Alberta Construction Safety Association - Edmonton, Alberta

Steve L.

I think a lot of these reviews miss the point. I recently had to update my Auditor Training (Q3 of 2024) and found my experience to require a review.

To a significant degree, you are likely required to use the ACSA as a certifying partner if you work in any construction company, or tertiary industry. That means most of your training must be done here. Any organization charged with teaching should be able to supply an instructor. That being said, this review is NOT addressing the quality of instructors. Where they fall down is the delivery method, which is poorly crafted.

Painful training experience. They pivoted to VILT throughout Covid for much of their training, and its platform is dismal. Just blank white power points, and talking....for 8 to 27 hours at a time. In the Auditor training program, you don't even get an opportunity to try the auditing software they are evolving into. I've come to expect any training courses developed by the ACSA to be "Below Average" in consideration of the learner, when taking adult learning practices into consideration.

It's clear they have chosen to continue VILT, but have not developed a way to engage their students, other than talking at you. In an ACSA VILT class, you are not permitted to connect with your web cam, (nor is the instructor) you cannot speak to the instructors (only I.M.), there is no interactive content, no break out rooms, no group activities, and generally, you are chained to your desk listening to the drone of an instructor talking over slides for the duration of the course.

However, they require you to take notes off of the screen in your text book, and type and enter information at times...resulting in constantly juggling your keyboard, and course text book for the duration of the courses. It does appear clear, as it has throughout the 20 years I've dealt with them, that they are not concerned with the quality of the delivery, just mass output.

Andrew C.

I enjoyed taking the courses that are put on by the ACSA. The presenters and the whole experience of taking courses has been excellent, the issue I have experienced is the exam for the NCSO. That’s where the ball gets dropped and it’s very disappointing.

The whole process of writing the NCSO exam online through “BisTrainer” was one BIG let down. I got accused of cheating when I looked away at the clock on my wall for a few seconds and the exam was shut down on me and I got a fail mark. I asked what happened and was told I was cheating. I was very angry because I wasn’t cheating. I wasn’t going to accept this so I challenged both BisTrainer and the ACSA to review the video and I wanted a meeting with everyone. The video was reviewed and turns out I WASN’T cheating after all! The whole point is I don’t see a need to have a company monitor people as they’re taking an exam. You make a pledge in these courses to not cheat and it’s good enough when you take the courses it should be good enough when taking the exam. Should be a similar process.

The ASCA have been excellent to deal with but if I were to recommend to someone about the NCSO I’d just say go and get your CRSP Designation instead.

Mazen A.

I cannot express enough how incredibly fortunate I am to have Karen Deveau as my client services representative at ASCA. From the moment I started my journey with this organization, Karen has been an invaluable resource, providing exceptional support and assistance every step of the way.
Karen's expertise is only rivaled by her kindness and patience. She goes above and beyond to make sure I have all the information and assistance I require. Her positive attitude and willingness to help have made my experience with ASCA truly exceptional. It's not just about fulfilling her job responsibilities; Karen genuinely cares about the people she serves, and it shows in her interactions.

MN M. R.

I've booked several courses here for employees and the staff are always very patient and helpful. Today ACSA worker Pam went far above and beyond my expectations when I called asking to re-book an employee who missed Day 2 of a class due to a family emergency. Pam reached out to Client Services for me and came back with an outstanding resolution. She booked my employee in only Day 2 of a class two days later by applying a coupon and waived the fee of the second course. I'm blown away. Fantastic helper, and can't say enough nice things about the whole experience.

Nihant K.

Their team proactively reached out to assist me with orders and addressed all my concerns. Their excellent support made the entire process seamless. Highly recommended!

Jill W.

The staff were friendly and as helpful as they could be but the courses PHISM & COR Audit were vague and a lot of our questions in class the answers were you would have to check your OH&S book. It seems as though everyone is more concerned with getting sued than giving out the information we need to carry out the tasks we are getting training for. While the instructors I had were good the quality of training and material given for the training was in my opinion poor.

Tanya N.

Ask to reschedule my class because I did not receive my course materical and let's just say Karen (which really was her name) lived up to her name. Her snarky attitude was unwanted. She was not kind or understanding like customers service should be. I had to print my course materical for a different class and I did not want to do that again because I used up almost all my ink which is expensive.

J G.

The entire COR and Safety system is probably the biggest money grab and joke. Ask any small business owner how helpful COR is to them.. Chances are it's zero. Not everyone is a big oil company that can afford multiple people to do "SAFETY" . COR Safety is made to keep small businesses small. COR standards are for big companies only. Every Audit is made for you to fail. Auditors charge more per hour then any other industry. AND the ACSA supports this price gouge of auditors.