The Coronavirus pandemic may eventually cost the trade show and event industry billions, if not trillions of dollars in lost revenue. However, the effect on supporting activities such as continuing education might be even greater. Many industry trade associations require a certain number of continuing education units (CEU) to be earned over a specific period to maintain one’s status or accreditation.
Identifying the potential ramifications of lost CE opportunities early in the quarantine, Specified Technologies Inc. set out
to bring together thought leaders within the passive fire protection industry to fill the void. Both internal and external partners were called upon to develop continuing education content and deliver it virtually via a webinar format.
STI’s Midwest Region Healthcare Specialist Michael Bartkowski kicked things off on March 31st and again on April 15th with a presentation on Pre-Construction Risk Assessment, providing insight on addressing various firestopping in the preconstruction phase of the project in order to minimize schedule delays, cost overruns, engineering judgments and code compliance citations.
A Healthcare Symposium was planned for April 17th, coordinated by STI’s Director of Healthcare Partnerships Kelly Mason. STI pulled together some of the industry leaders in healthcare codes and standards who discussed pressing issues healthcare organizations have been facing during and will face post-COVID19. The panelists included Renee Jacobs (Johnson Controls), Bill Koffel (Koffel Associates), Steve Friedman (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center) and Doug Erickson (Facility Guidelines institute).
On April 21st Training & Development Manager John Zalepka and Lead Product Manager Justin Pine presented Firestop Instructional Training – FIT Level 1. John and Justin took turns enlightening the audience with STI’s most-widely specified training course for just over 3 hours on the fundamentals needed to become proficient in the selection and proper installation of firestop systems. This comprehensive course was registered with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for 3 LU/HSW and BICSI for 3 CECs.
Eric LaCroix, STI’s Director of Strategic Accounts and resident curtainwall guru presented Perimeter Fire Barrier Systems for Today’s Hybrid Window Wall Designs (AIA 1 LU/HSW) on April 28th. Eric left us with an understanding for the need for high-performance perimeter fire protection when designing the latest and greatest high-performance building enclosures.
The Passive Fire Protection Symposium on May 5th was a pretty much a who’s who in the industry. Justin Pine led things off with a presentation of Firestopping Key Points (AIA 1 LU/HSW, BICSI 1 CEC); Mike Kerrison from Unifrax presented Fire Protection of Commercial Exhaust and Ventilation Systems Using Flexible Wrap Products (AIA 1 LU/HSW); Angela Ogino from Owens Corning-Thermafiber presented Perimeter Fire Containment (AIA 1 LU/HSW); Pat Tesche from Global Fire Protection presented Firestop Inspection and Maintenance (AIA 1 LU/HSW, BICSI 1 CEC); and finally Luke Woods outlined UL’s new Firestop Movement Certification Program.
An encore presentation of Firestopping Key Points (AIA 1 LU/HSW, BICSI 1 CEC) was presented by John Zalepka on May 12th where he reviewed the basics of life safety and code compliant design for firestopping installation.
Chris Godwin and Lisa Jardine from R.F. Solutions, an industry leader in the field of public safety communications, presented the history of In-Building Wireless Communications (AIA 1 LU/HSW, BICSI 1 CEC) in conjunction with STI’s NYC Territory Manager Dan DeSantis on May 21st and May 27th. They discussed the events leading up to the passing of national codes, and an overview of the NFPA and IFC codes and a short discussion on STI’s newest product, Endothermic Wrap (E-Wrap).
Specified Technologies Inc. has been honored to be able to bring you content and programing to help fill the void left by the many cancelled industry events.
If you missed any of our live events, have no fear, we have posted all of the webinar recordings and their corresponding training materials on our Firestop University which can be accessed through Access STI.
To view our upcoming virtual trainings, click here. Also, please make sure to stay subscribed to our emails. Stay Trained.