2019 RETA Breeze Mar-Apr

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Do your homework before you invest your hard-earned dollars in education

Hello RETA Membership, I am happy to report that RETA has just passed our annual ANSI assessment and ANSI PCAC has approved RETA’s Accreditation for another year. We revalidate every five years and have an annual every year that RETA must pass to remain ANSI Accredited. RETA has been continually ANSI Accredited since 2008. I would like to thank RETA’s certification committee, Dr. Ron Rodgers, Dan Reisinger and RETA staff for all their efforts in this ANSI accreditation venture. Without this great support group, we would not be able to be the Gold Standard in Industrial Refrigeration. Speaking of the Gold Standard • A certificate reflects completion of a training program. • Certification requires meeting “established criteria for proficiency or competency in a profession (ISO 17024) … (after) an assessment of an individual’s knowledge, skills and abilities.” RETA’s CARO and CIRO certifications have met ANSI/ISO/ IEC 17024 Standards since 2008. Currently no certificate program in industrial refrigeration meets any third-party criteria for quality. Most certificate programs meet no standards anywhere. Investigate any entity that claims to provide an Industrial Refrigeration certification. Identify the standards they have met. No program that issues a certificate without secure, fair and valid assessment of the knowledge and skills needed to operate industrial refrigeration systems safely and efficiently can ever be equivalent to the demands required to earn RETA credentials. RETA offers the only ANSI-accredited industrial refrigera- tion certification programs in the world. RETA’s CARO and CIRO certifications became ANSI-accredited credentials in RETA The Gold Standard

2008. RETA also developed Certified Refrigeration Service Technician (CRST) and Certified Refrigeration Energy Specialist (CRES) programs to meet ANSI Standards. These programs will meet the criteria to be ANSI-accredited as soon as the required number of candidates have taken these tests to document that they meet ANSI 17024 Standards.

RETA Executive Director Jim Barron

RETA started CRST certification in 2018 in response to industry demand for a service technician credential. CRES certification is currently being updated based on RETA’s new book, Industrial Refrigeration Energy Efficiency Handbook, which will be published soon. RETA’s ANSI accreditation of CARO and CIRO is recognized worldwide through international agreements that include Europe, Asia, Central and South America and the Far East. RETA also helped Australian food processors convert RETA training materials to SI units and is monitoring develop- ments with the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ). Work is underway to extend RETA credentials into other parts of the world when they are ready to meet and maintain ANSI 17024 Standards. ANSI also has accredited 50 sponsors of certificates in its Certificate Accreditation Program (ANSI-CAP). None of these sponsors offer training in industrial refrigeration. Nearly half focus on food handlers and food safety. The closest to industrial refrigeration is HVAC training in four states (ID, MD, MT, VA). That program also links to NATE HVAC training. All other certificate programs operate with no recognized criteria for evaluating program quality or the value of their training. They require no third-party evaluation or criteria for assuring that candidates have demonstrated the

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