PITTSBURGH, March 10 /PRNewswire/ -- SSPC: The Society for Protective Coatings will be presenting its new training course Bridge Coatings Inspector Training and Certification (BCI). SSPC is a non-profit association focused on the protection and preservation of concrete, steel and other industrial and marine structures and surfaces through the use of high-performance industrial coatings. The BCI course will be held on March 28-31, 2006 in Frankfort, Kentucky at the offices of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (DOT). The course instructor will be Derrick Castle, of the Kentucky DOT. Inception of the BCI course dates from a DOT peer forum held during the SSPC Conference 2001. During that meeting, the general consensus was a need existed for more defined training in the field of bridge coatings inspection. Facility owners (DOT's) were interested in a comprehensive program that could be administered consistently across the nation. From that meeting in 2001, there evolved a coatings expert task group made up of representatives from seven states and a bridge/tunnel authority. The task group decided that in order to gain acceptance of the program by facility owners, it had to be managed by an independent organization with a track record of administering similar programs -- such as SSPC. In addition to conducting the BCI course, SSPC will manage the tracking, certification and auditing of bridge coatings inspectors as well as the contractors and consultants that employ them. Over the past five years, the task group has worked with SSPC to refine the course curriculum and establish the certification and auditing processes. SSPC is also trying to be flexible in its prerequisite requirements for the certification portion of the program. In addition to taking the BCI course itself, SSPC will also accept prior work experience in the bridge coatings industry, as well as successful completion of the SSPC Protective Coatings Specialist certification program or Level 2 or greater of the NACE CIP program.
