COVID-19 Information (Updated June 4, 2022)
June 4, 2022 Update
Can you believe it is June already? 2022 is already half gone!
At this point for many people, life has returned to normal, in many ways, and the pandemic is a thing of the past. People are going to hockey games, travelling, and many companies are bringing people back to the office and ending work-from-home arrangements, mask mandates are a thing of the past, and the coronavirus is no longer making top headlines.
But for some, the concerns about COVID-19 are still very real. For people with immune-compromised family members, or if they themselves are immune-compromised, the threat remains. Waste water testing and regional updates show that there is still a high amount of COVID-19 circulating in the general public, and it is not uncommon to hear about new variants.
Here at Kinetic, we have decided to continue offering our courses via Zoom. Our reasons for this include our respect for life and ensuring that our training is accessible to all, including those who are immune-compromised or have immune-compromised family members. No one should have to worry for their safety in attending a training course, and no one should feel pressured to wear a mask, or not wear a mask. Offering our training by Zoom addresses all the concerns.
Training courses by Zoom have proven to offer many benefits over the last two years, including:
- elimination of travel time and expenses,
- lower priced courses than our competitors,
- longer courses,
- evening classes are possible,
- multiple exam reviews with the instructor are possible with most courses,
- stable scheduling – no last-minute cancellations due to COVID
- accessible training no matter where you are on the globe, all you need is a stable Internet connection, and you can participate in our courses.
The “post-pandemic” world continues to change to meet the lessons learned from the last two years. It seems the old ways of doing things are no longer applicable in many situations, including training. At Kinetic, we invite you to reach out to us to discuss your training needs, and how we can assist you.
Stay safe out there!
Todd Smith
March 15, 2022 Update
Spring is in the air! At the time of this update, here in Alberta, the sun is shining, snow is melting, and the majority of COVID restrictions have been dropped. However, infection rates in the province remain high, hospitalizations are trending downward, but are still significant, and no matter your outlook on this issue, it must be admitted that a concern still remains.
For some, the idea of returning to "the way it used to be" cannot come fast enough, and they are ready to put COVID behind them. For others, those with immune compromised family members, or they themselves are immune compromised, or simply nervous of becoming infected and wish to control their environments, these ones are not ready to lose their masks and social distancing.
No one view is wrong. Each person will have to make their own path forward in this (hopefully) post-COVID world, and we all need to be kind and patient with each other.
Here at Kinetic, we understand that training involves significant personal investment of time and money, and training in person involves travel and exposure to possibly contagious people. In order to stand by our convictions about the sanctity of life and commitment to safety, Kinetic is going to be continuing to offer our live courses via Zoom. This method has been proven, again and again, throughout the pandemic to provide accessible, world-class training for individuals all around the globe. Literally - all around the globe! We have had students from all across Canada, the US, South Africa, Israel, Ireland, Australia and Europe recently.
We at Kinetic understand that traditionally it was the accepted, and preferred, method of training to sit in a classroom and listen while the instructor taught. But we have shown that we do not have to be in person, and we do not have to sacrifice training quality. Rest assured, when you book a course with Kinetic, you will not be rescheduled due to pandemic restrictions changing. You will save money and time on travel expenses. And, most important, you will not have to worry about your personal safety, pandemic restrictions, mask wearing, vaccine status or potential conflicts with others in the course who may disagree with your personal opinion on these matters. Because our courses are presented via Zoom, with full online access to the work , none of these things are a concern for our courses. You are able to focus on study and training, and passing your exam!
Feel free to reach out to us to discuss this further.
Stay safe out there!
Todd Smith
December 15, 2021 Update
It is the end of 2021 already!
Just when we think the pandemic might be going away, here comes Omicron. At the time of writing of this update, it still remains to be seen how severe this new variant of concern will be, but it has already proven to be more contagious than previous variants. Hopefully, everyone reading this stays safe.
And, the mask / vaccine hot button topics are still going strong with people being very polarized on both sides of the issue. The news continues to be filled with stories of protests both for and against pandemic controls.
Here at Kinetic, we still believe that if there is a way to completely eliminate a hazard in a work or personal situation, and it is still possible to accomplish your purpose, that is the way to handle the situation. For this reason our decision to keep our courses online, presented via Zoom, is unchanged.
Rest assured, when you book a course with Kinetic, you will not be rescheduled due to pandemic restrictions changing. You will save money and time on travel expenses. And, most important, you will not have to worry about your personal safety, pandemic restrictions, mask wearing, vaccine status or potential conflicts with others in the course who may disagree with your personal opinion on these matters. Because our courses are presented via Zoom, with full online access to the work , none of these things are a concern for our courses. You are able to focus on study and training, and passing your exam!
We at Kinetic Inspection & Testing sincerely wish you and your family safety and health as we move into 2022!
Todd Smith
September 7, 2021 Update
Well, here we are in September, and if you are watching the news in Alberta you know the pandemic is not done yet, the issue of being vaccinated vs. unvaccinated is a hot topic, and masks are a requirement again in all indoor settings.
Here at Kinetic Inspection & Testing, we are concerned about everyone’s safety. We do not want to bring people together when we do not have to, potentially spreading contagious and virulent variants of COVID-19, not to mention the usual flu and colds that go around in the fall. Safety is a life choice, not a political position. For this reason we are continuing on as we have been since March of 2020, putting your safety and your family’s safety first by presenting our courses via Zoom.
Our Zoom webinars are interactive, easy to use, and save you a bundle on travel expense and time too!
We will continue to update this page as circumstances change.
Stay safe out there!
