STANDARDS BASED COMPETENCY TRAINING UTILIZING FireTrex SOFTWARE

WAC Training and member development. (1) The employer must provide training, education and ongoing development for all members commensurate with those duties and functions that members are expected to perform.

We all know what training is, and why we should. But what does “commensurate” mean, and how do we train to it?

According to “Merriam-Webster”, commensurate means: “equal in measure or extent”. So, how do we quantify our training needs in the fire service, with the WAC ?

We start by identifying “Standards”. Yet again, what is a standard? We turn again to Merriam-Webster, who gives us: “something established by authority, custom, or general consent as a model or example” And “something set up and established by authority as a rule for the measure of quantity, weight, extent, value, or quality”.

And again to Merriam-Webster for a definition of competent. “having requisite or adequate ability or qualities” And “legally qualified or adequate”

Simply stated, our “Competency Based, Standards Training” is designed to meet both the letter and intent of the law, as well as keep us in the Fire service adequately trained. But, how to make it work?

It starts with initial training. Recruit school, FF1 and FF2 skills. EMS training. Haz-mat and Tech rescue certifications. Once the employee has reached an initial level of training by certification, or AHJ authority, then the competency training starts. We use the very same standards that we use for the certification process, except;

We now only have to show the competency of the skills, not the task certification process. In other words, just show you did it, and move on. We do this every day in our profession, so let’s train the same way. Not task based assignments, but drill based scenarios where we put all of our training to work at the same time.

Thus we need to identify these “Standards”. We turned to our group of “initials” for this purpose. NWCG, NFPA, IFSAC, etc. for established standards in our profession. This encompasses Fire, EMS, Tech and Haz- Mat specialties and Wildland. Each area has established guidelines for training and certification of skills.

We turn to many of these “initials” for our certification of individuals. We will now also use those same processes as the “Standards” for our competence training

Fire fighters multi-task like no one else. Thus we are going to “track” our training in the same fashion. When a drill is assigned, all lessons that would apply to that drill are added. Upon successful completion of the demonstration of competencies, the corresponding lessons are approved.

Classes may just have a few lessons if the class is very specific material. Or it could have several dozen lessons in a more involved drill, such as a fire scenario. Think of all of the things that take place on a fire ground. That is what we sign off on being competent in when the drill is over.

Many lessons in a class may be duplicates of similar lessons in a different standard. WA State JATC has many similar lessons as the IFSAC FF1 and FF2. Not to mention the Fire officer and wildland lesson that could be added. If it is done, and it meets a competency in a standard, it is added.

We incorporated this concept into the FireTrex Software “Training Tracker” We currently have “Standards” for 32 different job skills. Plus 3 non-standard tracking categories. This creates almost 700 lessons to date to add to classes.

A “class” is created by the training officer. and is named and identified as to its scope. Then the training officer adds the appropriate lessons that meet the criteria and competencies of the class. Associated documents are added ie; skillsheets, drill description etc. Then the class is assigned to the individuals and crews.

Once assigned, the Officer, or Firefighters, can see the class and contents. The drill is performed. The officer then signs off his crew as having competently performed the training. The training is then tracked by Category as well as lesson for the individual. The goal is to show that the competency for an individual has been accomplished to meet the standard.

That standard could be a FF level, officer level or technician level. Each individual will be tracked in every standard. The level of accomplishment will be determined by the individual department based on that persons qualifications.

Classes can be created for any set of standards that need to be addressed. Command level classes for everyone. Haz-mat or tech rescue training for FF’s or specialists. Any training that supports the identified standards of our jobs with the supporting results documented.

No more one-task, one-lesson training. except in possibly an entry level or certifying capacity. Now, multiple tasks, performed by multiple people in a drill, with multiple lessons based on standards being documented. This is what “Standards Based Competency Training” is about.