+ Who owns the Learning Centre?

The Learning Centre is 100% owned by the Energy Chamber of Trinidad & Tobago, a not-for-profit membership organisation registered under the Companies Act of T&T.  Membership of the Energy Chamber comprises over three hundred companies and individuals, primarily operating in the energy and related sectors.  The Energy Chamber is governed by a Council, elected annually by the membership of the Energy Chamber and broadly representative of the main sub-sectors of membership, including contractors and service companies, upstream oil and gas operators, petro-chemical and heavy industrial plants, professional service companies and the financial services sector.

+ What is your relationship with the Houston Area Safety Council (HASC)?

The Energy Chamber Learning Centre has a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the HASC, a similar not-for-profit organisation registered in the State of Texas, USA.  Under the MoU, the HASC provides the Energy Chamber Learning Centre with access to their training database and assistance, guidance and advice in the provision of training and assessment services to the industry in Trinidad & Tobago.   The HASC is an industry leader in the provision of health, safety and related industrial and technical training and is widely respected in its field, with over thirty years of experience and success.  The HASC delivers approximately half a million training and assessment units per annum, primarily to contractors working in the energy and aeronautical/space sectors in Houston.  The relationship with the HASC has allowed the Energy Chamber Learning Centre to gain access to well developed systems, methodologies and an extremely well developed IT infrastructure.  The Energy Chamber pays a small fee to the HASC for each training or assessment unit delivered.

+ What happens to the fees paid to the Learning Centre for training and assessments?

Running the Learning Centre involves significant costs to the Energy Chamber, including salaries, rent, depreciation, loan repayments and utility bills.  The Energy Chamber’s Council has mandated the Learning Centre to return a small surplus and not be a net drain on the resources of the Energy Chamber.  As the Energy Chamber is a not-for-profit organisation, any surplus generated by any Energy Chamber activity is retained and re-invested in improving the services to be delivered to members.  The audited accounts of the Energy Chamber are published and distributed to all members, and other stakeholders, at an Annual General Meeting, held in September of each year.  The Energy Chamber is committed to transparent financial reporting and all members will be able to clearly identify the surplus (or loss) made by the Learning Centre from the annual accounts.  The Energy Chamber is committed to keeping the training and assessment fees at the lowest possible level to still cover costs and any savings that the Energy Chamber can generate will be passed on to members and other users in the form of lower registration fees.

+ What is your relationship with the PLEA Pass Programme?

The Point Lisas Energy Association (PLEA) has entered into an agreement with the Energy Chamber under which the Energy Chamber will initially be the sole provider of assessments for the PLEA 10 hour basic health and safety training course.  The Energy Chamber Learning Centre is responsible for conducting all assessments for the PLEA Pass Programme and for issuing PLEA Pass Cards that will be used to determine whether contactor workers have basic HSE knowledge before entering any PLEA member company work site.  Under the agreement the Energy Chamber Learning Centre will not be conducting training for the PLEA 10 hour course.  All workers who have successfully completed the PLEA basic safety assessment will be issued with PLEA Pass Cards with the following course code: TTPP-10.

+ How long will it take to get a PLEA Pass after the assessment is completed?

The Energy Chamber Learning Centre will provide individuals successfully completing assessments with updated cards immediately on completion of their assessment and before they leave the Learning Centre.

+ What happens to workers who are unable to read?

The Energy Chamber Learning Centre has proctors who will help workers who are unable to read to complete the assessment, through an oral examination.  For the PLEA Pass Programme workers will be issued with a PLEA Pass card, but with the following course code: PLEA-10-V or PLEA 10-VR.

+ Is the training and assessments being offered in languages other than English?

Currently the Energy Chamber Learning Centre offers the PLEA assessment in two other languages: Korean and Spanish. Some of our training courses are also available in Spanish.