Glazing Technician Certification Program Develops Test Apparatus and Validation Survey

The apparatuses will be used by future AGMT certification applicants to demonstrate their proficiency in fundamental physical glazing skills and abilities; the physical test element of the certification exam.

The committee also designed the draft physical tasks that would be assessed as part of the certification requirements.

These included various glazing-related assembly and installation procedures utilizing components of curtainwall, storefront and aluminum entrance systems, and proper use of sealants, gaskets and other water management methods.

“Because of the large cross section of glazing industry professionals involved, the steering committee made amazing progress in establishing the physical test requirements,” said Mike Laughlin of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, DC-21.

Construction of three unique prototype test apparatuses is expected to be complete by the first week in December. Further fine-tuning will occur leading up to the next Physical Test Steering Committee meeting in tentatively scheduled for February, 2018.

The physical test steering committee is comprised of a balanced representation of industry experts from three major stakeholder segments: glaziers, glazing contractors, and the user community consisting of manufacturers, suppliers, architects, consultants and spec writers.

“The number of people who have volunteered as industry experts to be part of this effort really speaks to the need for this program,” said Jeff Dalaba, Project Manager. “With 29 members on our steering committees, and others looking to joint the effort, we see there’s a groundswell of support.”

In addition to the physical glazing exam, which will have a large bearing on an applicant’s total score, the certification assessment process will also include a prerequisite written exam that will guage the applicant’s knowledge of proper glazing theory and procedures, tools of the trade, construction documents and layout, and quality control and failure prevention measures.

The third-party, personnel certification initiative is being developed by Administrative Management Systems, Inc. (AMS) and will be open to all glazing technicians.

In furtherance of the development of the certification exams (written and physical), AMS, Inc. has designed a validation survey to determine the importance of 30 key, glazing-related, knowledge and skill categories in minimizing glazing related defects and failures, and the frequency with which the elements of the categories are typically performed.

The ultimate goal is to establish how prominently each will be featured in the certification process. The intention is that items that rank higher in importance/frequency will receive more attention on the exams than less important/frequent items.

According to Ben Beeler, Program Director, input from a large number of industry professionals is absolutely vital to establishing the relevance of the certification assessment process.

“We want to get the survey in the hands of as many glaziers, glazing contractor personnel, and professionals from all other glazing industry segments as possible.” An invitation to complete the survey was initially distributed on November 1, and subsequent mailing lists will follow.

AMS, Inc. will close the survey no later than December 8 and begin the task of tabulating the data and developing a rough exam blueprint shortly thereafter.