SMACNA President Ron Rogers	SMACNA President-elect Jack Desmond

As early as the past decade, conventional wisdom was that a labor-management partnership was an oxymoron. In today's market, however, labor and management regularly work together in the construction industry to the betterment of all in terms of safety, research and development and overall market share.

The sheet metal and air conditioning industry is a prime example of construction's new collaborative face. In fact, at select industry conferences the Sheet Metal Workers' International Association (SMWIA) and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA) share exhibit space, hand out materials on joint programs, and even show a video describing their successful partnership.

SMWIA and SMACNA have several jointly sponsored programs, including the International Training Insitute (ITI), and the Sheet Metal Occupational Health Institute Trust (SMOHIT), which benefit both signatory contractors and their union employees.

Another especially innovative, jointly sponsored organization is the National Energy Management Institute Committee (NEMIC). NEMIC, a not-for-profit trust tasked with seeking out new markets for the SMWIA and SMACNA, develops programs to capitalize upon those growing opportunities. The organization has investigated such markets as indoor air quality, energy efficiency, mold, and alternative energy sources, to name just a few.

One of the markets of opportunity NEMIC discovered early on was the testing, adjusting and balancing sector of the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) industry.

"We saw such testing, adjusting, and balancing as a burgeoning industry sector that could in time operate autonomously from general mechanical contracting," said Erik Emblem, executive director of NEMI and TABB's administrator. "The work really fit with our concentration on energy management and indoor air quality and the public's increasing awareness of its importance."

To capitalize on this, the Testing, Adjusting and Balancing Bureau (TABB) was created in 1999. In keeping with the cooperative labor/management approach, the International Certification Board (ICB) Ð made up of SMACNA and SMWIA representatives was formed to create standards for TABB Certification that would cover technicians, supervisors, and contractors; that is, both the work and the worker.

Emblem says much of the success of TABB certification is due to its support at the highest industry levels, including SMACNA. A major supporter of the program is current SMACNA President Ron Rodgers, who saw the program as an important way to help ensure quality work and further the marketability of his membership.

SMACNA's membership was initially slow to warm up to the idea of TABB certification. In fact, only six contractors were TABB-certified at the time Rodgers assumed the year-long SMACNA presidency. Since that time, 60 contractors have become certified, with Rodgers' strong support.

"Contractors who are skilled in testing and balancing will be rewarded," Rodgers said. "TAB work can lead to other lines of work such as service, commissioning, energy, retrofit and indoor air quality."

Incoming SMACNA President Jack Desmond also will be an essential player in all future efforts, sharing Rodgers' early enthusiasm for the project.

"One of SMACNA's long-term goals is that SMACNA members are full service HVAC firms and that SMACNA is the HVAC association whose members are known experts responsible for the entire HVAC system," Desmond stated. "Becoming TABB-certified contractors is one step toward making that goal a reality."

With that kind of growing support, it will be a great year for TABB!