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Smoke School

Why does Whitlow Enterprises choose one-day smoke schools?

Probably the biggest reason is the number of people taking the test and the labor to give the test. We are a family owned and operated small business. We conduct expert small scale training on a close and personal level. We do not have 200 people taking the test at a time. We do not treat you like you are a herd of cattle. We average about 20 people at each location.  Although we have similar expenses as other smoke school providers for each location, we do not have anywhere near the income form each location. Therefore we conduct smoke school at more locations then other providers. We bring smoke school closer to you so you don't need to travel so far. We average about 20 people at each location. If we can't train 20 people in one day then we have a major problem.

 Another reason we do the one day test, is we make sure that you have a better chance to pass by:

v     Calibrating the machine before each test

v     Checking the accuracy of the gauge

v     Giving precise instructions

v     Doing the test slowly

v     Calling out the answers slowly

v     Using a simplified answer sheet- we use fill in the blank answer sheets. You write in your answers in the space provided. We do not use the circle the answer forms. These circle the answer forms are confusing and you are more likely to fail the test because you had too many circles on one line or you did not circle a choice on a line.

v     Not jumping around for high to low and back and forth- this does not serve any purpose except to make the test harder to pass.

v     Focusing on low level opacities that are required by your permit.  This has been my chief complaint about other providers. If my permit says I have to keep it below 20% then who do so many readings during the test exceed 50%.

v     We use training techniques following EPA Guidelines

v     We use training fundamentals that I learned while serving in a training capacity during 13 years of the United States Air Force

• Tell them how to do it- classroom and training briefing before each smoke school test

• Show them how to do it- demonstrations of smoke school standards- 25%, 50%, and 75%

• Let them perform the task with supervision- plenty of practice before each test run

• Let them perform the task and evaluate their performance- the smoke school certification test

Our mission is to teach you everything that you need to know to evaluate compliance and evaluate opacity in real world conditions. I realize that your best shot and your only shot at becoming an opacity expert is at smoke school. This is your chance to learn how to do it correctly and to know that you are doing it correctly. We take this responsibility seriously. We want smoke school to become second nature to you. If you are driving home from work and notice a house burning- you will look at the smoke and think, GEE that is 100% opacity.

We do have a few schools like Baton Rouge (I have been conducting schools in Baton Rouge uninterrupted since 1984 and I have a long time crowd of faithful people there.) and Louisville Kentucky where we average form 50 to 100 attendees. When the attendance gets this high we do 2-day schools. Some plants send more than 10 people and this gives them the opportunity to send some in the morning and some in the afternoon on any of the two days. Since we exercise so much care when conducting the school, we expect everyone to pass the first run or at least during the morning session.  I have instructed my employees to stay and conduct more runs if anyone does not pass or if anyone wants additional practice runs. If anyone is there and wants to take the test we are supposed to stay at the location at least till 3 PM. You need to let us know when you register what time you plant to report. This is important because we normally pack up at 1PM to move on the next location.

You can request a private two day smoke school but you will have to be responsible for our additional expenses like salary and hotel rooms. Thank you for choosing Whitlow.

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