Construction Personnel

Green and Resilient Residential and Commercial Construction

How to Increase Your Value to Your Employer or Your Prospects for Employment

Do you want to improve your company’s project delivery capabilities, regardless of the green building rating system, standard or code utilized on a project? 

Do you want to distinguish yourself in your company and in the industry?

And from a bigger picture perspective, what can you do to better protect yourself, your family, and your community by constructing safe, healthy, energy and water-efficient buildings?

You can advance yourself and your company in all of these ways by earning a green and resilient construction credential.

Green Advantage, a non-profit credentialing body, offers two green builder certifications, across trades, one for construction field personnel and the other for construction supervisor personnel:

The Green Advantage Certified Practitioner (GACP®). Targeted to construction supervisors, the GACP certification exam requires familiarity with state-of-the-art green construction means, methods, materials, and over 800 green building best practices.
The Green Advantage Certified Associate (GACA®). Targeted to construction trades personnel, requires familiarity with a subset of the GACP standards, with over 300 green building best practices.

Piloted research shows that Green Advantage Certified teams are more likely to spot problems that would affect green building performance, identify cost-cutting opportunities, and increase the prospects of attaining LEED Certification at, or higher than, the level sought.

Intrigued? Please take a few minutes to see how Green Advantage Certification can make a difference to you and your company.

  • Internationally recognized 
  • Validates foundational familiarity with:
    • LEED, Green Globes, Passive House, IgCC, ASHRAE 189.1, BOMA 360, and more
    • The seven essential components of green building 
    • Hundreds of green building best practices
    • Disadvantages and advantages of green building approaches
    • Cost control/efficiency systems
    • Crew collaboration measures
    • Call-back reduction techniques
    • Health and safety risk mitigation
    • Process concerns: sequencing, materials handling, waste management, transportation, cleaning & more
    • Pre-construction risk assessment 
    • Blast protection approaches
  • 5-year certification
  • Credential holders can:
    • Display the GACA or GACP signifier (example: John Smith, GACP)
    • Post their profile on the Green Advantage website directory

Visit pages 2 & 3 of the GACA/GACP Certification Handbook to learn about Certification Requirements.

See page 6 of the GACA/GACP Certification Handbook to review the Registration Agreement.

Visit this page to learn about how to maintain your certification by taking approved courses or taking the most current GACP or GACA exam.

Visit this page to learn about reinstatement in the event your GACP or GACA certification lapses.


Register & Pay

Upon registration and payment for your GACP or GACA exam, you will receive a comprehensive Study Guide that includes all of the information that you need to know in order to take the exam.

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Healthcare Construction

How to Boost Your Value to Your Employer and Your Prospects for Employment

Do you want to improve your company’s healthcare project delivery capabilities? Or perhaps you want to show how valuable you are to your employer?

Or, if you are unemployed or underemployed, how can you improve your employability?

One important answer: demonstrating your familiarity with state-of-the-art best practices that reduce the risks in healthcare construction.

Why? Because In the age of COVID-19, the need for quality healthcare facilities is more important than ever. Risks in healthcare construction such as infection, dust, noise, vibration, waste, and utility outages must be addressed.

The good news is that there is a construction personnel credential that can help reduce these risks, improve construction results and boost your and your company’s delivery capabilities.

By earning this credential, you can become familiar with state-of-the-art best practices to protect patients, staff, visitors, workers, and surrounding communities as you build new or rehab existing healthcare facilities.

Interested in how you can make a difference by earning this credential? Take a look at the information below.

The PCRA/ICRA credential program is built to international standards.

The Joint Commission accredits over 20,000 healthcare facilities in the United States. Accreditation by the Joint Commission strengthens community confidence in the quality and safety of healthcare, treatment, and services. Prophetically, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Joint Commission’s “Environment of Care News” publication for November and December 2019, five industry-expert authors called for all construction personnel participating in pre-construction, maintenance, and construction activities on healthcare facilities to demonstrate their competence by possessing a PCRA/ICRA credential.

The Joint Commission publication authors pointed to significant emerging global risks. They concluded that these risks exacerbate the need for raising the bar on PCRA/ICRA requirements. They listed climate change, natural disasters, infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and pollution as examples of these risks. The authors went on to state that these heightened threat levels make the PCRA/ICRA processes increasingly critical—to the point that they should be considered part of emergency preparedness.

The worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus more than ever makes state-of-the-art healthcare construction paramount. Working toward the high quality represented by this certificate is important for your health and safety, your career, your company, and your customers.

Demand for healthcare facility construction continues to rise. Hospitals and other healthcare organization owners such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities want to comply with federal, state, and local requirements related to construction. Both regulators and owners seek construction workers who have proven familiarity with current best practices that will ensure healthcare construction delivery that protects the health and safety of patients, staff, workers, and the general public.

For licensing purposes, healthcare facilities are required to have a PCRA/ICRA process established. The PCRA/ICRA is used for any healthcare facility demolition, construction, or renovation. It is a formal protocol used to identify potential healthcare construction risks and create mitigation strategies to reduce or eliminate them. The PCRA/ICRA Certificate Program is designed to assist in meeting the intent and compliance requirements of the Joint Commission standard.

The Pre-construction Risk Assessment/Infection Control Risk Assessment Certificate Program is designed for healthcare pre-construction, construction, and maintenance personnel. For short, it’s called the PCRA/ICRA Certificate Program.  It prepares construction workers to deliver high-quality construction within the healthcare arena. PCRA and ICRA are processes that help reduce the risks associated with healthcare construction and healthcare facility maintenance. The focus is on protecting everyone who could be adversely affected – patients, staff, visitors, construction workers, and the surrounding communities.

Those who successfully demonstrate their competencies by completing the 12-hour webinar training and passing the exam earn the PCRA/ICRA Certificate.

The exam contains 40 multiple-choice questions. Candidates have 90 minutes to complete the exam. Exams are administered through remote proctoring using a PC or desktop that has sufficient Wi-Fi connectivity. 


REGISTER HERE to earn the PCRA/ICRA Credential, includes online, self-paced training, a training manual, and the exam.


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