Community College Journal - April/May 2011

Improved Training

With a number of its 16 colleges located in and around the Gulf Coast region, LCTCS for years has trained oil and gas workers, emphasizing the importance of personal safety and environmental protection; it has stepped up these efforts more in the wake of the spill.

Within 24 hours of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, faculty and certified instructors at LCTCS experienced in providing HAZMAT and Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Standard training began piecing together new curricula to address the problems created by the spill. However, May says, it took several months to fully grasp the scope of the disaster.

LCTCS colleges trained more than 6,200 people to help with the cleanup effort. Most of the training programs adopted curricula approved by BP, the oil company that operated the malfunctioning rig.

Newer training programs developed at LCTCS colleges address a set of federal government regulations enacted following the spill, including regulations defining driller responsibility. In several cases, May says, colleges have worked with BP and other oil and gas companies to create new training programs or amend existing ones to include the latest education.

“A lot of what we’ve done is related to safety training; virtually everyone who goes to work on a rig in the Gulf region will go through one of our colleges for training,” May says. One such safety and evacuation program uses a large swimming pool and a robotic helicopter to simulate an underwater escape.

“Part of the safety training is about
protocols, making sure you follow
steps to ensure that you’re carrying out
operations precisely as you should be,”
May says. “A big part of the operations
is underwater welding, and we do the
bulk of training for people who are
working on the rigs. It’s a hostile envi-
ronment, and safety as well as following
protocols is very important.”

Partners in Clean

Many LCTCS training programs are funded through corporate partnerships and government grants. And LCTCS is not alone.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC), which operates four campuses in Mississippi, also trains workers for the Gulf cleanup effort.

Immediately following the spill, MGCCC began a series of training classes in partnership with BP and PEC/Premier Safety Management, a Louisiana-based company that provides training and consulting services, focused on pre-contamination cleanup safety.

“Once the oil approached the shoreline, training efforts were focused on the safety of being near hazardous materials,” says Anna Faye Kelley-Winders, MGCCC’s vice president of community campus and institutional development.

(Continued on page 48)

Expand Knowledge, Open Minds

Learning Solutions and Innovation
in the Classroom and Beyond
Print & Electronic Courseware •
e-Learning •
Blended Solutions •
Custom Content •
vLab Classroom & •
vLab Exercises
Learning Technology •
& Administration

Every day, Element K connects learners around the globe with accessible, engaging and student-focused classroom solutions. With over 8,000 classroom product listings and 5,800 e-Learning titles, Element K is your single source for premium, award-winning content.