Promoting Utility Excellence through Professional Certification

The widespread diversity of jurisdictionally-based water environment system operator certification and licensure requirements obfuscates a true standard for what it takes to be an operator. In an effort to mitigate this problem, the Association of Boards of Certification (ABC) has collaboratively developed the Professional Operator (PO) certification program; a voluntary credentialing process designed to a broader, more international scope that can provide the industry with a single, unified set of operator certification standards. A review of the meticulously-calibrated components and scientific basis behind the PO certification program shows it goes further than any others to ensure validity and quality. Additionally, real-world applications can be reviewed to determine its efficacy as a management tool for promoting a utility-wide professional culture and what effects that has on operator and utility proficiency. Adoption of and conformity to a single set of certification standards can help eliminate confusion on what practices are best, enables managers to better deploy and trust in their human resources, and promotes practitioner and consumer confidence.