Question about who is CPS Certified?

lovinwaves · Nov 24, 2006

I have heard some of you Techs ask posters "Was it a Firefighter that checks seats, or was it a CPS Certified person?". Does that mean that the firefighter here in my small town is NOT CPS certified? Are there different levels of certification. I assumed that you either CPS certified or you are not. So needless to say I am confused??

And by the way, I left two messages for our firefighter carseat check person to call me about an install........He never called

That is soooo not good!!!!

stayinhomewithmy6 · Nov 24, 2006

I know some of the 'car seat guys' around here are not certified techs. They have just been shown how a car seat should be installed, but have not taken a course, which leaves them with very limited knowledge! Its not good!

I also know that at our hospital there are now 2 certified techs, but back when I was having my babies, a nurse would walk out with you and check to see if your seat was installed tightly and if the harnesses were snug on the baby, but if something was wrong, for the most part, they didn't know how to fix it. They only knew to check for those two things. It just makes me think that there are lots of parents who think they are having their seat checked by a tech before they even leave the hospital... and they're very possibly not techs.

CrabbyBunchX3 · Nov 24, 2006

i think the reason behind asking if it was a firefighter vs a tech like the folks on this board is the people here are techs b/c they are passionate about child passenger safety and go the extra mile to stay up to date, whereas a firefighter had the training b/c it was required by their profession and may not be as concerned and just give things a quick once over and say 'yea you're good' ect.

Did I make sense? I can fully understand in my head what I'm trying to say but I don't think it came out on paper all that well

crystal vowell · Nov 24, 2006

_Jessica_ said:
i think the reason behind asking if it was a firefighter vs a tech like the folks on this board is the people here are techs b/c they are passionate about child passenger safety and go the extra mile to stay up to date, whereas a firefighter had the training b/c it was required by their profession and may not be as concerned and just give things a quick once over and say 'yea you're good' ect.

Did I make sense? I can fully understand in my head what I'm trying to say but I don't think it came out on paper all that well

You make sense to me.

SafeDad · Nov 24, 2006

Making sure that someone inspecting your child seat is certified is important. At least you know that a certified tech has gone through the relevant training and been reviewed by instructors in the process.

Like anything academic, being certified does not mean someone actually has a real understanding of the material. It doesn't mean they have significant experience. It doesn't mean they have any real interest in child passenger safety at all (beyond getting overtime or an extra break or whatever). Technicians and Instructors vary considerably in their knowledge, passion and experience. You can get a little idea of this on the phone when making an appointment, but ultimately if you have any concerns you may need to seek another technician or instructor.

scatterbunny · Nov 24, 2006

I took a 1-day/8-hour course on CPS (a requirement before the more rigorous week-long class that actually gains you a certification) and I think some folks who take that class THINK they can call themselves CPS techs, and try to do installs and all that. But you aren't supposed to, at least not alone, not without an actual tech checking your work. Some people may have the bad experience of getting help from some of these people who took the 1-day course and think they know it all.

And like someone else said, lots of folks are basically forced to take the classes for their job. Fire departments and police departments need to have techs on staff, and they don't necessarily send someone to be trained who WANTS to be trained. There were tons of those types in my class, and I felt really sad about it. I knew these people would be doing more harm than good.

lovinwaves · Nov 24, 2006

_Jessica_ said:
i think the reason behind asking if it was a firefighter vs a tech like the folks on this board is the people here are techs b/c they are passionate about child passenger safety and go the extra mile to stay up to date, whereas a firefighter had the training b/c it was required by their profession and may not be as concerned and just give things a quick once over and say 'yea you're good' ect.

Did I make sense? I can fully understand in my head what I'm trying to say but I don't think it came out on paper all that well

Jessica, I totally get what you are saying, but are they really "Techs"? This is what I want to know. You said firefighter vs Tech, like they are two different things, but are they? When I went to my first CPS Check they had all kinds of paperwork for me to fill out. They got the Serial number off of the seats, and everything. So the "yeah you're good" seems to me that they aren't really certified techs. Unfortunately, I think that happens soo many times. It surprises me that more people aren't passionate about "The #1 killer of children".

lovinwaves · Nov 24, 2006

scatterbunny said:
There were tons of those types in my class, and I felt really sad about it. I knew these people would be doing more harm than good.

I totally agree that this can do harm than good. It reminds me of the thread last week where the lady had her "Firefighter" BIL check her seats, and he said they were fine. Unfortunately, the install was so far from fine it was lethal. But she swore that her seats were installed ok, because her BIl is a CPS Tech Firefighter.

SafeDad · Nov 24, 2006

Many firefighters and police officers are technicians, usually very good ones. Many others are not. The only way to know if they are certified is to ask or to check at the Safe Kids USA website. The only way to know if they know what they are doing is to ask questions and do some research first, just like you would with any other aspect of your child's safety.

markf1971 · Nov 25, 2006

CPSDarren said:
Making sure that someone inspecting your child seat is certified is important. At least you know that a certified tech has gone through the relevant training and been reviewed by instructors in the process.

