Current through Reg. 50, No. 249, December 24, 2024
(1) Approval of
Course Accreditors. The Commission shall approve persons to serve as
accreditors of advanced training courses. Persons desiring to be accreditors
shall apply using the Register Accreditor function and associated online
screens, Form FBC-ED-001, effective September 10, 2010, adopted and
incorporated herein by reference and available from the Building Code
Information System at
www.floridabuilding.org/ce/ce_tporgapp_dtl1.aspx.
Applications shall be accompanied by an application fee of $100.00.
Applications shall be approved by the Commission if the applicant has
demonstrated five years of Florida Building Code expertise in the field for
which approval is sought, or equivalent as specified below, or possesses an
active license issued pursuant to Section 471.015, 481.213 or 481.311; Chapter
489, Part I or II, F.S.; or a standard certificate issued pursuant to Section
468.609, F.S. Accreditors
approved by the Commission under prior versions of this rule are authorized to
continue accreditation of building code courses. Equivalent expertise or
proficiency under this provision shall include:
(a) A four year college degree or graduate
degree in the field for which approval is sought;
(b) A letter verifying work experience in the
field for which approval is sought from a person who supervised the
applicant;
(c) A letter verifying
employment and specific position of the applicant in the field for which
approval is sought from the applicant's employer; or
(d) For an accreditor application submitted
to accredit only accessibility courses, demonstrated proficiency acceptable to
the Commission as a subject matter expert in the field of
accessibility.
(2)
Revocation of approval as an accreditor.
(a)
Any accreditor shall have his/her approval status revoked for any of the
following reasons:
1. Knowingly providing a
fraudulent application to the Commission, when applying for accreditor
status;
2. Suspension or revocation
of a trade license submitted to the Commission as part of the initially
approved accreditor application, which was not reported to the Commission at
the time of suspension or revocation;
3. Failure to effectively and/or accurately
accredit courses, specifically relating to the correctness of the course
building code content references;
4. Failure to remove him/herself from any
"conflict of interest" situations, such as accrediting courses in which the
accreditor has a financial interest; or
5. Failure of the accreditor to cooperate
with a Commission ordered investigation.
(b) The Commission may suspend the approval
status of any accreditor based on any provision of paragraph (2)(a) of this
rule, until such time as the accreditor demonstrates that the accreditor's
status is currently in compliance with the requirements of this rule.
(c) The Commission shall initiate an
investigation based on a written complaint submitted by any substantially
affected party and containing substantial material evidence of a violation of
this rule.
(d) The Commission shall
clearly post the status of an investigation on its website, the Florida
Building Codes Information System,
www.floridabuilding.org.
(3) Training Provider Registration and
Requirements.
(a) Training providers approved
by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation who desire Commission
approval and accreditation for advanced building code courses shall register
with the Building Code Information System using the Register Training Provider
function and associated online screens, Form FBC-ED-002, effective September
10, 2010, adopted and incorporated herein by reference and available from the
Building Code Information System at
www.floridabuilding.org/ce/ce_tporgapp_dtl1.aspx,
and pay a registration fee of $25.00.
(b) Registered training providers shall
submit materials and information pertaining to courses for which Commission
accreditation and approval is sought utilizing the Submit a Course Application
function and associated online screens, Form FBCED 2003-03, "Application for
Course Accreditation, " effective December 2021, adopted and incorporated
herein by reference and available from the Building Code Information System at
http://www.floridabuilding.org/bcis/ce/ce_courseapp_dtl1.aspx or
http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-13932.
(c) The provider shall select an approved
accreditor and shall provide payment for services directly to the accreditor.
The accreditor selected shall meet the criteria for independence identified in
paragraph (d) and shall be listed with the expertise in the field for which
approval is sought.
(d) Upon
submittal by a training provider, the selected accreditor shall receive an
e-mail notification from the Building Code Information System and shall review
the materials provided by the provider in accordance with the criteria
identified herein. The accreditor shall complete the application by providing
comments containing the results of the accreditor's review and approving or
denying accreditation of the course on the Building Code Information System. An
accreditor may not approve for accreditation a course application that is not
complete and accurate as specified in subsection (4). The accreditor shall also
provide a certification of independence that attests the person or entity does
not have, nor does it intend to acquire or will acquire, a financial interest
in the training provider seeking accreditation.
(e) The Building Code Information System
shall assign an accreditation number to the application upon submittal. The
application shall be accredited completely and placed in the "Pending FBC
Action" file on the Building Code Information System at
http://www.floridabuilding.org/ce/ce_tp_coursetrp_dtl.aspx
no later than 23 days prior to the next scheduled meeting of the Florida
Building Commission. The Commission or its designee shall finalize the
accreditation process utilizing the Building Code Information System at
www.floridabuilding.org and notify
the provider and accreditor within 3 business days of the Florida Building
Commission's action on the applications. If a provider has not taken any action
on a submitted but incomplete application in 180 days, the Commission may
withdraw the application.
(f) On or
before the effective date of changes to the Florida Building Code, Florida
Statutes or rule relating to the Florida Building Code, providers shall update
existing accredited courses affected by the code, law or rule changes pursuant
to paragraph (3)(g), and submit for accreditation on the Building Code
Information System at
http://www.floridabuilding.org/ce/ce_default.aspx.
