By Audrey Hunt

he Associated General Contractors of Alaska has organized a new, virtual CESCL (Alaska Certified Erosion and Sediment Control Lead) training program.

CESCL is aimed at enhancing the Department of Environmental Conservation construction general permit for stormwater discharge. Enrollees can take a two-day, sixteen-hour course, with renewal required every three years.

As of 2008, CESCL training is required for all contractors working on all US Army Corps of Engineers Alaska District projects, and on all Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities construction projects. But training in the midst of a global pandemic isn’t easy. Other states were also struggling to provide online training options for industry certifications; Alaska decided to build its own.

The Alaska Stormwater Steering Committee oversees the CESCL program across Alaska. AGC Assistant Executive Director Thea Scalise is a member of that steering committee. The committee recently created a task force to design a virtual CESCL class, and Scalise was selected to be on that task force, along with representatives from the Alaska Department of Transportation and the Alaska Railroad.

The task force reviewed all policies and procedures and updated rules where necessary to accommodate a digital learning and testing environment. When it came time to implement it, AGC of Alaska agreed to proctor the beta-level test to work out any problems along the way.

“AGC launched its first beta test on January 13, their first two-day program course through a Zoom meeting,” says Scalise. A second round of beta testing was held January 26 and 27.

Scalise says it is fitting that AGC helped with the beta testing.

“We lead the industry as a whole (in training). We were involved in developing the initial program years ago,” Scalise says.

Because this was a first-round beta test, AGC of Alaska invited UAA construction management students to help make the process go as smoothly as possible by handling duties such as making sure class participants were let in to the Zoom classroom, helping participants reconnect if a connection was lost, facilitating questions in the chat area and other duties while AGC employees were responsible for administering the training courses, proctoring the tests, grading and other training-related work.

In a typical year, UAA construction management students help with AGC events, which allows them to network with potential employers, says Scalise. But in a year in which events are limited, face-to-face meetings with employers is in shortage. AGC saw the CESCL training as an opportunity to address that. The students who assisted had their photo and bio posted on AGC’s Facebook page, in the News to Use newsletter and even read aloud in the CESCL class. As an added benefit, the students who assisted were given the option of taking the final test on the CESCL course afterward, obtaining the certification for free.

With beta-testing over, other groups are now offering virtual CESCL training as well. Check the AGC CESCL training page for more information about classes at www.agcak.org/ak-cescl.html.