Like anything academic, being certified does not mean someone actually has a real understanding of the material. It doesn't mean they have significant experience. It doesn't mean they have any real interest in child passenger safety at all (beyond getting overtime or an extra break or whatever). Technicians and Instructors vary considerably in their knowledge, passion and experience. You can get a little idea of this on the phone when making an appointment, but ultimately if you have any concerns you may need to seek another technician or instructor.

I am a Fire Fighter/EMT/CPST and these other posters are exactly right. I wish that they were wrong, but they are not. There are people out there installing or checking car seats that have not even had the 1 day class. There are also CPSTs that have no interest in doing the job at all. Then you have ones that are passionate about child seat safety and do a really good job. In my experience you should be wary if no paperwork is filled out, and even more wary if they don't go over the basics of using your car seat correctly. No paperwork, no instruction, and a 'there ya go' = a no go!

markf1971 · Nov 25, 2006

SafeKids CPST locator

Melissa,

I would use the link below to look up a CPST in your area. If you remember the name(s) of the person(s) that installed or checked your CSS, then you could verify their credentials or the lack thereof.

https://ssl13.cyzap.net/dzapps/dbza...tegory1=TAB9_CERTSEARCH&Webid=SAFEKIDSCERTSQL

jen_nah · Nov 25, 2006

I agree & disagree if that makes sense at all. I agree there are some great police officers & firefighters that are very passionate about CPS and then there are some that are not. I am very lucky to work with a large group of police & firefighters that are passionate about CPS and stay very involved.

The ones around here locally I worry about are the car dealerships that force employees to get certified. I took my CPS course that a large group of VW/Audi employees that were required to get certified. I can say out of that class of 20 or so people there was less then a handful that truely wanted to be there. It was sad b/c I had to beg for one of the 2 community spots they had available.

lovinwaves · Nov 25, 2006

markf1971 said:
Melissa,

I would use the link below to look up a CPST in your area. If you remember the name(s) of the person(s) that installed or checked your CSS, then you could verify their credentials or the lack thereof.

https://ssl13.cyzap.net/dzapps/dbza...tegory1=TAB9_CERTSEARCH&Webid=SAFEKIDSCERTSQL

Mark, Thank you for that link. I do know that the police officer and firefighter here in my 4,000 pop. town are certified. I am just really disappointed that they won't return my phone calls. I am wondering how many people are trying to get a check and not getting their phone calls returned either. I am not actually looking for them to assist me in an install, but rather to try to set up a CPS Check here in our town. I started the thread just curious about the different levels of training, or if there was such a thing. Very interesting answers from everyone, thank you for your replies

markf1971 · Nov 27, 2006

lovinwaves said:
Mark, Thank you for that link. I do know that the police officer and firefighter here in my 4,000 pop. town are certified. I am just really disappointed that they won't return my phone calls. I am wondering how many people are trying to get a check and not getting their phone calls returned either. I am not actually looking for them to assist me in an install, but rather to try to set up a CPS Check here in our town. I started the thread just curious about the different levels of training, or if there was such a thing. Very interesting answers from everyone, thank you for your replies

Our city is about 60,000 and our fire department has about 170 members. All of us are EMTs, but only maybe 15-20 are CPS technicians. I don't know how many CPSTs are in your fire department, but I would not assume that they are all certified. They may or they may not all be CPSTs. If you have to use them or refer someone to them I would advise that you/yall ask whoever is helping if they are CPSTs. I have seen people here that ARE NOT certified do things that were not right.

skaterbabs · Nov 27, 2006

Another thing to be aware of is that some places will send people through the 4 day course, but not pay the certification fee. So they don't have to actually pass anything, they don't have to stay current with anything, they don't have to recertify (because they were never certified to begin with) and they will tell parents they're certified.

lovinwaves · Nov 27, 2006

I know both the Firefighter, and Police officer are certified because they are on that link.

jen_nah · Nov 27, 2006

Becky is 100% correct. We all received Safe Kids ID cards. If you question if they are a tech ask to see the certification ID card.

Admin · Nov 27, 2006

jen_nah said:
Becky is 100% correct. We all received Safe Kids ID cards. If you question if they are a tech ask to see the certification ID card.

Lol. I think I got one of those at some point. I have a hard time remembering my tech number let alone where my card is!

markf1971 · Nov 27, 2006

lovinwaves said:
I know both the Firefighter, and Police officer are certified because they are on that link.

GREAT!!!!!!!!!

lovinwaves · Nov 27, 2006

Now, if I could just get them to return phone calls...grrr!!

So basically if their name is on that website, then THEY ARE certified to the highest level. right???

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