Subject matter experts are meeting in Dallas, Tex. this week to begin developing the Telecommunications Tower Foreman certification program.
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) today announced that a group of nearly 40 subject matter experts, representing a broad cross-section of the telecommunications industry, are convening in Dallas, Tex. this week to begin the development process for the Telecommunications Tower Foreman certification program. NWSA made the announcement at the 2017 GSMA-CTIA Mobile World Congress Americas event in San Francisco, Calif.
The new credentialing system will provide an independent nationwide certification for industry workers who supervise crews that work on communications structures, whether they are antenna and line crews, construction crews, or structural modification crews. Task Force participants will build broad industry consensus and be actively involved in developing competency tests and related psychometric validation processes for NWSA’s Telecommunications Tower Foreman certification program. The labor-intensive process is anticipated to require many meetings and hundreds of hours of sessions to achieve accreditation under the ANSI 17024 Standard.
“We are very excited to begin development of this new foreman level certification,” stated NWSA Executive Director Duane MacEntee. “The Telecommunications Tower Foreman credential will complement the existing NWSA Telecommunications Tower Technician I and II certification offerings and continue to raise the bar of professional certification and proficiency for workers as they gain experience within their respective companies,” added MacEntee.
NWSA also announced that Jim Coleman from AT&T will serve as Chairman of the Tower Foreman Task Force and Gordon Lyman of eSystems Training Solutions will be Vice Chairman of the group. Additionally, test development expert Denny Smith, PhD from the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO) will be facilitating the meetings.
NWSA, headquartered in Fairfax, Virg., is a national non-profit assessment and certification organization established to provide thorough, independent assessments of knowledge and skills and provide verifiable worker certification in order to enhance safety, reduce workplace risk, improve quality, encourage training, and recognize the skilled professionals who work on towers and other non-standard communication structures.
In December of 2016, NWSA launched two industry-wide certification programs: Telecommunications Tower Technician 1 (TTT-1) and Telecommunications Tower Technician 2 (TTT-2). In order to raise the bar on safety, productivity and quality in the marketplace, NWSA certifications were developed by and are now being adopted in practice and by contract within the telecommunications community of carriers, vertical real estate owners, contractors and training providers alike.
Other assessment and certification programs NWSA will likely unveil in the future include Rigging, Small Cell Systems, Distributed Antenna Systems, Broadcast Structures and Outside Plant/Fiber to the Home and Business.
Industry workers, companies and stakeholders are encouraged to visit the NWSA website at www.nws-a.org to learn more about the organization and its transformative worker certification offerings.
