Federal Buildings Personnel Training Act (FBPTA) - Safety and Health Competencies
Presented to the Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health (FACOSH) on October 18, 2012

David Marciniak, Safety and Health Manager, General Services Administration
david.marciniak@gsa.gov / 202-538-9029

1.  Background of the Act

	a.  Rationale.  To ensure the ARRA energy efficiency and sustainability investments are operated optimally and properly maintained.	
	b.  Applicability.  
		- Section 2(a) of the Act "...federal personnel performing building operations and maintenance, energy management, safety, and design functions...."
		- Section 2(f) of the Act "...shall apply to non-Federal personnel performing building operations and maintenance, energy management, safety, and design functions under a contract with a Federal department or agency."
	c.  Responsibilities and Deadlines.  
		Core competencies (GSA, June 14, 2012)
		Curriculum (GSA + DoE, June 14, 2012)
		Designation of courses, certifications, degrees, licenses and registrations (GSA, no date specified)
	d.  Annual update.
	
2. Initial Approach / Changes - Overall

	a.  Series and Grade Alignment.  Initially the competencies were aligned with job function (facility manager, operating engineer, and energy/sustainability manager) and three grade bands (career ladder, journeyman and manager) 
	b.  Issues.  Too complicated, hard to apply to all feds and all facility types.  Grades/grade bands, functions and facility types and facility risks vary greatly.  We needed a minimum that could be used for an SSA office as well as for a DoE lab.  (For example, ionizing radiation safety is probably not a federal-wide core competency - however fall protection is.)
	c.  Broad and Normalized.  One final set of minimum competencies for those responsible for building operations and maintenance.

3.  Initial Approach / Changes - Safety and Health (S&H)

	a.  Initial S&H Inadequate.  Initially S&H was interpreted as "public safety", hence fire, life safety and emergency management were in the initial draft.  The Act was not clear and some confusion ensued.  Some assumed that S&H was adequately addressed outside of the Act by existing organizations, i.e. by "safety offices.  Such is true, but not in all organizations - also the target are facility operators, not S&H professionals. 
	b.  Facility O&M S&H.  The final take was that facility types need to know basics and where to go for help.
	c.  Published Core Competencies.  The published initial competencies include S&H as one of twelve competencies.  Plus fire, life safety and emergency management are also embedded in other competencies.



4.  The FACOSH-FBPTA Connection

	a.  FACOSH recommendations arrived after the June 14, 2012 publication.	
	b.  DSOC (Defense Safety Oversight Council) electrical safety sub-group previously submitted recommendations which were included.  DSOC covered ~ 60-80% of what FACOSH proposed - they were broad recommendations and not limited to electrical safety.	
	c. Act requires we update the competencies annually so FACOSH recommendations will be considered.

5.  There is More to Do

	a.  Competencies are only the foundation.  Gaps include (a) a few S&H subjects, (b) emerging (i.e. "green") technologies, and (c) the FACOSH "S&H triad" approach (safe work, safe buildings and safety management).
	b.  Assessment Mapping.  Facility folks generally have some degree of the required competencies.  An assessment tool has been developed by OPM that maps existing training, certifications, experience, to the core competencies - and identifies gaps.  This tool is operational but minimally populated (it is new).
	c.  Resources. We need to identify resources that map to the competencies.  Since this is an unfunded mandate we are focusing on using existing federal sources.

 6.  Resources, Recommendations and Needs

	a.  FMI WebSite.  www.fmi.gov
	b.  Update Competencies.  Crosswalk FACOSH recommendations to current competencies.
	c.  Mapping.  GSA needs help with assessment mapping, particularly the S&H competencies. 
	d.  Training Resources.  Reach out to department/agency S&H managers/DASHOs or consider funding OPM to research available resources.  

	
