Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

LAPSEN Proposed New National Contest 

We have spent the last few years reviewing contest offerings at state SkillsUSAs, Explorer Posts, Public Safety Cadets and similar to see what options would be best to expand our national Law and Public Safety (LPS) offerings. 

How does a new competition come about? It takes FIFTEEN states to offer the competition. That is the real hurdle. Nationals already consumes the entire Georgia World Congress Center – one of the largest conference centers in the world. SkillsUSA has been slowing the growth of new competitions, but with the growth in LPS programs we feel we can meet the new requirements. LAPSEN already has plans to make the new competitions fit within our current designated areas. We need YOUR state to join us to offer these new competitions.

CERT and disaster response is taught in almost all LPS programs. Additionally, many health science programs teach parts, too. The skill sets are universal and prepare students for careers across LPS. Two students compete by taking a knowledge test and then complete various scenarios. Triage, emergency medical response, search and rescue, evaluating structures for safety, cribbing, setting up disaster response, ICS, and many skill sets provide a pool for scenarios. You will need judges, some equipment, and a space for the scenarios.

How to start these in your state? First, don’t just choose one – do them all if you can! We need 15 states to offer one for it to be considered at Nationals. Second, email info@lapsen.org to get on our list for your state of folks wanting to help organize. Third, help us get the word out! Share this document and encourage people to participate. You can easily offer these at your state conference this upcoming school year!

Technical Standards

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Purpose

To provide SkillsUSA members with an opportunity to develop and demonstrate knowledge and skills they will need to respond to their community’s immediate needs in the aftermath of a disaster, when emergency services are not immediately available.

First, download and review the General Regulations at: http://updates.skillsusa.org/. Be familiar with any and all guidelines. Any special requests must be submitted at least 15 calendar days before the competition. 

Eligibility

Open to active SkillsUSA members enrolled in career and technical education programs with Law and Public Safety as the occupational objective. This competition requires a team of two. In 2025, each school may send only one team. For 2024, teams may have two teams.

Student competitors must be enrolled in, or just have completed (within the current membership year), a law and public safety, or other closely related technical, skilled, or service occupation. 

Student competitors cannot have competed in similar events in any other CTSO CERT related competition (i.e., HOSA CERT Skills) at the state or national level in the previous year.

This contest DOES NOT advance to the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference.

NOTE: this competition is under submission to become a National Competition in 2025.

Clothng Requirement

Class D: Contest Specific — Blue Attire

  • Official SkillsUSA light blue work shirt.
  • Navy pants – must be work-style pants (e.g.  Dickie’s) or BDU/tactical style (e.g. 511). Black or brown belt. 
  • Solid black, brown or tan leather work safety shoes or tactical style boots (with protective toe cap). Not having a protective cap carries no penalty. Shoes must be professional/police style. No tennis/running style shoes. 

These regulations refer to clothing items that are pictured and described at: www.skillsusastore.org. If you have questions about clothing or other logo items, call 1-888-501-2183. 

Equipment & Materials

  1. Supplied by the technical committee: All necessary materials for the competition not specified elsewhere.
  2. Provided by the competitors 
    1. Pens and #2 lead pencils with eraser
    2. Watch that shows time in seconds (digital or second hand)
    3. Helmets
    4. Vests
    5. Blankets (2) 
    6. Work gloves
    7. Disaster Kit (container or backpack) with the following items:
      1. PPE supplies for each competitor:
        1. Box of exam gloves
        2. Goggles or safety glasses
        3. NP95 masks
      2. 4×4 dressings
      3. Pressure bandages
      4. Triangular bandages
      5. Scissors
      6. Flashlights
      7. Victim tags (8) and pen or marker
      8. Plain paper or note cards for writing triage documentation and labeling treatment areas if needed
      9. Masking tape
      10. Tourniquet 
      11. Clip board

RESUME REQUIREMENT

Competitors must create a one-page resume to submit online. SkillsUSA will have guidelines for you to follow. 

Note: Check the Competition Guidelines and/or the updates page on the SkillsUSA website.

PROHIBITED DEVICES

Cell phones or other electronic devices not approved by a competition’s national technical

committee are NOT allowed in the competition area. Please follow the guidelines in each

technical standard for approved exceptions. Technical committee members may also approve

exceptions onsite during the SkillsUSA Championships if deemed appropriate.

Penalties for Prohibited Devices

If a competitor’s electronic device makes noise or if the competitor is seen using it at any time

during the competition, an official report will be documented for review by the SkillsUSA

Championships director. If confirmed that the competitor used the device in a manner which

compromised the integrity of the competition, the competitor’s scores may be canceled.

Scope of Competitions

The competition is defined by industry standards as identified by the SkillsUSA technical

committee. The following is a list of resources and materials used in the formation of the competition:

KNOWLEDGE PERFORMANCE

The competition includes an exam assessing the knowledge of the team in emergency response. The exam covers parts of each area emphasized in the CERT manual. Test items come from the materials identified above. Each team member takes the exam individually. The collective scores from the test are worth 150 points. See Appendix A for a study guide. 

Competitors are also required to take the SkillsUSA professional development test. This test is worth 50 points. 

200 points come from this section. 

SKILLS PERFORMANCE

Several skills will be performed for evaluation. The skills will come from CERT training materials.. There may be as few as 3 and as many as 6 skill evaluations. See Appendix B for a list of possible evaluations. These will be combined for 800 points for this section. 

COMPETITION GUIDELINES

  1. Each team must work independently without assistance from instructors, other competitors, or observers. Contact with competitors must be coordinated through designated event staff only. Any violation of this may disqualify the competitor.
  2. Cell phones, iPads/tablets, smartwatches, wearable technology or any other electronic device is prohibited from the competition area.
  3. Only competitors, judges, and event staff are allowed in the competition area at any time. Observation is limited to the area designated by the judges or event staff. Any outdoor competition area may only be accessed by judges, competitors, and event staff. Any violation of this may disqualify the competitor.
  4. No one may contact judges in any way and at any time without the expressed permission of the competition coordinator.

Appendices

APPENDIX A 

The list below is not exhaustive but represents most terms and topics on the test. This test may be updated year to year, so do not assume content will be the same year to year. 

  • Review guide to be added – check back later in the school year

APPENDIX B

The list below is not exhaustive but represents the range of possible competition skill evaluations and scenarios:

  • Triage victims 
  • Set up an evacuation area
  • Setting up a disaster medical operations treatment area
  • Establishing IRC 
  • Evaluate building for structural damage classification 
  • Conduct search operations for a building or house 
  • Search marking
  • Head to toe evaluation
  • Shutting off/on utilities 
  • Shelter in place 
  • Leveraging and cribbing 
  • Victim carries 
  • Fire size-up
  • Fire extinguisher use
  • Hazmat placard & NFPA 704 identification
  • Disaster medical operations – all skills in Unit 3 & 4 
  • Building evaluation
  • Search and rescue
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