OQ and Training
Contact hours, CEUs and PDH: what the units actually mean
Three units, three different authorities behind them, and a great deal of loose usage in training brochures.
Contact hour
The simplest and least ambiguous unit: one clock hour of instruction, usually excluding breaks. It is a statement of duration, not of accreditation.
When a provider states contact hours, they are telling you how long the instruction ran. What that is worth against your obligation is a separate question, answered by your employer or your board.
CEU
The continuing education unit is a standardised measure, conventionally ten contact hours of participation in an organised continuing education experience under responsible sponsorship.
The unit only carries weight when the sponsor is recognised by whoever is counting. A CEU claimed without an accrediting body behind it is a contact-hour count with a different name.
PDH
The professional development hour is the unit most state engineering licensure boards use, generally one PDH per contact hour of qualifying activity.
Crucially, acceptance is determined by the board, and boards differ. Some accept a broad range of technical instruction; others require pre-approved providers or specific subject matter. A provider cannot tell you your board will accept something — only your board can.
How to read a training brochure
- “Four contact hours” — a duration. Verifiable, honest, makes no claim about acceptance.
- “0.4 CEU” — ask who the sponsor is and who recognises them.
- “Four PDH” — ask which board has accepted it, and confirm with yours.
- “Certified” with no named certifying body — means nothing at all.
Why the precision is worth it
Training departments have been burned by providers claiming credits that turned out to be self-declared. Stating hours accurately and leaving acceptance to the body that decides it is the version that survives an audit.
From Proper Pigging, the hydrostatic and nitrogen test field book, and the HydroTech certification courses built on it.