Demolition Association Launches Online Training

2,000 self-paced courses cover environmental, health and safety, transportation, and management skills

DOYLESTOWN, PA – The National Demolition Association has launched an online training system offering more than 2,000 courses that meet the specialized needs of the construction industry.  NDA's Online Training, powered by the courseware management source Portico Learning Solutions, is available to NDA members and the industry at large.

"We decided to take the initiative by making these essential courses available to professionals involved in the demolition process in areas such as environmental, health and safety, transportation, and IT skills," said Michael R. Taylor, CAE, executive director of the NDA. "We identified Portico as the premier source of custom e-learning course development and decided to partner with them."

The self-paced online interactive training courses feature a course-management program that tracks how much of a course has been completed, which sections have been visited, and how many modules the user has completed and been tested on. "Users can start and stop courses as needed, while the system remembers for them exactly where they left off," explained Taylor. Once a course is purchased, users can return and review it as many times as they wish during a 12-month period. As users complete each course module, testing takes places and a grade is instantly issued. When all requirements are fulfilled, the system issues a unique certificate of completion to the user.

"As we designed the NDA's Online Training system, we wanted to combine the intuitive ease of e-commerce that most people know, with e-learning," Taylor explained. "We also want to share the in-depth experience of the demolition industry with other construction professionals by offering extremely valuable courses on topics like fall protection, dealing with bloodborne pathogens, and courses with OSHA standardized content that is vetted by industry experts."

In addition to courses aimed at the technical aspects of the construction industry, the educational offering provides courses for every aspect of business management, including IT and business skills, desktop computer skills, medical and legal compliance, human resources training, project management, and Six Sigma.

The NDA's Online Training portal is found within the NDA Learning Center, a page on the NDA website that has links to the NDA Safety Talks series, the Demolition Safety Manual, and the Lead-in-Construction employee training program. Users can navigate to the system by clicking on several topics at the top of the NDA homepage, including "Our Industry/Education," "Safety", and "Public Relations."

At present, the NDA's Online Training program is available for individual use. In early 2011, the Association plans to roll out a courseware management program specifically for corporate use. It will enable companies to track the continuing education programs for all of its employees.

For more information on the NDA's Online Training system or the Association itself, visit the NDA website www.demolitionassociation.com for more information or call 800-541-2412.

The National Demolition Association is a non-profit trade organization representing approximately 1,000 U.S. and Canadian companies and many international firms that are involved in the demolition process. Membership includes demolition contractors, general contractors, civil engineering firms, and recycling, landfill, and salvage operations. The association's efforts help members stay abreast of environmental, regulatory and safety matters, keep regulators informed about issues facing the industry, increase public and industry awareness, and provide members with networking opportunities and information on the latest technical advances in equipment and services.

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