CEAC-2020-01-January

Feature Story
By John Fanning
In 1962, a boiler explosion at the New York Telephone
Company building claimed the lives of 23 people and injured
another 94. The deadliest stationary boiler-related catastrophe
in the United States in decades, the tragedy drove home
the fact that no matter how many automated controls you
affix to potentially dangerous equipment, nothing can equal
the level of safety that comes from having that equipment
maintained and operated by well-trained professionals.
The absolute necessity for training stationary engineers lies
at the heart of the visionary concept developed by leadership
of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local
399, when plans were first developed for the establishment
of a training program for its members. Since that time, much
has happened to underscore not only the critical need for
training to prevent explosions and catastrophic equipment
failure, but to also illuminate the economic and environmental
value inherent within the employment of well-trained
stationary engineers.
In 1973, the Arab Oil Embargo brought awareness to America
that energy was not the freely expendable commodity
that we had come to believe. If the U.S. was to maintain its
leadership and expand in a global economy, it was essential
that operators of commercial and industrial equipment and
facilities operate within a new paradigm recognizing the
need for good stewardship of a finite commodity.
This sudden rush to save energy resulted in methods being
employed that, while saving energy, unwittingly produced
unhealthy environments. For example, restricting outside air
intake on commercial buildings certainly saved energy, but
the lack of fresh air being brought into buildings also started
to make people sick and lowered the overall productivity of
facility occupants. Suddenly terms like “sick building syndrome”
entered the American lexicon and once again, the
IUOE was tasked to find solutions and educate their members
on methods that while still maximizing energy savings,
did not reduce the overall quality of indoor environments.
In the late 1970s, discovery of a hole in the stratospheric
ozone layer brought about global alarm for the way refrigerants
were being used and the potential harm that these and
other chemicals used in commercial and industrial settings
could cause the environment. Once again, IUOE was tasked
to develop training and certification programs to ensure
Fully functional boiler provides true hands-on experience for trainees.
Cutaway on centrifigual pump allows students to view internal
mechanisams
Jim Coates, Training Fund Administrator, conducts class in the new
comfortable annex classrooms.
that operators within commercial and industrial facilities
understood the dangers of chlorofluorocarbons and other
compounds that destroyed ozone in the stratosphere, and to
develop methodologies and skill sets for safely handling and
working with such chemicals.
In 1988, the United Nations Environmental Program and
the World Meteorological Organization joined to form the
intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to study
the issue of global warming and new technologies designed
to lower carbon emissions — the number one contributor to
global warming. Within the next two decades, wind energy,
solar energy, cogeneration and a plethora of other devices
and schemes appeared aimed at reducing the carbon footprint
of facilities, tasking the operators of commercial and
industrial facilities to understand their various concepts, and
accurately evaluating their efficacy on both an environmental
and economic basis.
Amazingly, in less than 25 years, the profession of stationary
engineer, and especially that position of the chief engineer,
evolved into a career requiring more than a passing understanding
of physics, environmental science, industrial engineering
and business economics. Even more amazingly, IUOE,
Local 399 has not only kept pace with these rapidly changing
demands, but has clearly assumed a leadership role in identifying
and utilizing best-practice educational methodologies
that ensure their members are equipped with the skills needed
to operate facilities with de minimis emission of environmental
pollutants and maximum savings of energy within a
safe, comfortable and productive indoor environment.
Under the leadership of Brian Hickey, the president and
business manager of Local 399, the Chicago union has consistently
been at the forefront of curriculum development and
training for its nearly 10,000 members. Under Hickey’s leadership,
a working partnership was developed by Local 399 that
brought industry and labor together to fund an educational
program that meets the critical needs of both union members
and their employers.
There will always be a need for hands-on stationary engineers
who will service and repair the thousands of components
that are found in every major facility. There is also an
existing and growing need for highly educated and skilled
stationary engineers who will be able to manage commercial
facilities so that their impact upon the environment is at the
absolute minimum. Recognizing this, Local 399 has developed
not only the training necessary to equip stationary engineers
with the skills they need to keep businesses in business,
they have also pioneered career paths for their members
that offer them the ability to become degreed professionals
equipped with the knowledge necessary to adapt and operate
highly efficient facilities that often exceed the demands
of environmental regulators while providing safe, comfortable
and productive environments for facility inhabitants.
This commitment to education and the need to equip a new
generation of skilled stationary engineering professionals has
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38 | Chief Engineer
Volume 84 · Number 11 | 39