The Concrete Sawing and Drilling Association (CSDA) is offering online training and testing for concrete cutting operators through ProTraining.com. Five safety videos have been converted to online safety courses for Flat Sawing, Wall Sawing, Core Drilling, Hand Sawing and Wire Sawing.

“Because virtually everyone now has access to the Internet, Internet-driven training has been a high priority for CSDA,” said Pat O’Brien, executive director.

“The program we have developed with ProTraining.com was finalized at the end of last year and we are now up and running,” said Aaron Louisell, president of Diamond Drilling in Grand Rapids, Mich. and a member of the Safety and Training Committee, who has been working on this project for CSDA.

“The fact that ProTraining.com was focusing in part on certification and training solutions for associations could not have come at a better time for CSDA.”

These online training courses are not meant to take away from the current courses offered by CSDA at its training facility in Clearwater, Fla. However, these are shorter versions of courses covering the five basic techniques of sawing and drilling with diamond tools and these courses can be taken by any operator or employee in the privacy of their own home, at any time, day or night.

This program was pioneered by a CSDA contractor-member, Don Moroz of Derrick Concrete Cutting and Construction Ltd., in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Moroz wanted to make the CSDA videos into a safety program with a test that he could give to his employees in all four branches.

“ProTraining.com provides all of the testing, scoring and documentation for our employees, which takes a load off my office managers to track testing and recording of results,” said Moroz.

“Online training has made training possible for me as we never could have afforded the time off or the money required to get all of our operators certified by CSDA,” he added. “Certainly the course does not compare to a week-long certification course but it is a way to get started.”

Moroz said that the cost is easily spaced throughout the year and any information he needs as a manager is available at the click of a button.

Greg Kureluk, director of business development of ProTraining.com, said that everyone at ProTraining.com believes that online training is the way the business world will have to move as time and money — both limited resources — become even more important factors in training and retaining employees in any industry.

ProTraining.com is an operating division of Leading Edge Technology Inc. a private company providing online testing to more than 100,000 users in dozens of industries.

The software as well as a fully-hosted, Internet-based application provided to clients provides a cost-effective product for associations such as CSDA that want to make training available to as many people as possible. The platform used is branded and configured to meet the needs of the client.

CSDA planned to start with these five courses and add more. CSDA already provides toolbox safety tips on topics ranging from electrical safety to defensive driving, all of which they plan to include in the online safety courses with ProTraining.com in the near future.

For more information, call 727/577-5004 or visit www.csda.org.

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