BOMI International Receives Fourth Approval from USGBC for Green Education
As an approved USGBC Education Provider, BOMI offers peer-reviewed classes accepted by USGBC for credentialing maintenance requirements. The Environmental Health and Safety Issues course underwent a rigorous review process in which a team of subject matter experts evaluated the course based on its content and instructional design quality.
“We are pleased to note that with this approval, 40% of BOMI’s required curriculum for both our Real Property Administrator (RPA) and Facility Management Administrator (FMA) designations meet USGBC approval,” said Mr. Horn, adding that BOMI is evaluating other courses for submission to the Council for its consideration. He said his goal is to submit-and have approved-all BOMI International courses.
Michael Coleman, BOMI’s designation manager, said the balance of BOMI’s 20 courses will be submitted to USGBC by early spring.
If all of BOMI’s courses are approved, Mr. Coleman said, “it would mean that professionals in the field can take any of our courses to maintain their Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) professional accreditation.”
Mr. Horn praised USGBC for “recognizing that the best practices we teach lend themselves to the sustainability of the environment.” He added, “We’ve been teaching ‘green’ for a long time.”
The other courses approved by USGBC are The Design, Operation, and Maintenance of Building Systems, Parts I and II, and Energy Management and Controls.
Environmental Health and Safety Issues gives property managers an understanding of the work environment and how to keep workers safe and healthy. The course teaches how to comply with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations, and offers resources to understand individual state regulations.
According to Mr. Coleman, USGBC has approved all delivery methods of all four courses, which include instructor-led on-line, classroom, self-study, and accelerated review.
Each course that USGBC approves is thoroughly evaluated by a team of three trained, third-party reviewers, according to a USGBC spokesman. Because of USGBC’s status as an approved Education Reviewing Body (ERB) for the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI), all approved courses-including BOMI’s four approved courses-will be assigned GBCI Continuing Education (CE) hours and will help LEED Professionals meet their credentialing maintenance requirements.
GBCI launched the LEED Professional Credentialing Maintenance Program (CMP) on August 3, 2009. The program requires LEED Professionals to maintain their credentials by staying current and relevant in a constantly transitioning marketplace. They will be able to satisfy a portion of the credentialing maintenance requirements by attending the designated BOMI classes. Currently, there are over 130,000 LEED Credentialed Professionals in the United States.
For further information about registering for a course online or in your area, contact BOMI at 800-235-2664, or visit www.bomi.org.
About BOMI International
Founded in 1970 and located in Annapolis, Maryland, BOMI International is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational organization. As the primary educational resource for today’s top corporations, government agencies, property management firms, unions, and trade associations, BOMI’s goal is to work across industry sectors to improve the skills of professionals at many levels with property, facility, and systems responsibilities. BOMI is known for industry-standard designations-the Real Property Administrator (RPA), the Facilities Management Administrator (FMA), the Systems Maintenance Administrator (SMA), and the Systems Maintenance Technician (SMT). More than 20,000 building professionals hold one or more BOMI designations, and over 80,000 students have turned to BOMI for premier education and training. For more information, or to register with BOMI International, e-mail service@bomi.org, visit www.bomi.org, or call 800-235-BOMI (2664).