2018 RETA Breeze May- June

RETA TESTINg cORNER NO. 7

RETA’s Testing and ANSI guru

Dr. Ron Rodgers, RETA’s Psychometrician (testing expert) and ANSI Accreditation Manager, has guided development of all RETA

• Moving all RETA credentialing exams to computer delivery to improve test security and tighten administrative controls • Adopting new policies and procedures to meet all ANSI 17024 Standards to preserve the quality of RETA leadership, programs and credentialing services RETA has invested over 16 years in earning and maintaining ANSI accreditation. RETA applied in 2007 and received ANSI accreditation for CARO and CIRO in March 2008. Meeting these ANSI Standards required many additional steps. • e 2007 application provided a history of RETA since 1909 and required over 750 pages of documentation. • ANSI assessors visited RETA HQ (then in Salinas, CA) in 2007 to conduct a detailed review of RETA policies, practices, and administrative procedures. • RETA re ned its policies further to meet additional ANSI 17024 Standards. ANSI also requires annual reports and periodic visits to maintain accreditation. Full applications must be submitted every ve years. RETA’s 2013 application for ANSI reaccreditation included over 1,300 pages of documentation. e 2018 application needed 1,566 pages. ANSI assigns new assessors at least once every

ve years. RETA has worked with ve teams of ANSI assessors since 2007. RETA’s new assessors visited RETA’s Albany HQ in March of this year. ey found two items that RETA corrected in March and April to meet ANSI 17024 Standards. 1. RETA added Con ict of Interest clauses to two vendor contracts. 2. RETA clari ed reaccreditation documents to support how Professional Development Hours (PDHs) provide evidence that CARO and CIRO operators have the skills and knowledge required to protect the health and safety of industrial refrigeration facilities, employees and the public when they are recerti ed. No changes in RETA procedures were needed because these steps have been operational since 2007. International agreements between ANSI and other credentialing organizations around the world also bring RETA recognition from industrial refrigeration operators and managers from other countries. Australian meat processors collaborated with RETA to convert Industrial Refrigeration Books 1 and 2 to RETA has invested over 16 years in earning and maintaining ANSI accreditation.

credentialing exams since 2002. RETA Testing Corner provides information and answers questions from RETA members, candidates and others to help them earn and bene t from RETA credentials. e American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has extended RETA’s accreditation of CARO and CIRO to March 2023 under ANSI 17024 Standards. RETA was among the rst 20 Credentialing Bodies (CBs) in the world to meet ANSI 17024 Standards inMarch 2008. Today just 75 CBs meet ANSI 17024 Standards for accreditation world-wide. RETA’s CARO and CIRO are the only internationally recognized, ANSI- accredited certi cations for industrial refrigeration system operators. RETA started its ANSI journey in 2002, a few months a er ANSI created 17024 Standards for credentialing personnel. RETA’s preparation required many steps. • Creating a rewall between the RETA Education and Certi cation Committees • Redeveloping and validating new CARO and CIRO exams to meet ANSI 17024 • Setting expiration dates for all RETA credentials as required under ANSI 17024

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