Hot Mix Asphalt Technology - March/April 2008 - (Page Expo-9)

Training and Certification Partnership Develops High-Quality Technicians By Tiffany Estes A ccording to former students, the training and certification program offered by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) in hot-mix asphalt technology is among the very best. “It’s head and shoulders above any other certiﬁcation class I’ve attended,” said Chris Williams, quality control lab manager for Riverbend Sand and Gravel in Salem. Williams holds all six certiﬁcations offered by ODOT. ODOT’s training is conducted by the Asphalt Pavement Association of Oregon (APAO) in a cooperative program. Barb Worbington also holds all six certiﬁcations. “I took ﬁve of them because they were required for my job, and the sixth (in mix design) for future advancement,” she said. Barb is the assistant quality assurance coordinator for ODOT’s Region 1, which is responsible for materials testing. “The training is deﬁnitely worthwhile, and opens doors,” she added. A unique partnership Certiﬁcation became a requirement several years ago for anyone conducting hot-mix asphalt materials testing in the state of Oregon – speciﬁcally for ODOT projects, but increasingly for city and county jurisdictions as well. The certiﬁcation requirement was prompted by ODOT’s decision to shift to a quality control/quality assurance model. Before this change, ODOT performed all acceptance tests. Today, the contractor is fully responsible for material quality control and acceptance testing, while ODOT is focused on the quality assurance aspect. An integral part of that, however, is ODOT’s commitment to ensure that the contractors’ technicians are highly qualiﬁed, and that testing is performed in a consistent manner. ODOT began the transition by certifying its own technicians, then certifying contractor personnel. They knew, however, that the job of statewide training and certiﬁcation would quickly become too large to manage within the scope of the agency. They teamed up with APAO to share the responsibility, and have collectively been running a successful training and certiﬁcation program for the past 12 years. How it works APAO has its own training director on staff who works closely with ODOT personnel to administer the training and certiﬁcation program. This collaboration ensures that stu- Gary Thompson (center) of APAO supervises as participants in the training get hands-on experience in the asphalt lab. Tom Bosworth (left) works at the gyratory compactor and Brad Watson (right) loads the mold. NAPA Roadmap to CONEXPO-CON/AGG • 9

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hot Mix Asphalt Technology - March/April 2008

Hot Mix Asphalt Technology - March/April 2008 Contents Chairman’s Commentary Industry News Top-notch Teams Overcome Obstacles to Build the Nation’s Finest Roads Ecological Award Winners: Environmentally Sound, Neighbor Friendly Safety Award Winners: Rewards, Reminders and Technology Roadway Safety Program Trains Workers Preventing Back-overs Is Serious Business Driving Through Work Zones: Be Careful! San Diego Uses Porous Asphalt Lots for Stormwater Management Legislative Messages Tools for the Trade Calendar of Events Index of Advertisers Advertiser.com NAPA Roadmap to CONEXPO-CON/AGG

Hot Mix Asphalt Technology - March/April 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.