News And Events

The flooding that resulted from October’s Hurricane Sandy on the Eastern Seaboard will have flooded thousands of USTs, whose owner hopefully plugged all the risers before retreating to high ground this week.

Upon returning UST owners will need to know what to do to bring the UST system back online. The Washington Department of Ecology has provided a useful guide on how to do this. Feel free to download and review.

UST Training recently helped LAPS or Las Americans Petroleum Service conduct the first ever, government approved Class A/B UST Operator Training provided in Spanish in San Juan Puerto Rico.

Frank Aquino and Deborah Caban lead the nation’s first Class A/B UST Operator course in Spanish.

Frank Aquino and Deborah Caban of LAPS trained over 60 students on September 25 and 26, 2012 at the San Juan Mariott in San Juan Puerto Rico. One student commented:

Solo quería agradecerles la oportunidad de participar en el curso del día de ayer y felicitarlos! El curso estuvo excelente, muy profesional, entretenido, fácil de comprender y brindó mucha conciencia ambiental a los detallistas que esperemos puedan aprovechar.  Estuve muy contenta de tener la oportunidad de poder conversar con Ben y brevementecon usted.  Que viva la primera clase graduada! Gracias!

“Just wanted to thank you for the opportunity to participate in the course of yesterday and congratulate them! The course was excellent, very professional, fun, easy to understand and provided much environmental awareness to retailers which we hope to take advantage. I was very happy to have the opportunity to be able to speak with Ben and briefly with you. Viva the first graduated class! Thank you!”

Look for more upcoming classes between now and December 31, 2012, the deadline to train all UST Operators in Puerto Rico. Also look for Class C UST operator training coming soon in Spanish!

Busque clases más próximas entre ahora y el 31 de diciembre de 2012, la fecha tope entrenar a todos los Operarios de UST en Puerto Rico. ¡También busque a operario de Clase C UST que entrena venir pronto en español!

Learn more about upcoming classes in Puerto Rico.

Update Tue Oct 16 2012 – The following dates have been added:

San Juan: 10/11, 10/17, 10/18/12

Ponce: 10/24 & 10/25

Aguadilla: 10/30 & 10/31

National training expert Ben Thomas finally gets an easy commute to his next class…where he lives on Whidbey Island. Ben’s company, UST Training, will be offering one live, open-to-the-public class in Freeland, Washington at the new WhidbeyTel Wifire Training room at 1651 Main Street, Freeland, WA. This is the one and only Whidbey Island live class offered before the December 31, 2012 training deadline. Plus checkout WhidbeyTel’s new super cool state of the art training room.

Course:   Washington Class A/B UST Operator Training

Date:        November 7, 2012, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Location: Wifire Cafe Training Room, 1651 Main Street, Freeland, WA

Cost:        $299.95/person

Register: Click here

Questions: (866) 301-8265

UST Training will be at the PEI NACS Show in Las Vegas October 8-10. If you plan on visiting the nation’s largest petroleum equipment and c-store trade show then please stop by and say hi. We’re at Booth 4419 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Want to schedule a meeting with our senior staff in advance? Call 1-866-301-8265 or email us today. It’s not too late to discuss your long-term UST operator training strategies.

Not registered yet? You can register here.

UST Training is a proud member of PEI, the Petroleum Equipment Institute, and is pleased to help promote education among UST operators, inspectors and technicians, in conjunction with PEI’s efforts and standards

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UST Training has once again teamed up with our friends LAPS, Las Americas Petroleum Services, to provide live Class A/B UST operator training in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2012. The course was developed by UST Training and has been approved by the Puerto Rico EQB. LAPS senor staff will be providing the training in Spanish and UST Training staff will be present to introduce the course and answer questions. UST Training is proud to be the first to offer Class A/B training in Spanish.

The first round of classes will be September 25 and 26, 2012, at the San Juan Marriott. Register today: Seating is limited, sign up now.

Download the course brochure: CLASS A-B UST TRAINING 2012 english (PDF)

We like to think the UST Operator Training Deadline of August 8, 2012, is the beginning of the training requirement and not the ending, due to refresher requirements and staff turnover. In our ongoing efforts to help operators always plan for tomorrow, here’s something to consider: refresher training.

Attention Class A/B UST Operators: The Petroleum Equipment Institute (PEI) has just released a new recommended practice document: RP 1200: Recommended Practices for the Testing and Verification of Spill, Overfill, Leak Detection and Secondary Containment Equipment at UST Facilities.

Those familiar with our UST Operator Training programs know we put a lot of emphasis into Best Management Practices or “what you should do in addition to what you have to do.” We often encourage UST operators to test certain equipment prone to wear and tear to make sure it’s working, regardless of whether the testing is mandatory. Many times operators ask how to perform those tests: now we have a uniform answer: refer to PEI RP 1200.

UST Training’s own Steve Purpora was on the RP1200 committee: as a 30+ year tank tester, Steve has extensive background testing USTs and we’re proud to be a part of this new, important standard.

You can purchase RP 1200 here.

The standard is not law but a recommended practice. For those Class A and B UST operators who want to stay ahead of the curve, consider adopting these standards into your company compliance plans. And we suggest work with your UST service provider to determine how to make these practices improve your compliance goals.

An astute UST operator sent us this photo yesterday of an automatic shut off device removed from a fill pipe. Can you tell us what’s wrong?

Trained operators of tomorrow should know why this “what’s wrong” is a major hazard to your business.

You know people are prone to wait to the last minute to meet a deadline and the nation’s UST operators are no exception. By August 8, 2012, most UST operators in the United States are under regulatory obligation to get trained as Class A, B and C UST operators.You probably know the drill by now: Class A operators are usually the owner, Class B operators are the site manager, and Class C operators are anyone at a UST site who might respond to an incident. That’s tens of thousands of AB operators and probably over a million Class Cs.

Activity on our web page has been staggering compared to previous months as everyone is sprinting to the deadline. We even had to add additional computers servers to keep up with the demand of generating online certificates. Many of the phone calls this week have involved telling folks not to lose their cool and focus on assigning, training and certifying.

Counting down to August 8, 2012

But the real question is: What happens after August 8?

In truth it will depend on the state’s enforcement policy. While it will be illegal not be trained in most states, enforcement for the nation’s half-million tanks will not happen overnight.

• Some states like Wyoming and Wisconsin require operators to submit proof of training when complete.
• Some states require like Colorado require annual proof along with your annual tank registration fees.
• Some states, most states really, will ask for proof of training at the time of inspection.
• Some states like West Virginia require proof of training and photo ID to be furnished during inspection.
• Some companies we’re talked to have an internal policy to meet the deadline regardless of whether the state has rules or not.
• Some states have extended the deadline (Alaska and Washington): 12/31/12; Florida is 2014 or 2015 depending on the ages of the tank).
• Some states and territories (Guam, US Virgin Islands) trained everyone through contractors like us so they know who’s been trained and who’s not.

So the bottom line: be ready when the inspector shows up. Have your training certificates ready in your compliance binder.

Will a state “red tag” your site and shut you down? It’s possible though hopefully only for sites that have significant violations.  Again it depends on how tough your state enforcement program is. Likely you would get a notice of violation and possibly a fine for non-compliance.

So good luck and get trained today!