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By Daryl Lee Spiewak, CEM, TEM, Lead Trainer for the CEM Commission
Candidates continue to find the Sample Global AEM/CEM Training Course Allocation Table a useful tool when preparing their certification packet. But the courses listed in it continue to change and to grow in number, which leads to many questions. This article answers some of those questions by explaining the table’s history, how the CEM Commissioners use it, and how the list grew.
When the CEM Commission first began reviewing certification packets in 1993, they found the training certificates listed either the dates of the training or only the last day of training. Without additional supporting documentation, the Commissioners could only allocate six hours per full day of training. So if a training certificate for a course that lasted 36 hours only listed the final day of the course, then the candidate only received credit for six hours! It was a problem that resulted in many incomplete applications.
Commissioners relied on old FEMA and Fire Academy catalogs to determine the proper number of training hours allocated to a particular course. That was all we had available at the time. And since training courses are accepted for the previous 10 years, it became burdensome for the Commissioners to keep and to review 10 years’ worth of FEMA and Fire Academy course catalogs.
The Commissioners also learned candidates had difficulty properly allocating a particular training course to the emergency management or to the general management category. To speed up our review process, the Commission developed a listing to allocate the most common training courses submitted.
The allocation table took the place of all those FEMA and Fire Academy course catalogs we had to keep. It specified how many contact hours the course provided, and it allocated the individual training courses to emergency management, general management, or both. This combined list became the foundation of the training course allocation table.
As a tool, Commissioners use the allocation table when the training certificates submitted by a candidate do not clearly indicate the course contact hours and the candidate claims more than six hours credit. The priority always goes to the documentation the candidate provides. When there is a discrepancy or a question regarding allocation, the Commissioners refer to the allocation table.
When a course of instruction is not listed on the allocation table, the Commissioners may choose to conduct an Internet search to determine the correct values, but it is not a requirement that the Commissioners do so. The requirement is for the candidate to provide adequate documentation to verify his or her claims, or the application will be found incomplete.
When a discrepancy between the claims and supporting documentation still exists, the application packet is deemed incomplete. Within 30 days, the candidate will receive an incomplete letter stating exactly what must be completed and resubmitted to earn certification.
The Commission did not want to duplicate the FEMA and Fire Academy training courses with the allocation table. That would make the listing too large and unwieldy. We chose to list only the most common training courses candidates submitted, because it was to be a tool to assist in our packet reviews and not a replacement for the candidates’ supporting documentation. So the allocation table started out very small.
After each review session, Commissioners would list the courses they saw most often. Those courses not already on the list then were added to it. Over the years, the list continued to grow.
The allocation table remained USA-centric until a few years ago, when the Commission began receiving application packets from outside the United States. We knew we had to expand the allocation table to include those training courses that would be the most common ones the CEM Commissioners would encounter. These courses were selected by the IAEM Councils and added to the list.
The allocation table was commonly referred to as the Training Allocation Chart. It was a sample listing of training courses most commonly submitted to the Commission for review. The listing was not all inclusive, nor would it ever be. Our global members suggested a name change for the table. After much discussion, the Commission settled on the “Sample Global AEM/CEM Training Course Allocation Table,” the name it is known by today.
IAEM Bulletin, August 2012
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