I have been working with a client on developing their PRCS Rescue team and of course, we get to the final phase, training the team, and the questions begin with how long is the training. Now, the topic of training and its time commitment was discussed a long time ago; even before they decided they wanted their own team, as I always make sure my clients understand fully what it literally means and takes to have a functioning PRCS Rescue team. And of course, their purchasing manager can find outfits that are claiming their 8-hr, 12-hr rescue classes are all that “OSHA requires” and that I am somehow ripping them off with my 24-hr course. So I ask the client’s purchasing manager to get the information from these outfits so we can all learn where OSHA has specified 8 or 12 hours of training – heck the other two bidders can not even agree on what OSHA has supposedly stated! So if the 8-hr and 12-hr is not the right amount of time, where do I get off quoting a 24-hr course? It’s simple, I turn to the most trusted source for emergency responder training qualifications and there we find the exact same terminology and training framework as we find in OSHA’s HAZWOPER standard (1910.120(q)).
