Green and Resilient Residential and Commercial Construction
How to Affordably Improve Project Delivery and Bolster Your Company’s Marketability
Do you want to improve your company’s project delivery capabilities and your marketability to owners, regardless of the green building rating system, standard, or code utilized on a project?
Consider credentialing your construction workforce in green and resilient construction!
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 across trades, 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 for 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 certification by taking approved courses or taking the most current GACP or GACA exam.
Visit this page to learn about reinstatement by taking approved courses or taking the most current GACP or GACA exam in the event the 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.
Like to Learn More?
See these links:
- GACP/GACA Overview
- GACP/GACA Description
- GACP/GACA Certification Handbook
- List of Training Providers – Training is not required to take the GACP or GACA exam but is recommended.
- Renewal through approved courses or examination
- Reimbursement to Veterans
- Student Discounts
- Registration and Payment
- Marketing Your Credential
Healthcare Construction
An Affordable Way to Mitigate Risks, Improve Project Delivery & Bolster Your Company’s Marketability
In today’s world, hospital and long-term healthcare construction have many risks to workers, occupants, and the general public. Among them are infection, dust, vibration, noise, waste management, utility outages, and life safety measures.
The good news is that there is a credential that can help reduce these risks, improve construction results and boost your company’s marketability. That credential is the Pre-construction Risk Assessment/Infection Control Risk Assessment (PCRA/ICRA) Certificate Program for construction personnel.
By getting your construction workforce credentialed, you can ensure that workers on your next project are familiar with state-of-the-art best practices to protect patients, staff, visitors, workers, and surrounding communities.
And the next time you submit a bid on a healthcare project, imagine how the likelihood of your being selected for the job will increase if your team is PCRA/ICRA credentialed.
See if this risk reduction credential is for your workers by taking a quick look at the PCRA/ICRA program, its benefits, and how you can get your workforce PCRA/ICRA credentialed.
The PCRA/ICRA Certificate 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 urged construction personnel participating in pre-construction, maintenance, and construction activities on healthcare facilities, as a pre-qualification, 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 disease, 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 worker health and safety, career achievement, quality building delivery, and your company’s marketability. Workers earning the certificate become familiar with best practice precaution and mitigation measures that help address the many hazards that are needed to ensure the safety of the building occupants in health care facility construction, including: infection; noise, vibration; odors; interim life safety measures; waste management, and utility issues.
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.