The Air Force Institute of Technology Civil Engineer and Services School (CESS) brought 11 instructors to St. Louis to provide training for the 2009 Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health (ESOH) Training Symposium, held 9-13 March. The 1-week symposium was attended by 1,200 Airmen and Air Force civilians from various career fields across the Air Force—e.g., civil engineers, legal, contracting, bioenvironmental engineers, aircraft maintenance—and numerous contractors.

The ESOH Symposium is a partnership between Air Combat Command, Air Education and Training Command, Air Mobility Command, Air Force Space Command, Air Force Reserve Command, the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment, and AFIT. The symposium provided 122 separate courses to provide tailored training opportunities for students. Several achieved program certification (e.g., Safety) through mandatory core subjects, and other students were able to pre-select desired courses based on their interests or focus. Certificates were awarded to all students successfully completing 26 training hours.

CESS instructors included the Associate Dean, Dr. Jared Astin; former Associate Dean, Dr. Richard Fenno; Environmental Department Head, Mr. Ed Hess; six instructors from Environmental Management (CEV); and two instructors from Engineering Management (CEM). These instructors taught 12 separate courses, multiple times during the week, for a total of 94 instruction hours. After each class, students critiqued instructors. One example of the many favorable comments was, “I love these AFIT instructors. They are always professional and excellent presenters.”

The ESOH Training Symposium has proven to be a valuable resource to personnel at Air Force installations. The average student received 26-28 hours of training, which would have equated to a commercial value of $15,000 to $20,000. The training is tailored to Airmen and civilians working their first or second assignment in their career fields. Approximately 80% of attendees to the symposium were first time attendees.