The division solicited feedback from stakeholders in May 2024 on the proposed changes to Board Guidance 19-1 and its associated content and presented the subcommittee’s proposed revisions to the board at its June 25, 2024 board meeting. The board approved the proposed revisions to Board Guidance 19-1 and its associated Specific Curriculum Elements.
To allow time for implementation, the revised version will become effective on January 1, 2025, and the current Board Guidance 19-1 remains effective through December 31, 2024.
The revisions that were approved:
- Provide more detail, clarification, and consistency.
- Remove the two-hour cap on MRT courses.
- Swap the term “required minimum content” with “specific curriculum elements.”
- Change the format of the specific curriculum elements from PowerPoint slides to a “Reference Guide” that specifies which information is required and which is optional.
- Only allow an MRT course to count as core Training Units (TUs) once per certificate renewal cycle to ensure operators are diversifying their learning by not only taking MRT courses to renew their certification(s).
Although not yet in effect, you can view the revised guidance document and associated Reference Guide on the board’s website.
What does this mean for certified operators?
Operators are still required to complete an MRT course when applying for a certification examination, applying for reciprocity, or renewing a certification. As mentioned above, come January 1, 2025, the completion of an MRT course will count as core Training Units (TUs) only once per renewal cycle. Operators may continue to take an MRT course more than once per renewal cycle but any additional attendance at an MRT course within that three-year cycle would count as flexible (or “flex”) TUs. This change helps ensure certified operators are diversifying their learning and not only taking MRT courses to renew certification(s).
What does this mean for course providers?
Should a training provider, utility, or other entity desire to provide MRT in 2025 (and thereafter), they must include all the Specific Curriculum Elements outlined in the Reference Guide during each MRT course delivery. The process for submitting and obtaining MRT course approval remains the same.
As mentioned above, the content of the Reference Guide is not materially different from the current required course content provided in the PowerPoint slides. The format of the content was changed and now indicates which information is required and which is optional (items with a check box and in bold font are required course content; the optional content is bulleted and not in bold font).
One approved change was to simplify instances where course providers are to show operators where to find division compliance tools, regulations, policies, and guidance documents. Course providers are still required to explain the differences and importance of each and where to find more information when needed. However, walking through examples, including providing the links, click-paths, and/or keywords to search for online, will now be considered optional content and not required course content. Clarification was also added to indicate that all courses, not only online courses, are required to have assessments, and examples of acceptable types of in-person assessments were added.
Other important changes to note for course providers relevant to the learning objectives is that a certified operator’s mission to protect public health and the environment was added to the sections covering the role of a certified operator (Regulation 100), and for wastewater treatment, industrial wastewater treatment, and wastewater collection, an overview of the tables located at the end of each permit was added to the section on understanding how to read a permit.
For questions related to these updates, feel free to contact Jessica Morgan at cdphe.facilityoperator@state.co.us.
➽ Jessica Morgan, Facility and Operator Outreach and Certification Board Liaison
