Fleming College: Online Course Offers Risk Assessment Training for Residential Flooding

PETERBOROUGH, Ontario, July 29 -- Fleming College issued the following news release:

Residential basement flooding is on the rise across Canada and it is affecting Canadians financially. With an average price tag of $43,000 per flooded home, home owners and home buyers are looking for expert advice on the risks to their home, and how to reduce that risk. To meet the growing demand from industry professionals and residents, the ground-breaking Home Flood Risk Assessment Training (HFRAT) course will be available online across Canada through OntarioLearn starting September 2019.

The course provides practical training to the residential development and ownership industry, to help homeowners address the growing threat of basement flooding. The course was developed as a collaborative effort between Fleming College, Seneca College and the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation (Intact Centre) at the University of Waterloo. Additional support was provided by Toronto Hydro and Intact Financial Corporation.

The first offering of the course ran in the fall of 2018 at Seneca's Newnham Campus. The new online format allows the program to be offered across Canada.

David, a home inspector, who recently completed the course. "This course really helps ensure we understand the full potential of future issues and how we can relate this information to our clients in a way that could avert or minimize a disaster on a personal level. When I mention that I am actually taking a course that deals with something that is becoming an issue, people look at it with far more weight than me just advising them without having a credential for this statement."

The course provides participants with the fundamental training required to complete a visual assessment of overland, infiltration and sewer backup flood risks, communicate opportunities to reduce these risks and identify where further investigation is required.

Putting their new knowledge into practice, participants complete a sample home flood risk assessment on a single detached, semi-detached or townhome of their choice using a nationally applicable electronic flood risk assessment tool developed by the Intact Centre at the University of Waterloo. Since 2017, this tool has been used to assess flood risks and identify opportunities to reduce these risks for hundreds of homes. Successful graduates have access to this tool upon course completion.

Adam, an insurance professional, found the material applicable to his work. "The HFRAT course covers a lot of relevant flood related topics in appropriate detail and also identifies external resources, government programs and organizations that I wasn't familiar with."

While open to anyone, the course contents were specifically designed to train home inspectors, municipal engineers, emergency managers, policy advisors, landscape designers, along with home construction and renovation professionals. Insurance adjusters will benefit from this training and will be able to provide improved customer service to their clientele.

Valerie, a government risk assessor, loved the diverse backgrounds of her fellow participants. "It allows for dynamic conversations in the [online] discussion threads." The online Home Flood Risk Assessment Training (HFRAT) course runs from Sep 10, to Dec 17, 2019. The cost is $423.44 and includes a one-year subscription to the Home Flood Risk Assessment Tool.

For more information, and to register, please visit: www.FlemingCollege.ca/HFRAT

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About Fleming College

Located in the heart of Central Ontario, Fleming College has campus locations in Peterborough, Lindsay, Cobourg and Haliburton. Named for famous Canadian inventor and engineer Sir Sandford Fleming, the college features more than 100 full-time programs in Arts and Heritage, Business, Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, General Arts and Sciences, Health and Wellness, Justice and Community Development, Skilled Trades and Technology, and Continuing Education. Fleming College has more than 6,800 full-time and 10,000 part-time students, and 75,000 alumni.

About Seneca

Combining career and professional skills training with theoretical knowledge, Seneca's expert faculty provide a polytechnic education to 30,000 full-time and 60,000 part-time students. With campuses in Toronto, York Region and Peterborough and education partners around the world, Seneca offers degrees, graduate certificates, diplomas and certificates in more than 300 full-time, part-time and online programs. Seneca's credentials are renowned for their quality and respected by employers. Co-op and work placements, applied research projects, entrepreneurial opportunities and the latest technology ensure that Seneca graduates are highly skilled and ready to work.

Find out more at senecacollege.ca. Follow us on Twitter.

About the University of Waterloo

University of Waterloo is one of Canada's top innovation universities. With more than 36,000 students and the world's largest co-operative education system of its kind, its unmatched entrepreneurial culture, combined with an intensive focus on research, powers one of the top innovation hubs in the world. For more information, visit www.uwaterloo.ca.

About the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation

The Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation (Intact Centre) is an applied research centre with a national focus within the Faculty of Environment and the University of Waterloo. The Intact Centre works with homeowners, communities, government and businesses to identify and reduce the impacts of extreme weather and climate change.