Information on CEUs and Contact Hours for COSS^®

The list of safety courses below has been created from different courses or trainings we have accepted from past COSS^® graduates who have successfully recertified. Any of the courses or training listed below will count towards a COSS graduate's required 60 hours (or 6.0 CEUs) of required continuing education for recertification. Some of these classes are web-based, which means you can take them from your office or home computer.

This partial list shows the courses that we have already pre-approved for recertification; however, it doesn't indicate that these are the ONLY courses that will count. Any training you have taken relating to safety, health, leadership, computer skills, and/or management that is not on this list may also count. Also, any safety seminar or conference you attend will count hour for hour towards your COSS recertification (Example: if you attend a 4-hour safety seminar course, that course is worth 4 hours of credit).

Understanding the difference between CEUs and Contact Hours

Some safety and health classes or seminars that you participate in may not offer official CEUs. In these instances, you will need to accurately record the number of contact hours you spend in the training. For example: you attended a fall protection seminar at an expo from 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m., but you were not issued CEUs for the seminar. In this situation you would count the number of actual hours you were in the training. In this example, you would be credited for 2 contact hours. As documentation of your attendance (if documentation is requested from you), you would need to provide a signed roster or attendance sheet and an agenda (or other meeting information) as proof of your attendance.

Some college credits may count as contact hours. For example, if you take a 3 hour REQUIRED college class (elective courses are not accepted) for 15 weeks, that would give you 45 contact hours (3 hours x 15 weeks). A passing grade on an end of semester report card, as well as your degree program’s list of required courses would serve as proof of your attendance (if documentation is requested from you). Only one 3-hour college course will be accepted per recertification cycle.

Pre-approved courses/seminars for COSS Recertification

If you are interested in taking a course that is not listed above, please contact bgordon@coss.net to see if it will count towards your COSS Recertification before you enroll in it.