If the course is not updated, the course expires and cannot be updated. The
code version, law or rule that initiated the update and reaccreditation process
must be noted on the application. Accreditation of revisions to approved
accredited courses shall be accomplished in the same manner as described in
paragraphs (a) through (f) hereof, except only the revision submitted shall be
subject to review. These courses shall be approved by the administrator of the
education program subject to ratification by the Florida Building
Commission.
(g) The following
timelines apply for any course for which revision is required:
1. For a new edition of the Florida Building
Code, a course must be revised pursuant to the provisions of subsection
(4).
2. For any amendment to
Florida Building Code pursuant to section
553.73, F.S., a course must be
revised by the effective date of any change.
3. For any change in Florida law, a course
must be revised within six months of the effective date of the law.
4. For any change in Florida administrative
rule, a course must be revised within six months of the effective date of the
rule.
(h) If an approved
accredited course requires only one change to correct or update a reference,
table, diagram, or quoted provision of code, law, or administrative rule, the
training provider may self-affirm by completing Form FBCED 2003-03 (adopted
above in paragraph (3)(b)). The same change may be made in more than one place
in the course. The code version, law or administrative rule must be noted on
the application. The training provider must list the exact correction or
update, the specific location of the correction or update, and reason for the
change in the course and affirm this is the only correction or update to the
course. The correction or update to the course shall be approved by the
administrator of the education program subject to ratification by the Florida
Building Commission.
(i) If an
approved accredited course is not affected by the code, law, or administrative
rule change, and no change is required, but a licensure or other board requires
an updated version of the course, the training provider may self-affirm by
completing Form FBCED 2003-03 (adopted above in paragraph (3)(b)). The code
version must be noted on the application. The course shall be approved by the
administrator of the education program subject to ratification by the Florida
Building Commission.
(j) If an
approved accredited course is submitted as self-affirming no change or
self-affirming one change, but the Florida Building Commission determines more
than one change is required, the course must be reviewed by an approved
accreditor in the same manner as described in paragraph (f), hereof.
(k) A change to the delivery format of an
approved accredited course must be submitted for
accreditation.
(4) Course
Content and Accreditor Review. Accreditors shall review courses submitted by
registered providers to determine if the course accurately presents the
technical and administrative responsibilities reflected in law, administrative
rule, current edition of the Florida Building Code or future editions approved
for adoption by the Florida Building Commission. If a course is impacted by any
subsequent changes to the updates approved for adoption by the Florida Building
Commission, the provider is responsible for revising the course to comply with
the Florida Building Code in accordance with paragraphs (3)(f) through (j).
Accreditors shall not mutually accredit each others' courses. The accreditor
shall determine if the course meets the following minimum criteria:
(a) The course title and number shall
include:
1. The code edition, law, or
administrative rule; and
(c) Name, address,
telephone number and e-mail address of the provider;
(d) Course description completely describing
what the particular course is designed to address;
(e) Course/learning objectives;
(f) Course time allotments for course
content;
(g) Course outline and
instructional methods - detailed description of course content in sequence of
how taught and methods used to teach that content. The following instructional
methods are authorized, but are not limited to: exercises, quizzes, discussion
groups, reading assignments, projects, simulations and presentations;
(h) Code edition, law or administrative rule
to which the course relates;
(i)
Course references cited in the outline;
(j) Method of course evaluations;
(k) Course certificate of
completion:
(l) A minimum of 50% of
the actual training materials content shall be related to the Florida Building
Code or Florida Statutes or rules related to the Florida Building
Code;
(m) Course materials shall
accurately reflect the Florida Building Code and other topics under the
jurisdiction of the Florida Building Commission; and
(n) Course materials provided to the attendee
shall be provided to the accreditor.
(5) Course Accreditation by the Florida
Building Commission. Accredited courses are to effectively and accurately
address the technical and administrative responsibilities in the effective
execution of the Florida Building Code or Florida Statutes or rules related to
the Florida Building Code.
(6) The
Commission shall audit a minimum of 2% of all accredited courses. The courses
selected for audit may not be those of only one provider or reviewed by only
one accreditor. Any course submitted for accreditation or re-accreditation
determined to not accurately reflect the current or adopted Florida Building
Code edition; or Florida Statutes or rules related to the Florida Building Code
shall be reported to the Commission for further action. All approved advanced
building code courses must reflect the current or adopted Florida Building Code
edition; or Florida Statutes or rules related to the Florida Building Code. Any
courses accredited and determined by audit or any means to not accurately
reflect the current or adopted Florida Building Code edition; or Florida
Statutes or rules related to the Florida Building Code or accredited by an
accreditor outside the approved areas of expertise shall have the accreditation
revoked, the status of the course communicated to the respective licensing
board or boards, and the provider will be required to file a new application
for accreditation.
(7) In the event
the Commission identifies areas or topics of advanced building code education
with an insufficient number of courses available through existing resources,
the Commission shall report the areas or topics to the appropriate licensing
board. If additional courses do not become available within six months of
notification to the licensing board, upon a finding that the absence of course
work in the identified subject area is detrimental to the effective
administration and enforcement of the Florida Building Code, and funds are
available in the Commission's budget for course development, the Commission
will develop a minimum of one (1) course that will be made available to
training providers.
Rulemaking Authority
553.841(6) FS.
Law Implemented 553.841
FS.
New 6-8-05, Amended 4-30-07, 6-12-08, 3-4-09, 11-2-09,
1-9-11, Formerly 9B-70.002, Amended 2-5-13,
11-19-14, 12-19-21.
