67 With the need for a specialty credential clarified, NEHA's Executive Director, Nelson Fabian, and the Hazardous Waste Council, obtained a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the spring of 1986. This grant, unique in the history of EPA, designated NEHA as the agent in the U.S. that would be responsible for develop- ing a program of certification for professionals in the hazardous waste field. Though unfunded, subsequent phases of the grant would support education and training.
Once the grant was awarded, Environmental Specialist Terry Johnson was employed by NEHA to provide staff support for the project.
The certification oversight committee met on May 19, 1986 in Denver, Colorado, to begin its work. It started by identifying the knowledges, skills, and abilities needed by professionals to manage hazardous waste and toxic substance problems. In addi- tion, the committee began the process of developing a certification exam to measure to what extent those skills were possessed by professionals who practiced in this area. An experienced team of test item writers assembled a 254 question draft examination and a pretest strategy that insured that the final revision of the exam would be a valid test of the hazardous waste professional. The exam was pretested in six states which represented different regions of the country with different emphases. The certification committee met in Denver on December 8, 1986, to study the results of the pretest and make the necessary revisions to the exam in view of the pretest experience. These revisions have now been made and a final exam has been completed. It will be made available for the first time to qualified hazardous waste professionals at the NEHA annual educational conference in San Diego in June 1987. The development of this exam is a hallmark of the association for it represents the first specialty certification program ever developed by NEHA. Moreover, this specialty certification, as evidenced by the numerous inquiries the association has received, has already proven to be of great interest not only to environmental health professionals but also to an array of professionals in both the public and private sectors. It is clear that the successful completion of this exam will go a long way in advancing NEHA' s mission of developing professionals in our field in order that they might more profes- sionally carry out their responsibilities and in so doing better protect the public's health. It is fitting that this exam is being offered at a time when the association is celebrating its first 50 years of a history devoted to the advancement and professional development of all who practice in environmental health.
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