The New Jersey Motor Truck Assn. Towing Conference has launched a Heavy Duty Recovery Certification Program.

The program is designed to certify the conference member's vast body of knowledge of heavy-duty recoveries and to test them under actual disaster/recovery conditions.
Last month, the Towing Conference held its first certification program in conjunction with the Teterboro Airport Annual Mutual Aid Disaster Drill that is mandated by the federal government. The group arranged for two buses to be donated to simulate an air crash in the middle of the airport. The simulation included injured people, fires and a hazardous spill. A triage unit was set up by the Hackensack Medical Center. The simulation was as close to an actual disaster as possible.
Participants in the certification program were required to have 10 years towing and recovery experience and a Class A CDL, and be currently employed by a towing and recovery firm with government contracts conferring responsibilities for state, county or local roadways.
The participants were called to the airport with no knowledge of what their duties would be. At the recovery scene, they were tested on incident response, incident command and the use of various recovery equipment and techniques. They set up and deployed air cushions and used craned to perform rollovers of heavy vehicles.
For information on future certification programs contact NJMTA at (732) 254-5000.