Brett Miller, NWFA Vice President of Education & Certification, talks about the recent Inspector School and the upcoming Inspector Workshops in his latest NWFA Blog article: "While the Inspector School is geared toward professionals who want to become certified inspectors, the upcoming Inspector Workshops are for all wood flooring professionals.

"The goal is claims prevention through education. No matter your place in the industry, whether in installation, manufacturing, design, retail or another role, understanding the claims process and potential causes of floor failures is valuable."

NWFA Education Is Valuable for Claims Prevention
I most recently wrote about the "Best Wood Flooring Inspectors in the Industry." In that post, I laid out improvements we've made to the NWFA Certified Wood Flooring Inspectors program and anticipated a sold-out week at our Inspector School in September. The students who attended that school a few weeks ago only confirmed my feeling we are working with the best of the best in the industry. It was a great week.

The wood flooring professionals who participate in any of our training sessions play a big role in their success. The students' openness to learning and their interaction with instructors and other students is important in the learning process. I'm proud of the leadership role, however, that NWFA plays in creating those educational opportunities. And the unsolicited feedback I received during the latest Inspector School was great to hear. Students let me know we're on the right track, providing information that is needed and wanted, and through instructors who know how to deliver it.

At the Inspector School, we focused on solid report writing. The goal is to make sure inspectors know how to produce thorough, effective, legally substantive documents that can stand tall in the claims process, including in court proceedings.

While the Inspector School is geared toward professionals who want to become certified inspectors, the upcoming Inspector Workshops are for all wood flooring professionals. The goal is claims prevention through education. No matter your place in the industry, whether in installation, manufacturing, design, retail or another role, understanding the claims process and potential causes of floor failures is valuable.

The Inspector Workshops go beyond the information that is important for writing reports. Some of the topics in November's sessions will be Environmental Effects on Wood Flooring, Moisture Testing, and Legal Responsibilities.

Instruction is provided by professionals outside the industry, as well as those inside. Along with trainers from moisture meter manufacturers who will demonstrate proper uses of the latest tools and improve students' understanding of the crucial wood/water relationship, at next month's workshops there will be instructors from April Aire who will address humidification systems, temperature/humidity relationships, psychrometrics and the relationship to wood flooring failures. NWFA's legal counsel will provide expert instruction about the legal responsibilities of being an industry expert and acting as a consultant.

I hope to see a good mix of wood flooring backgrounds here at NWFA next month. All are invited.

Register today to participate in the upcoming Inspector Workshops.

Brett Miller is the director of certification and education at the National Wood Flooring Association, where he is responsible for the development, coordination, implementation and presentation of the NWFA’s technical training schools, workshops, and on-line training, as well as the NWFA’s certification program. Miller has more than 21 years of experience in the hardwood flooring industry, most recently having worked as a regional manager at Basic Coatings.