One of your top priorities is having a highly trained staff. At the Charles River Training Center (CRTC), we are dedicated to providing a learning environment for competency-based training.
Located just 20 minutes northwest of Washington DC, the CRTC offers both didactic and hands-on instruction for Charles River employees and the research community. The Center boasts a full-time training staff, modern multimedia classroom, and learning laboratory that provide an immersive and blended learning experience for students. The learning laboratory includes many of the functional areas common to biomedical research vivariums, and can be adapted to simulate operations and technical procedures in conventional, barrier, and containment environments.
Core training programs include skills sets for animal care, veterinary/technical, and research support, as well as supervisory job skill sets. The Center also hosts regularly scheduled soft skills courses and research biomethodology workshops that provide continuing education opportunities for animal research staff at all levels.
The CRTC’s methodology and approach to training is segmented into six key areas:
- Training Staff. We recruit and retain a full-time staff of technical and non-technical trainers to coordinate and conduct year-round training.
- Documentation. Utilizing standardized forms and processes, all training is thoroughly documented. Organizations and regulatory agencies frequently assess training as part of the criteria for meeting or exceeding guidelines for animal care and welfare.
- New Employee Orientation. Focusing on the needs of Charles River employees and indoctrinating them with Charles River’s core values is critical for long-term job success and satisfaction. During our 2-day orientation program, our focus is on the employee’s need to feel welcomed and valued as a part of the team. Employee benefits, company history, job expectations, and working safely in the laboratory are among the varied topics presented.
- Occupational Health & Safety. We support compliance with all Federal, State, and Local regulations by conducting regularly scheduled training upon hire and throughout the employee’s career. Courses are delivered through a blended approach of traditional classroom sessions and interactive web-based self-study modules to meet the varied needs of our employees.
- Basic and Advanced Job Competency Training. Charles River believes that training goes far beyond reading standard operating procedures. Employees also need to learn and demonstrate competency in specific skills and understand why their skills add value to the animal research enterprise. We foster their understanding of why each skill is important and its implications in the animal care program and research process. Students at the Center learn new skills and confidence in performing their jobs through classroom lectures, web-based modules, and hands-on simulation in a controlled laboratory environment.
- Personal & Professional Development (PPD). Much like our orientation program, the PPD programs offered at the Center provide avenues for employee job and career growth. Our three-tiered leadership development program and continuing skills and education workshop series use experienced managers and subject matter experts to help employees perfect current skills and learn new techniques as well as learn the supervisory and managerial skills needed to lead the next generation of lab animal science professionals.
To learn more about Charles River's extensive consulting services portfolio, visit the Charles River Consulting Services section.