The Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA), headquartered in Washington, DC, has selected Halco as one of four finalists for its Excellence in Training award. The Finger Lakes company, based in Phelps, was selected from among heating and air conditioning companies from across the country.
Judges considered that Halco makes training available to all of its employees, and encourages them to take advantage of the opportunities. Other judging criteria included whether a company develops new training methods, promotes employees who successfully complete training, conduct ongoing quality review and have at least 75 percent of their technicians NATE (North American Technician Excellence) certified.
NATE certification is the heating and air conditioning industry’s training bellwether and 78 percent of Halco’s technicians are NATE certified. Four are universally certified, which means that they have earned all seven specialty certifications.
In addition, Halco was cited for its intensive training program through the National Center For Construction Education & Research and Monroe Community College (MCC), its apprentice program, OSHA safety training programs and customer service training for the company’s 81 employees who have customer contract.
Five Halco employees have been trained and certified by the Building Performance Institute (BPI) to conduct residential energy conservation audits. Two technicians have been trained and certified by the EPA in asbestos removal and transport, enabling the company to offer residential and small commercial customers asbestos abatement at a reasonable cost.
“Education and training,” Smith notes, “are so important for today’s technicians that it is a top priority at Halco. In addition to being good mechanics, heating and air conditioning technicians must now also have electrical skills, and know computer operation and even programming. I am so pleased that ACCA has recognized all the hours that our employees devote, on their own time, to broadening their knowledge and skills.”
Smith serves in a number of educational capacities, including chairing ACCA’s Upstate New York chapter education committee. He also is liaison to the ACCA student chapter at MCC, on the HVAC board of directors at MCC, and serves on the HVAC advisory board of Monroe #1 BOCES. As a director of the area Workforce Investment Board, he chairs the planning committee. He also chairs the committee that conducts the Workforce Development Board’s annual “Finger Lakes Works With Their Hands” trade show designed to introduce job opportunities in the skilled trades to area high school students.
Halco was established in 1984. Today, Halco’s 100 employees serve residential and commercial customers from Rochester to Utica and from Lake Ontario to the Pennsylvania border.