Todd Smith
July 5, 2021 Update
As many of you are aware, Kinetic Inspection & Testing is based in Alberta, Canada, and as of July 1, 2021, many of the COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted in our province. It is certainly wonderful to see reduced case counts and reduced restrictions at this time! No doubt many people are taking full advantage of returning to many of the activities they enjoyed prior to March 2020.
However, as of the date of this update (July 5, 2021) there are still many uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and its ongoing effects such as:
- dangers posed by variants of concern and whether vaccines are sufficient protection from these (i.e.., the “Delta” variant),
- vaccine passports and proof of vaccination, (Should proof of vaccination be required for attendees, especially those travelling from other cities, provinces, or countries?),
- politicization of vaccines – some are determined not to get them; some are adamant everyone needs to be vaccinated, (Stories of conflicts and personal freedoms are in the news daily),
- individuals who have family members who are high risk and may have higher expectations of social distancing and sanitization than other course attendees,
- effectiveness of vaccines,
- preferential status of some vaccines over other vaccines.
To safely offer traditional, in-person classroom courses all the concerns listed above, and others not listed, will need to be addressed. In addition, to meet the comfort and safety of attendees there are significant additional costs involved in sanitation, catering, and safety that would be required.
Many of the above listed concerns will be addressed simply by the passage of time. Over the next while, the questions surrounding vaccine efficacy, vaccine passports, danger posed by variants and other concerns will be answered definitively as society transitions out of this pandemic.
Opinions on these concerns vary widely among our course participants. However, one thing is for certain – whether you are concerned the continuing dangers of COVID-19 or not, by attending our online, interactive live courses your training needs will be met safely, effectively, and completely!
Over the last 15 months of the pandemic, we at Kinetic have proven the effectiveness of our online delivery methods by successfully delivering over 20 live courses via the Zoom platform. We continue to provide interactive live courses that not only reduce costs, but also eliminate all risk associated with attending a course or travelling. As safety is not something that can be discarded when convenient, Kinetic Inspection & Testing has decided to continue to offer our live courses via the Zoom platform – for now.
As we transition through the pandemic, and we enter what some are calling our “new normal”, there will be many changes to our work and social lives. Rather than rushing in and having to backtrack later, we at Kinetic feel that continuing in our current model of offering courses via Zoom is 100% safe, extremely effective, cost efficient and addresses the concerns of all involved.
As ongoing conditions and situations change and evolve, we at Kinetic will continue to assess and evaluate what is best for your safety and ours and update this information periodically.
We at Kinetic Inspection & Testing wish you all the best, please feel free to reach out to us with any questions about this matter, or anything else we can assist with regarding your training needs.
Todd Smith
(Original Information Post from March 2020 is below)
Reasons for Change
As you are all aware, the COVID-19 outbreak has caused serious, widespread issues and problems around the world that range from market uncertainty to full countrywide lockdowns and travel restrictions. At this time, it is impossible to say how this will affect Canada in the long term. It is a fact that many of our classroom courses include participants from all areas of Canada, and from other countries as well. This travel poses a risk to all involved in the course, and their families when they return home.
This information is to notify you that there will be a change in the presentation of all Exam Preparation courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is our sincere hope that the COVID -19 outbreak will be a thing of the past very soon, but in the event that it is not, we are making other arrangements that have already gone into effect for courses in the immediate future.
Changes to Our Classroom Courses - Features and Benefits
In order to address this unprecedented situation, and to ensure that companies and individuals can still access their scheduled training and be ready for their examination, we are planning on moving the venue of our classroom training from a traditional, classroom setting, to a world class Live Web Training System.
This training provision will address the health and travel issues involved in coming to a classroom training course, where many of the participants are from different cities, some even from different countries. But it will do much more as well.
From the comfort of your home or office, with no travel time, expenses or risk you will receive the following benefits and features:
- course participants will receive the same level of instruction and the same instructor that you were expecting (it will be me, Todd Smith, you may have met me if you have taken previous courses with Kinetic Inspection & Testing)
- participants will be able to see, hear and respond to the presentation, which will be a live presentation (NOT recorded), as well as including views of codes, videos, etc. that will supplement the program
- participants will be able to ask questions, respond to individual queries, receive personal one-on-one instruction, group and classroom discussions, etc.
- the system being used for the web training is a world class system with 24 hour live technical support, (this is not just me doing this in a free webinar software), so there should be no technical issues or concerns that cannot be immediately addressed
- participants will NOT have to download anything, they will NOT have to have technical expertise, all that is needed is a stable internet connection, and the ability to answer an email to get the link to the web training
- there will be a pre-course trial run the week previous to the course to ensure that everyone is able to access the training, this will be handled personally by me as the instructor
- course participants will still receive the expected course textbook, it will be mailed out prior to the course, so you will be able to follow along in the course and work through the assignments during the class, just like in the classroom course.
Also – and this is a BIG BONUS with this type of presentation – we will be able to schedule exam review sessions at the start of the exam window that you are scheduled for. This will be a group class review of an exam with opportunity for one-on-one instruction immediately prior to your exam date - with no travel requirements or costs to you!
At this current time the dates of the classroom courses are unchanged. If you are already registered, please continue to work through the pre-class material, and I look forward to seeing you in the web training!
In an ideal world, classroom training is the best method of interaction between an instructor and course participants. However, this situation with the COVID-19 pandemic is causing us all to change a number of things in our lives, and until this situation has been resolved, moving our training to a web based live format addresses that which is most important – our health and that of our families.
As the COVID-19 situation continues to develop, we at Kinetic Inspection & Testing send you our best wishes for you to stay safe, plan well, and don’t panic!
Regards,
Todd Smith