In each issue of Working Pressure, we ask 10 questions to a training coordinator or instructor of an ASSE-approved training provider. Some questions are work related, some are personal, and others are just for fun. We learn our trade through local colleagues, mentors, and instructors, but what can we learn from others across the country? Let’s learn about the people we learn from. In this issue, we’ll get to know Sean Cleary, Vice President of Operations, IAPMO Backflow Prevention Institute (BPI).
If you’d like us to ask 10 questions to your ASSE-approved training coordinator or instructor, send us a note telling us why at editor@workingpressuremag.com.
How long have you been affiliated with your training center/school?
I have been working for IAPMO since Jan. 1, 2008, and have been running the Backflow Prevention Institute (BPI) since 2016. BPI has been an ASSE approved training provider since the 1990s.
What is your background as it relates to your occupation?
I started out as a plumber apprentice with UA Local 90 in Scranton, PA in 1978. Local 90 combined with UA Local 524 in 1982. I have been a member of the UA for 45 years. I worked in the field going from an apprentice to a journeyman and became a licensed master plumber along the way. During this time, I also attended the United Association Instructor Training Program, starting in 1992. I became an apprentice and journeyman instructor at my home Local at that time, teaching plumbing theory, medical gas, and backflow prevention training. I was very involved in the Local’s training program from 1992 until I went to work with IAPMO in 2008.
How did you become interested in the ASSE certification programs?
My union’s training school did not offer backflow certification classes and, in truth, there was no training available in our part of Pennsylvania. The contractor I was working for sent me to a NEWWA backflow certification class to allow our company to do this type of service for our customers. I approached the union leadership and pointed out that this was training we should be providing our membership. They agreed and told me to get a program approved. The United Association was using ASSE as their certification provider, so I attended the ASSE backflow tester class at the Instructor Training Program and I started setting up a wet lab at our local’s training center. We applied and were approved as an ASSE backflow school in 1994. I became involved with the ASSE at that time, becoming a member of ASSE, then a committee member, an elected officer, and was International President in 2005/2006. I am still an active member and committee member.
What ASSE certifications are you currently offering?
We offer all of the ASSE Series 5000 certifications and the ASSE 15010 Fire Protection Certification.
What is your most important piece of backflow advice you give to your students?
I try to instill a sense of passion for the cross-connection industry and emphasize the importance of what we are doing to protect the public health. The other point we try to make is that you never stop learning. The only constant in this business is the fact that it is always changing.
How do you get students interested in the classes you are offering?
We get students interested in the classes we offer with social media, magazine articles, webinars, trade shows, industry meetings, and, of course, word of mouth from others who have attended our training in the past.
What is your favorite thing about your career?
Since we do training on a national and, in some case, international basis, I get to see and meet people from all walks of life. I love teaching classes that help protect the health of the nation and the world. This career has taken me to all 50 states and beyond. I have trained people everywhere, from Scranton, PA, where I live, to Greenland, Nome Alaska, and an island in the Indian Ocean. It is important work and I love doing it.
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
She’s More by Andy Griggs. It’s a song that seems to be written about how I feel about the love of my life, my wife Carol.
What is your secret talent?
My secret talent is that I cook a mean breakfast.
What was your favorite summertime moment?
My favorite summertime moment was riding my Harley through the Delaware Water Gap.
