Vancouver, WA, June 30--Five years ago, the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) began developing a hard surface floor cleaning and maintenance program with the introduction of the Floor Care Technician (FCT) course, offering a brief overview of the four basic categories of hard surfaces: resilient, stone, wood and specialty floors.
Since then, the IICRC has been expanding the program to feature additional courses that provide specialized training for each hard surface floor category.
A second course—Stone, Masonry Technician (SMT)—was added in 2004 to expand upon the FCT course as it relates to all types of stone flooring.
The SMT provides in-depth training for all natural stone floors; marble, limestone, granite and all other metamorphic, sedimentary and igneous stone floors; clay-based floors such as ceramic porcelain, quarry tile and concrete and man-processed agglomerates and conglomerates floor coverings.
At its spring 2005 meeting, the IICRC elevated the Hard Surface Floor Cleaning and Maintenance Task Force to a division of the Certification Council.
The new division, Cleaning/Maintenance, will include all hard surface floor disciplines with the addition of the Commercial Carpet Cleaning and Maintenance course (CCMT). Doug Bradford has been appointed as the Technical Advisory Committee chair (TAC) for the course and Joe Dobbins will chair the division, along with sub-chairs Dane Gregory, Stan Hulin, Bob Merkt and Doug Bradford.
Based upon recommendations made at the meeting, the IICRC is moving forward with development of additional courses. The next two courses to be offered are the Resilient Floor Maintenance Technician (RFMT) and the Wood Floor Maintenance Technician (WFMT).
The IICRC also has plans to complete course development of the remaining hard surface floor cleaning and maintenance categories. Ultimately, the IICRC’s new maintenance and cleaning division will consist of eight courses:
CBFMT: Clay-Based Floor Maintenance Technician
CCMT: Commercial Carpet Maintenance Technician
CFMT: Concrete Floor Maintenance Technician
HFMT: Hard Floor Maintenance Technician (formerly the FCT)
RFMT: Resilient Floor Maintenance Technician
SFMT: Stone Floor Maintenance Technician
SPFMT: Specialty Floor Maintenance Technician
WFMT: Wood Floor Maintenance Technician
"The new courses will address proper treatment and maintenance of the many types of hard surface flooring available in a manner consistent with the high professional standards set forth by the IICRC," said Ruth Travis, vice-chair and marketing chairman for the IICRC.
All courses will focus on identification, cleaning principles, methodology, theory and best practices and procedures. The IICRC encourages industry experts, cleaning professionals, IICRC certified technicians, manufacturers and/or distributors with a good working knowledge of these floor surfaces to help with the development of the courses by becoming committee members. Contact Joe Dobbins at certcouncilchair@iicrc.org
