CEM Corner: Training Requirements, Part 3

By Daryl Lee Spiewak, CEM, TEM, CFM, CEM® Commissioner and Past ASPEP President Emergency Action Coordinator, Brazos River Authority, Waco, TX

In Part One of this three-part series, I described the general training requirements of our certification program. In Part Two, I discussed some tips to help you complete the disaster/emergency management section. In this final part, I will discuss some specific tips for completing the general management section of your application packet as well as offer some ideas for obtaining the necessary training.

General Management Training Defined. General management training includes subjects that are applicable to managing people and situations. They apply to any of the four management functions of leading, controlling, planning and organizing. They apply to management in any type of organization.

100 Classroom Hours Required . To compete the general management training requirements, candidates must document successful completion of 100 classroom (contact) hours of general management training. As with disaster/emergency management training there are a wide variety of training courses that fall under the general management category. Your application packet has a sampling of subject matter that the CEM® Commissioners view as being under the general management heading. You will find a more complete list on the IAEM Web site. If you are unsure about the category of a specific topic not on the list, call, write or e-mail IAEM Headquarters, and the Commissioners will make a decision and update the list on the Web site.

25 Hours Per Subject Area. This is still a key area and one that continues to cause delays in receiving certification, so I am going to say it a third time. A candidate can only receive credit for a maximum of 25 hours in any one subject or content area. As an example, the candidate attended three different communications courses for a total of 64 hours. Only 25 hours in communications training will be allowed for credit. Therefore, to fulfill the general management training requirements, the candidate will have to successfully complete a minimum of four different subject area courses.

Training Forms. Make sure you use the applicable training forms to document your accomplishments. Complete one General Management Training Submission Form for each training class and include a copy of your completion certificates. Attach your copy of the certificate to the appropriate Training Submission Form to make it easier for the CEM® Commissioners to find them. Duplicate the forms as necessary to fulfill your training requirement needs.

Other Tips. Do not document all the training courses you have attended. The CEM® Commissioners do not want a complete training history. The requirement is only 100 hours of general management training, in four separate categories. Some candidates, however, include a few additional training hours and more than four categories to ensure they completely satisfy the requirements. While this is not necessary, it will help speed up your application process if the CEM® Commissioners disallow a particular training course and/or category or you inadvertently included more than 25 hours in a single category.

Where to Obtain Training. Emergency and general management training courses are available from many sources. Some companies and organizations will provide them to their employees. Local community colleges, universities and technical colleges offer management training courses during the day, evening and weekends. The military provides an abundance of resident and nonresident management courses for its current and former members as does numerous federal governments. FEMA has free resident (see the current catalog or www.fema.gov/emi/index.htm) and nonresident (26 at 10 hours each as of Dec. 31, 2001) courses. State governments, local governments and various associations offer valuable training courses, too. A recently available source is the online college courses offered by numerous accredited universities in the U.S. and other countries. Businesses and consulting firms also offer appropriate training courses for a fee. Some pre- or post-conference training courses will meet certification requirements provided you receive a completion certificate with your name, training topic or title, and the contact hours listed.

A Final Reminder. Before submitting your application packet, check one more time to ensure you have properly documented the minimum required training hours and that you count no more than 25 hours in any one training category. Ensure you completed the proper forms and that you have the correct copies of the training completion certificates attached.

February 2002, IAEM Bulletin