FDNY Launches New Program to Encourage Language Access to Immigrant Business Community

April 25, 2016

The FDNY partnered up with the Asian American Council to launch its first ever Certificate of Fitness community outreach workshop on Tuesday, April 12.

More than 170 interested participants came out to the Kum Gan San Restaurant and Manor in Queens to attend.  This first workshop was held for the Korean community and focused on preparation for the G60/F60 Hot Works Operations Certificate of Fitness exams. 

The FDNY issues Certificates of Fitness for various types of potentially dangerous occupations and provides study materials and tests to ensure employees know how to safely use, store and handle dangerous materials in the workplace.

“These newly launched community outreach workshops continue to promote our goal of fire safety and fire prevention education for every New Yorker, especially in the work place,“ said Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro.  “By enhancing communication with the public and providing outreach to all diverse communities, we know we will reach many more people and companies throughout our city to ensure that employees of small businesses are properly trained, prepared and certified to handle dangerous materials.”

“These newly launched community outreach workshops continue to promote our goal of fire safety and fire prevention education for every New Yorker, especially in the work place."

 - Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro -

As part of the FDNY’s effort to increase access for non-English speakers, the Asian American Council provided a Korean translator on-site as well as translated documents and a presentation to aid in supplementing the study materials booklet for the exams.  The goal is that the workshops will better prepare the participants for the certification exams. 

“English is not their native language, so we summarized the material to better prepare the attendees for their tests. It is about creating economic opportunities with safety in New York City,” said Director of Licensing Steven Ertrachter.  “In an effort to provide safety and service, we created a presentation with shorter language and used pictures to make the technical information easier to understand.”
 
“We hope to continue to reach out to immigrant communities by putting on similar workshops,” said Asian American Council Executive Director Michael Limb. “There are plans to hold outreach events for the Chinese, Pakistani and Bangladeshi community in the near future.”

Get More Photos from the Workshop

The FDNY is committed to holding workshops in additional languages for other communities in all five boroughs.

"These workshops promote the FDNY’s dedication to language accessibility to the public,” said Chief of Fire Prevention Ronald Spadafora. “Our priority will be to ensure that all New Yorkers have the ability to learn how to stay safe. “

For more information about future workshops or how to organize one for your group, contact the Public Certification Unit at pubcert@fdny.nyc.gov .