Avoiding a Close Call!
A water utility recently dodged a bullet. With an operator in responsible charge position coming open soon, the water district began accepting applications to fill the vacancy. One applicant was a current employee who included a Colorado Water Treatment Class A certificate with the application. The human resources department did its due diligence by going to the public operator search feature of the CCWP Portal to verify the certification. Unfortunately, the operator could not be found. The district called the CCWP Office, which performed a deeper search for the operator under the applicant’s name and other names used by the applicant in the past. The applicant was not found in Colorado’s certified operator base.
The water utility sent the CCWP Office a copy of the applicant’s certificate and it was immediately apparent that the certificate submitted by the applicant was a fraudulent document. This triggered legal action against the individual. It is illegal in Colorado to present yourself as a certified operator when you are not certified. This includes calling yourself a certified operator after your certificate has expired. It is also against the law to falsify state records, such as operator certification.
The water district’s efforts to confirm the certification paid off. It ensured the district didn’t put an unqualified person in charge of the facility, which could have had disastrous consequences for public health and the integrity of the facility.
How to Protect Your System with an Easy Search?
It is an easy thing to verify an applicant’s certificate if you have the certificate number, the operator ID number, or the operator’s name. On the public search page, you simply enter one of the three data points and click the search button. The public operator search should return the operator’s ID number, name, certificate number, certificate type and class, the expiration date of the certificate and the status of the certificate.
If no information is returned, you should contact the CCWP Office for confirmation of your search results.
➽Nancy Horan, Operator Certification Board Liaison
