Training Preps AMCC Inmates for Work on the North Slope

Anvil Mountain Correctional Center (AMCC) was the latest correctional facility in Alaska to host a North Slope Training Cooperative (NSTC) course for its inmates today. This eight to nine-hour training includes safety handbooks, course evaluations, and, of course – cups and cups of coffee.

Rus Bilak, a health and safety instructor for Environmental Management Incorporated, began the class by informing the 23 all-male group that in order to work jobs on the Slope, they will need to be safe at all times. Bilak says, “if you can’t work safely, you can’t work here.”

NSTC training is comprised of six different learning modules, also called a “six-pack,” along with a newer addition focused solely on working around hydrogen-sulfide (H2S). Bilak warns this deadly gas smells like rotten eggs.

“Hydrogen-sulfide is a gas that is flammable, and it is toxic; it’s present on the Slope just like as much as it’s present anywhere where there is natural decomposition of organic material happening in anaerobic environments. It could be in storage tanks, it could be in the sewer, it could be in the swamp, which is another name for it; it’s a swamp gas,” stated Bilak.

After completing the day of modules, and after filling out the necessary paperwork, the inmates will receive an NSTC card. Bilak says that employees working jobs on the Alaska gas pipeline in the North Slope area must have an NSTC card, so this sets up the inmates for potential job success after they finish their time.

“I think once they are still here it’s easier to get them all together and provide this training, rather than hoping that once they get out they will seek this training on their own,” said Bilak, “…at that point, they will probably have to pay out of their own pocket.”

Currently, the “6-pack” training costs $190 and takes 8-9 hours to complete, then the hydrogen-sulfide (H2S) course costs $15 and could take another hour. This training is only available in Alaska and is not taught online.

Even with the NSTC card in hand, this group of inmates is not guaranteed job placement on the Slope; they must still go through the application process after their release from AMCC. Bilak says he does not know how many employees work on the Slope, nor how many of them were former convicts.