FDNY Certifications: What You Need to Know

Building up your skills and credentials is key to elevating your standing with your employer. When you complete additional trainings and secure new certifications, it allows you to take on more responsibility on the job site – and, as an added incentive, it can also lead to a boost in pay. The FDNY offers a variety of different certifications that relate to fire watch on site, including S-60 and F-60. G-60 is another common certification that enables workers to use torches with flammable gases. S-92, S-93, and S-94, which involve portable space heaters, are also timely certifications to have as the weather gets cooler. Read on to learn more about each certification:

S-60

The S-60 Certificate of Fitness is required for any construction site that has a footprint between 5,000 and 40,000 square feet. It is solely designed for certifying a watchperson on the construction site. From the time that the foundation of the project is poured until work is concluded, a S-60 certificate holder must be on site at all hours when operations are NOT in progress to ensure nothing catches fire when no one is around.

F-60

In order for hot work operations to take place on a construction site, a F-60 Certificate of Fitness holder must be present to perform fire watch. A F-60 certificate holder is required to understand and comply with FDNY code and rule sections, including: Welding and Other Hot Work, Fire Prevention During Welding, Cutting, and Other Hot Work, Liquefied Petroleum Gases, and Compressed Natural Gas. Certificate holders are required to conduct the storing, using, or handling of oxygen and other flammable gases.

G-60

The G-60 Certificate of Fitness is required for the actual torch operations – not the fire watch – of any flammable gases. Certificate holders must be present for any torch operations that use oxygen and flammable gas, and any torch operation for torch-applied roofing systems. This certificate also is needed for the connecting and disconnecting of LPG containers or CNG containers. 

S-92

A S-92 Certificate of Fitness holder must be on site to supervise the portable fueled space heaters. During the cold weather months, these portable fueled spaced heaters are brought in to provide temporary heating of buildings during construction. Additionally, plaster, tile, and poured concrete trades sometimes require versions of portable fueled heaters year-round. A S-92 certificate holder may also be required to carry out the connecting and disconnecting of LPG and CNG cylinder, the refilling of kerosene heaters, and the use of gas torches to ignite solid fuel.

S-93 and S-94

S-93 and S-94 Certificates of Fitness are issued together as one exam. S-93 refers to the supervision of temporary storage, handling, and dispensing of flammable or combustible liquids at construction sites, while S-94 refers to handling and dispensing of flammable or combustible liquids in portable containers. Sites are required to have a permit in order for these types of gases to be stored or dispensed, as well as a certificate holder to act as a supervisor.