REYNOLDSBURG, OHIO – The Ohio State Fire Marshal (OSFM) has formed a partnership with Envisage Technologies to provide an online firefighter development and EMS continuing education platform that will simplify and streamline the way courses are delivered and reported throughout Ohio.
The partnership involves the integration of Envisage’s Acadis Readiness Suite training management software and its FirstForward training platform for use by OSFM and the agencies it serves. Among 30 statewide deployments, 9,800 departments and 1.9 million personnel who use Acadis, OSFM will be one of the first in the nation to implement the new Acadis-FirstForward integration.
The partnership will expand the availability of high-quality training for first responders and create automatic reporting of online training done through the Ohio Fire Academy to Acadis and FirstForward. The automatic reporting will save time and resources for training coordinators and academy directors by eliminating the need for reporting with paper documents and recordkeeping through manual processes. It will also increase the accuracy and legal defensibility of training records through automatic, digital reporting.
Since 2013, OSFM has used Acadis to track the training and certification of approximately 80,000 firefighters and emergency management/medical personnel, and 1,200 emergency response agencies throughout the state. Acadis supports the entire hire-to-retire process to ensure each responder is in compliance with Ohio’s certification requirements throughout their career.
The integration with FirstForward will make more than 750 peer-rated courses available on the FirstForward Marketplace, in addition to courses OSFM already provides through 24/7 EMS and Action Training Systems. The FirstForward Marketplace will also offer unlimited access to more than 200 courses for firefighters and EMS personnel by industry-leading provider Jones & Bartlett Learning, as well as CAPCE-certified EMS courses.
“We want to do everything we can to make sure firefighters and EMS personnel have high-quality training available to them,” Ohio Fire Academy Deputy Superintendent Scott Walker said. “This is always one of our top priorities and expanding top-quality online training options is even more important now because of the limitation on classroom training due to COVID-19 precautions.”
The OFSM-Envisage partnership will provide easier access to academy information for all OSFM partners, training coordinators, and instructors. It will also allow agencies using Acadis to track training and certifications for personnel to automatically report and display training completed in FirstForward on the Acadis Person Record.
For agencies that are using Excel or paper records because they do not have dedicated software for tracking their training, the integration will give them a free tool to manage and keep track of training digitally. With the integration, these departments can also report training automatically to OSFM.
“For the departments with 10 or 15 volunteers that may not have the funds to pay for training and certification management software themselves, this is big for them,” Envisage CEO Ari Vidali said. “We are proud to be able to work with the Ohio State Fire Marshal to help Ohio agencies of all sizes and especially the brave firefighters and EMS personnel in maintaining their readiness for combatting life-threatening situations and making the public safer every day.”
About Ohio State Fire Marshal: Ohio’s Division of State Fire Marshal (OSFM), located in Reynoldsburg, is the oldest established office of its kind in the United States. It consists of eight bureaus: Administration, Bureau of Underground Storage Tank Regulation (BUSTR), Code Enforcement, Fire Prevention, Forensic Laboratory, Investigation Bureau, Ohio Fire Academy, and Testing and Registration.
OSFM has worked extensively in the areas of Incident Command and Management, Weapons of Mass Destruction training, and personnel protection equipment for all of Ohio’s first responders, including fire, EMS, law enforcement, health, and public works.
OSFM is also responsible for modernizing, promulgating and enforcing the Ohio Fire Code; designing and presenting fire prevention programs; analyzing fire-related criminal evidence; investigating the cause and origin of fires and explosions; training firefighters; providing fire safety education to business, industry and the general public; regulating underground storage tanks; testing and training; and licensing and certification support services.
About Envisage Technologies: Envisage Technologies is the world’s leader in software solutions for first responders. Our Acadis Readiness Suite is the only comprehensive solution built exclusively for the exacting needs of public safety leaders, with particular focus on training, compliance, internal affairs case management, professional development, legal defensibility, and public accountability. FirstForward is the ultimate career management platform for public safety professionals focused on managing their careers, relationships, and the particular challenges faced by first responders. Our customers include federal agencies, law enforcement organizations, military commands, and many state and local public safety organizations. For more information, please see www.envisagenow.com.
About FirstForward: Built specifically for public safety professionals, FirstForward helps first responders stay safe and ready for duty by making paperless training and certification records, exposure tracking, and hundreds of peer-rated courses easily accessible from any location. They can also connect with others to share best practices. FirstForward provides free tools for first responders, plus low-cost powerful professional tools that enable departments to streamline and automate management of training, field experiences, compliance, policy documents, employment records, incident reports, and performance reviews. Departments can use FirstForward to ensure their team is well-trained and informed, and has up-to-date certifications and personnel reviews.
About the Acadis Readiness Suite: The Acadis Readiness Suite is the most comprehensive public safety training and compliance software platform for officer performance management, use of force reports and cases, decertification, and analytics. Acadis ensures public safety and military professionals are trained, equipped and ready to respond. Acadis measures readiness by automating complex, high-risk training and compliance operations and increases the accuracy and effectiveness across every level of critical incident response by consolidating information about personnel and resources. The modular system enables organizations to implement functionality where needed to support the entire compliance lifecycle. See www.acadis.com for more information.
Media Contact:
Jamie Newton
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