Thursday, February 25, 2016
The National Propane Gas Association’s board of directors has approved implementation of a new component to the Certified Employee Training Program (CETP) that requires skill evaluators to complete a training course and obtain a registration number. The training course will focus on the administrative aspects of being a skill evaluator, emphasizing the importance of the role and responsibility and the need for the skills to be performed properly.
The training will also identify basic strategies to perform a skills evaluation. It will not address how to evaluate the technical tasks being performed within a given program area. The training will be administered online only through Industrial Training Services’ OnBoard System, and it will have a similar look and feel to the existing proctor training program. After completing the training, the skill evaluator will receive a registration number to be included with submittal of all skills assessments. The number will be valid for three years. The fee for the training is $75, which will cover the three-year period.
There will be a six-month phase-in of this program element. Therefore, rollout of the new skill evaluator training program will begin March 1, at which time skill evaluators will begin taking the training to receive their registration numbers. After Oct. 1, skill assessments submitted to Industrial Training Services must contain the evaluator’s registration number. Again, beginning March 1 proctor registrations will be valid for three years instead of one year, and the requirement will be to renew every three years rather than on an annual basis. In addition, the fee for proctor training has been modified to $75 for the three-year period, which will save proctors half the cost over the period.
Further, the subject of how to handle the significant number of returned and unused CETP paper exams was broached more than a year ago. At the time, NPGA agreed to absorb the labor costs associated with program vendor processing and logging each exam back into the system. The goal then, as it remains today, was to ensure that every effort is made to place as accurate an exam order as possible to minimize additional labor costs. However, a review showed that more than 2500 unused, paper exams were returned to Industrial Training Services in 2015 at a cost rate of $13 per exam. Thereby, NPGA incurred more than $33,000 in costs last year.
Consequently, the NPGA board has approved a recommendation of the Executive Committee to modify the current policy for handling returned, unused CETP paper exams to recover some costs. NPGA will continue to cover the costs for returned exams, but has established a threshold allowance of up to 10% of returned exams above which the association will seek reimbursement. Specifically, if a company, association, or other entity returns more than 10% of paper exams it orders, NPGA will seek reimbursement at a rate of $13 per exam for the number of exams returned above the 10% threshold. For additional information, contact Mike Caldarera, NPGA vice president, regulatory and technical services, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The training will also identify basic strategies to perform a skills evaluation. It will not address how to evaluate the technical tasks being performed within a given program area. The training will be administered online only through Industrial Training Services’ OnBoard System, and it will have a similar look and feel to the existing proctor training program. After completing the training, the skill evaluator will receive a registration number to be included with submittal of all skills assessments. The number will be valid for three years. The fee for the training is $75, which will cover the three-year period.
There will be a six-month phase-in of this program element. Therefore, rollout of the new skill evaluator training program will begin March 1, at which time skill evaluators will begin taking the training to receive their registration numbers. After Oct. 1, skill assessments submitted to Industrial Training Services must contain the evaluator’s registration number. Again, beginning March 1 proctor registrations will be valid for three years instead of one year, and the requirement will be to renew every three years rather than on an annual basis. In addition, the fee for proctor training has been modified to $75 for the three-year period, which will save proctors half the cost over the period.
Further, the subject of how to handle the significant number of returned and unused CETP paper exams was broached more than a year ago. At the time, NPGA agreed to absorb the labor costs associated with program vendor processing and logging each exam back into the system. The goal then, as it remains today, was to ensure that every effort is made to place as accurate an exam order as possible to minimize additional labor costs. However, a review showed that more than 2500 unused, paper exams were returned to Industrial Training Services in 2015 at a cost rate of $13 per exam. Thereby, NPGA incurred more than $33,000 in costs last year.
Consequently, the NPGA board has approved a recommendation of the Executive Committee to modify the current policy for handling returned, unused CETP paper exams to recover some costs. NPGA will continue to cover the costs for returned exams, but has established a threshold allowance of up to 10% of returned exams above which the association will seek reimbursement. Specifically, if a company, association, or other entity returns more than 10% of paper exams it orders, NPGA will seek reimbursement at a rate of $13 per exam for the number of exams returned above the 10% threshold. For additional information, contact Mike Caldarera, NPGA vice president, regulatory and technical services, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
