Bowie, Md. - The Tire Industry Association (TIA) has trained its 100,000th tire technician since the inception of its training programs in 1997. Franklin Clark, a mechanic with Black’s Tire in Whiteville, N.C. earned his CTS 300 Level Certification in mid-October and helped TIA to reach this significant milestone. The CTS course was taught by Certified CTS Instructor, William Humphrey, also with Black’s Tire.
The 100,000 milestone includes all employees who were formally trained through the Association’s programs in automotive, commercial, earthmover, farm and industrial tire service. The figure includes technicians certified through classroom and hands-on instruction and technicians who completed basic technician training using the traditional workbook/video format. It does not include those trained using TIA’s online university.
“We are amazed by the number of companies that have made safety a priority in recent years. It is incredibly rewarding to know that our training is saving lives each and every day. However, there are still thousands of untrained technicians on the job and that’s just an accident or a lawsuit waiting to happen. We want to encourage all tire service providers to implement some type of technician training program to ensure their employees can make it home safely at the end of the day,” said Kevin Rohlwing, TIA Senior Vice President of Training.
For more information on TIA’s educational programs, please visit www.tireindustry.org or contact Christine Hoogenboom at choogenboom@tireindustry.org or 800-876-8273 ext. 106.