I’m Josh McDonald, the Director of Operations and Training at the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AMFSA).
I’ve been here for approximately three years, coming from a background in sprinkler manufacturer. A lot of my experience involves of hands-on training, plus a little bit of research and development.
Before that, I worked with an insurance company in risk engineering, where I worked a lot with analysis of the fire protection systems, which included inspection, testing and maintenance and working with facilities managers.
Ultimately, being a contractor Association, it initially started as trying to fill gaps. We were noticing that there is a lot of knowledge that was leaving the industry and we were trying to backfill that industry or those needs.
So, it started by talking to our contractors, trying to figure out what they needed for new ITM technicians. We realized that a lot of our contractors are doing more of the annual maintenance and inspections and not necessarily the daily or weekly tasks.
We began by diving into helping the facilities managers understand what their roles are and then developed and tried to figure out what paths would be best for all parties involved with these systems.
It’s a hands-on opportunity and a lot of people think that if you can make it a web-based program. But these systems, they’re live and they could be protecting something that’s super important.
There’s parts and pieces that, so getting the word out that the hands-on experience and training is key to success has been a little difficult for facilities managers. It’s hard to let them know that they need this training a lot of times.
Unfortunately, you ask about the fire sprinkler system and that’s just one of thousands of systems in the building that they have to pay attention to. Letting them know that that it’s their responsibility to make sure this stuff’s done, it has been difficult.
Josh McDonald
Really that hands-on part is the hardest. It’s the message that we can’t do this with a bunch of different webinars- you just have to get here and get it done.
The NFPA 25 Essentials Workshop is structured, we say, for the beginners. Any skill set can come in and gain information from it, but it’s really geared towards the 0-6 months bracket and technicians.
It asks questions like ‘what would you expect your technician to go out and do?’ and it talks through what the roles and responsibilities are of each party involved, as well as what the basic types of systems are, like wet and dry systems, or pump systems. The course teaches you what to look for during inspection, testing and maintenance for the sprinkler system overall, alongside how to run a no-flow test for the fire pump.
The NFPA 25 Advanced Systems Workshop gets you into some more complex systems, that might be protecting something that’s more intricate or with a higher monetary value.
Josh McDonald
The course was geared towards someone with 6 months experience or more. Teaching you about standpipe system flow testing, water supply testing, it really dives into that and what to then expect.
The NFPA 25 Fire Pump Workshop was created for anybody who might still have questions on fire pumps. Asking you about the parts of the fire pump but also what’s expected weekly and annually. How about the water storage tanks? What do we have to look for?
Everybody that is dealing with these systems can read the book, but the issue arises when you are told do a main drain test on a wet wipe system and there’s 4-6 different manufacturers in your building to be able to come in and get that experience.
It’s a hard thing to do, building that confidence and depth before going out to site, especially when you could be protecting something that’s multi million dollars. To have that confidence before going in is super important as it ensures comfortability around the equipment. Knowing what it sounds like and what to expect comes from hands-on training.
Our primary objective is to be the voice of the contractor in education and training. With the lab, our role is to make sure that everybody involved has the tools and resources that they need to be able to help out when you leave our training courses.
We’re not the type that just walk away from the training. So, when you’re out in the field, you can give us a call or shoot us an email and we will give you resources and the backing.
Josh McDonald
It’s an all-inclusive training. What contributes to our success is that we break it down even further than the generic three-day training. We work with the contractors that the technicians are working for to ensure that at every step of the way you have the tools to go out and do on the job training.
We walk individuals through the standard and break it down, simplifying what those requirements are at every point through their growth. People are also provided with a lot of practice problems so that you’re not just going to get “this is what the book says” or “now go do this.”
NICET Level II also works for your NFPA, WBI, TM and water-based inspection, testing and maintenance. It helps drive that force, giving people the confidence to move forward and be successful in their career.
As a contractor Association, we realize that these systems are super important and we want to make sure we provide that education and training.
We want to really make sure that these systems are in good working condition, because we’re not going to be there at three in the morning when there’s a fire and there’s a fire loss. We’re not the ones that are lugging the hose around in the middle of the night trying to put the fire out, keep people safe, but also protect ourselves and make sure that we get home.
The more that facilities managers know about the requirements of these systems, the greater chance of a system working how it is supposed to. This all contributes in helping to better fight the fire loss problem.
