WASHINGTON, D.C. - The International Ironworkers Union and IMPACT, its affiliated joint labor-management trust, are pleased to announce the release of new hands-on training materials for Ironworker local unions. The materials, including mockup construction models and an updated training manual, focus on aspects of architectural and ornamental ironworking and provide important guidelines to help guarantee the safety of construction sites.

“Our new mockup materials provide resources to make sure our Ironworkers are the safest and most effective Ironworkers out there,” said Eric Dean, General Secretary of the International Ironworkers Union. “We’ve adopted hands-on models that help illustrate challenges and nuances of architectural and ornamental ironworking that are often difficult to convey on paper.”

IMPACT’s Education and Training Department, with the support of the National Training Fund, updated its architectural and ornamental textbooks for use with the hands-on curriculum. These new texts represent the 100th set of standardized hands-on training materials from IMPACT. All of IMPACT’s materials provide specialized skills and safety training to more than 100,000 active Ironworkers and 17,000 new Ironworkers annually.

Eric Waterman, IMPACT Chief Executive Officer, said that hands-on training is the new paradigm for Ironworker education around the country. “Ironworkers are hands-on professionals, just like doctors are hands-on professionals. They need training that prepares them for the tasks they will encounter while they’re on the job.” Waterman added, “This kind of experience makes the whole construction process safer for Ironworkers and helps to keep insurance premiums down.”

To support Ironworker education and to ensure the safety of all Ironworkers, the IMPACT Board of Trustees provided generous funding to distribute the manuals to Ironworker regions in the United States and Canada.

“We’re pleased that there’s already been such a positive response to this game-changing style of Ironworker education and training,” said General Secretary Dean. “Especially in Texas, our local unions are well on their way to getting their journeymen experimenting with these new techniques.”

About IMPACT: IMPACT is a labor management partnership based in Washington, D.C., designed to provide a forum for union Ironworkers and signatory contractors to address mutual concerns and encourage reasonable, balanced solutions to construction and employment issues.

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