, training, and compliance programs as well as overseeing the optimization of learner engagement, performance support, and measurement. Wood’s duties also include the creation of instructor and participant guides, and the design of various forms of learning used on PERC’s learning management system. She most recently worked as an e-learning developer for the Oregon Child Development Coalition, where she provided instructional design for classroom-based courses and created graphics, videos, and assessments for the courses.

. In this position, he will be responsible for the overall management, maintenance, and administration of PERC’s online LMS platform. His primary role is to optimize the user training experience with the online system. Previously, he worked for 10 years as training information manager for the Washington State Department of Corrections, where he was oversaw the development, implementation, and maintenance of its training programs. Hanson performed routine systems maintenance and administration, and assisted in the design, review, testing, and implementation of LMS updates and enhancements.