The GA continues to expand live online and in-person educational offerings for building, fire, and code enforcement professionals. In the Fall 2023 issue of Gypsumation, we reported that GA Technical and Market Advisor Greg Woolley was beginning to offer education at code related events. Training is needed not only to keep seasoned workers up to date but also to educate the next generation of code personnel. Anecdotally, the notion that more people are leaving the building code profession than entering it is broadly accepted. As a result, building departments are struggling to maintain staffing levels while meeting educational needs.
EduCode attendance, either online or in-person, is a great option for ICC certified education. Now in its 27th year, this event is sponsored by the Southern Nevada Chapter of the International Code Council (ICC). Attending for the first time this year, Greg was impressed by the educational lineup and by the fact that attendees hailed from 49 states. Over the course of five days, Greg met numerous building code professionals and is now fielding their requests for GA education. On May 1, for example, he will be offering Redwood City, California, plan reviewers and building inspectors a live virtual session of the GA’s ICC approved course A Guide to Gypsum Association Code Referenced and Online Resources.
Among the resources Greg will cover are the GA’s three on-demand courses for ICC credit, which can be found at gypsum.org. Not surprisingly, these courses were in high demand during the pandemic and continue to be popular. Currently, requests for in-person education are frequent. Greg attributes the preference for live education as a response to the limited opportunities for educational interaction during the pandemic. While the GA will continue to travel to code related events and offer training there as time and budget allow, it is hoped that live virtual education will fulfill the need for increased exchanges between students and instructors.
As he plans for the year ahead, Greg is working on additional courses in response to feedback from code professionals. A course on area separation firewalls is an identified need, as is a course covering the technical basics of GA-600 Fire Resistance and Sound Control Design Manual. Speaking of the manual, GA-600-2024 will be released this summer. You can learn more about that and keep abreast of new GA educational offerings in future issues of Gypsumation.
Code officials interested in arranging training can contact Greg via gwoolley@gypsum.org.