20-Hour SERTC Academy Web-based portion of course has been canceled for 2023. If Web-based portion of course has already been completed, participants may still schedule to attend 24-hour Hands-On Residential portion of this course in 2023 to complete their training. Contact SERTC Administration at 719.584.0584 to register.
Course Objectives
The SERTC Academy Tank Car Specialist (TCS) course focuses on specific fundamentals associated with emergency response to a railroad incident involving hazardous materials and flammable/combustible liquids. Participants are provided with detailed technical information on all common types of rail tank cars, intermodal and portable tanks, their design, and construction. Participants will review technical mitigation techniques, transfer procedures, grounding and bonding, and safety techniques for highway transportation incidents
The 20-hour SERTC Academy Web-Based Course addresses all classroom materials normally covered during our 40-hour residential TCS course. Virtual classes are broken down into 4-hour segments, one day a week for five consecutive weeks, and are recorded for you to review during the allotted timeframe of each class should you be unable to tune into the live session. Upon successful completion of this web-based course, participants are eligible to attend the abbreviated, 24-hour SERTC Academy Hands-On Residential Course.
The 24-hour SERTC Academy Hands-On Residential Course is the final step to complete your training in Tank Car Specialist (TCS). This residential portion of the course includes extensive practical skills for actions and responses to simulated hazardous material incidents on our full scale, 45-car derailment scenario on-site at our training campus in Pueblo, Colorado. Participants will learn to conduct site assessment of the scene, assess damage to containers, perform confinement and containment actions on leaking hazardous material packaging, and perform product removal and transfer techniques on various rail tank cars and transportation vessels. This hands-on residential course is specifically designed as intensive hazardous materials emergency response training for the specialist level and will bring the hazardous materials technician to the highest recognized level of training identified by Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with a focus on freight rail incidents potentially involving hazardous materials transported by rail.
Recommended Pre-requisites:
Target Audience
TCS participants shall be hazardous materials emergency responders representing federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, public, and private sector organizations that respond to emergencies potentially involving hazardous materials in a railroad environment. Their roles in control and mitigation will require the highest level of training for effective offensive measures for HazMat/WMD incidents.