News Detail

ACI Certification Supports Concrete Construction Worldwide

1/3/2025

by Michael J. Paul, ACI President; John W. Nehasil, ACI Senior Managing Director of Certification and Chapters; and Mark A. Cheek, Chair, ACI Certification Programs Committee

ACI certifications are fundamentally important to the Institute and the concrete industry, throughout the United States and in many other countries.

ACI certifications demonstrably improve concrete construction quality—directly, of course, but also indirectly by celebrating the hard work required to develop clearly defined skills. For example, certification as an ACI Concrete Flatwork Finisher requires at least 1500 hours of on-the-job finishing experience as well as successful completion of a performance examination. To be certified once suitably experienced, the examinee must demonstrate skills in placing, consolidating, finishing, edging, jointing, curing, and protecting concrete flatwork. Only about 3000 individuals currently possess this credential (a small fraction of the U.S. flatwork finishers contingent), and each proudly carries an identification card as validation of these exemplary achievements.

Improving the quality of concrete construction benefits our world, as durable concrete construction extends service life. Well-performing, long-lasting construction spreads initial global warming potential over enduring time frames, a key feature of sustainable construction. In addition, robust, resilient concrete construction can mitigate natural and human-made disasters that are striking with increasing frequency and extent.

To ensure quality and resilience, however, constructors and inspectors need practical procedures that can be implemented, as well as protocols and requirements that must be applied. ACI certification programs serve these needs by compiling and distilling ACI’s world-renowned concrete knowledge and expertise to train these vital professionals. ACI chapters and sponsoring groups deliver most certification training and testing programs, and these organizations are directly strengthened. They also benefit through links to the thousands of volunteers and staff members who contribute to the generation of the relevant materials. So, as ACI’s largest operational sector, certifications both drive and benefit from advances in the work and document development of ACI’s many technical and educational committees.

With all these links and impacts, one might say that ACI’s certifications comprise the connective tissue of the Institute.