TORONTO — The Canadian Institute of Plumbing and Heating (CIPH)together with La Corporation des Maîtres Mécaniciens en Tuyauterie du Québec (CMMTQ);the Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada (HRAI);and the Thermal Environmental Comfort Association (TECA)began a coordinated review of their respective hydronics training programs with the goal of creating a national learning standard for hydronics certification.

After this initial scope-defining session, a more detailed and technical process of certification program comparison, including a third-party gap analysis, was conducted, culminating in support for the current certification learning requirements developed by the Canadian Hydronics Council (CHC),in partnership with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT).“Working together makes sense for the entire hydronics industry. All of us want our members to continually strive to improve their qualifications and this collaboration amongst CMMTQ, CIPH, HRAI, and TECA, will help guide them to a common recognized standard,” said Marc Gendron, chairman, HRAI.

Moving forward, all partner organizations will seek to train or support training to the agreed upon learning standards, culminating in a certification exam that will be administered by the CHC in partnership with NAIT. Respective collaboration partners will not require their members attain their course learning through NAIT, but their respective course offerings will be expected to align with those learning standards so their members are well prepared to pass the certification exam.

Also, as part of this collaboration, an advisory body will be created to ensure the learning outcomes for certification meet the continually changing needs of industry. This body will consist of a couple of representatives from each organization with a commitment to complete a formal review on an as-needed basis with a minimum of once per three-year cycle.

Publication date: 8/11/2014

Want more HVAC industry news and information? Join The NEWS on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn today!