← Field Notes

OQ and Training

Nine questions a training department should ask any technical provider

Technical training is bought on reputation more often than on evidence. These questions produce the evidence.

The nine

  • Who wrote the syllabus, and can I see it? A syllabus that cannot be produced does not exist.
  • Who teaches it, and what have they done? Field experience or classroom experience — both are legitimate, but know which you are buying.
  • What is the stated duration in contact hours? A duration is a fact. Ask for it plainly.
  • Is there an assessment, and what does it assess? Attendance, comprehension or demonstrated capability are three different things.
  • What records will attendees receive? Course name, date, hours, provider, assessment outcome.
  • Can it be mapped to our competencies? Ask the provider to map their syllabus to your framework, not the other way round.
  • Can it run on site? And can it use our procedures and equipment?
  • What is the text? Training with a reference the attendee keeps outlasts training that ends at the door.
  • What accreditation is claimed, and by whom? Any credit claim should name the accrediting body.

The claims that should raise an eyebrow

“Certified” with no named certifying body. “Approved” without saying by whom. CEU or PDH figures with no sponsor named. Guarantees that training will satisfy a regulatory obligation — no provider can guarantee that, because acceptance is not theirs to give.

The honest versionA provider should tell you the duration, the content and what the certificate says, and leave acceptance to your employer or your board. Anyone promising more is promising something they do not control.

Why the text matters more than people expect

Most technical training decays within weeks because nothing goes back to the desk with the attendee.

Where the course has a reference text, the material stays available at the moment it is actually needed — which is on a jobsite at two in the morning, not in the classroom.

Applying it to us

Our syllabus is published on this site, chapter by chapter. The instructors are the field crews who plan and execute the work. The formats are four contact hours, eight contact hours and two days. Every attendee keeps the 172-page field book, which is the text.

Ask us the nine questions. They are the right ones.

Standing noteThis is educational reference material, not engineering advice. Regulations are revised continually; the editions in force at the time of a project govern, and every project requires its own qualified engineering analysis and the operator’s governing specifications.
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From Proper Pigging, the hydrostatic and nitrogen test field book, and the HydroTech certification courses built on it.