PEC Premier? What is and what is not

Dec. 6, 2010 - PRLog -- Kirk Menard, Managing Partner of Advanced Investigative Technologies, LLC attended train the trainer program for PEC Premier in Covington, Louisiana. There are many oil and gas companies that swear and depend on PEC Premier's training program to deliver basic safety awareness to personnel going offshore or for that matter, onshore for an oil and gas company. As a matter of fact, some companies require that you cannot begin work for an oil and gas company without having possession of SafeGulf card. Mr. Menard currently conducts an advanced form of safety training to oil and gas companies and was requested to attend PEC Premier's train the trainer program and the results were astonishing. The BP-Transocean Horizon ordeal is a travesty considering that BP as well as Transocean requires its personnel to attend PEC training. Mr. Menard's entire class was videotaped using a hidden button camera as well as an ink pen camera that captured the entire class. The cost for Mr. Menard to attend the class was over $2,000 not including transportation cost. We've questioned Mr. Menard regarding his experience with PEC Premier Train the Trainer.

Mr. Menard has over 18 years in the oil and gas industry, is a Health and Safety Manager (credentials from OSHA Academy), is a licensed private investigator and certified to instruct the 40 hour basic private investigator course. Mr. Menard first made headlines in 1996 in Evangeline Parish when he attended Judge Preston Aucoin's courtroom under the guise of owing child support. To Mr. Menard's surprise, he was ordered to stand trial for criminal neglect of family and to add insult to injury, stand trial at his arraignment. Mr. Menard completed his investigation and filed his report with the Louisiana Supreme Court that placed the Judge on probation and publicly censored the judge. Mr. Menard made headlines again in a multi-million dollar embezzlement case in Oklahoma that involved a contractor to several oil and gas companies. Mr. Menard and his team of investigators successfully solved the case. The next case would be the highlight of Mr. Menard's career, a serial killer in the small town of Jennings, Louisiana. Menard was hired by family members of the slain victims to assist in solving the case. Menard has been interviewed by CNN, the New York Times, Independent Magazine, and practically every news station in Louisiana.

This reporter had a chance to view excerpts of the class in which PEC Premier contends that it trains people to train personnel going to work for oil and gas companies. The class begins with a primary instructor giving a basic speech and power point presentation to the class. First, we note that the class was over three hours late the first day. As the second instructor arrived, he noted that the class was three hours behind and in a rush. We were able to view several classmates of Menard teach others in the class. One such student stated that he was so scared of public speaking that he was about to "pass out." Menard instructed the class on first aid and blood borne pathogens and again on working/walking surfaces. In the first go around, the video demonstrates that several students thought that Menard did an excellent job. In the second instruction on working/walking surfaces, one student stated that he was lost during Menard's instruction while the rest of the students thought Menard did a good job. The second day of the class and at the end of the class, you can see an instructor telling Menard to hurry up and speak faster, in essence rushing Menard to complete the instruction on working/walking surfaces. Yet, none of the other students were rushed. Menard waited approximately 2 hours at the end of the class to be interviewed by the primary instructors of the class to be told that he failed the presentation portion of the class. However, video from the hidden camera demonstrates that the PEC instructor states to Menard "you did a good job on the written test but didn't pass the performance part of the test," which was the presentation part of the test. A snippet of video, possibly because of the angle, shows the written assessment from the PEC instructors failing Menard on the methodology portion of the presentation. Yet, while it is not known if the student that stated he was "so nervous he was about to pass-out" failed or passed, Menard was refused an instruction card after over $2,000 was paid for the course.

We've interviewed several of Menard's client's, two of which are Certified Safety Professionals that have observed Menard instruct safety courses. One interviewee chuckles as he views portions of the video and states nonchalantly "Kirk could have won an academy award with that performance because I have witnessed Kirk instruct a class and his method of presentation is better than most in the oil and gas industry." Yet, another interviewee and a client of Menard's from an oil and gas company states "we wanted to know if PEC Premier does what it claims and by denying "Kirk" an instructor license then their quality control methods appear flawed." When Menard's client was asked why PEC Premier's quality control of selecting instructors appeared flawed the client stated "Kirk has reduced our accident rate to zero and other than first aids, Kirk is credited with our positive safety record and excellent instructor ability of our personnel." Another Certified Safety Professional answers our questions straight forward as she states that "Kirk is an excellent instructor and every instructor has their own method of teaching and it appears that PEC was being arbitrary and capricious because Kirk injected his knowledge into the class and demonstrated his knowledge of safety to the other students that were giving presentations." We've interviewed Menard's student's from his private investigation class after a roster was given to us. One student stated that Kirk was an exemplary instructor that has the knowledge of an attorney. Another student asked why Kirk wasn't an attorney because she learned more about the law than she would have from her own attorney. One student stated that while Kirk had his own method of instructing, it was effective and to the point.

 Menard's first worked as a safety professional in 1999 for a major oil and gas company. After speaking to one of their in-house safety professionals he tells us that he has known Menard for 11 years and [Menard] has been an excellent instructor. "If this is train-the trainer class then apparently the instructors are flawed as well" he continues. PEC instructors have steadfastly stated that it is not their intent to fail anyone but it's a process that someone of Menard's class fails. "Perhaps it's personal states Menard, I don't know what I did but I don't believe I did anything wrong to anyone." Students that attended the class with Menard could not believe he failed the presentation.

Some of Menard's clients that retain him for safety audits maintain that $2,000 for the class (which was offered to be refunded because Menard failed the presentation portion of the class), the failing of an excellent safety instructor with credibility of a national investigator as well as credentials of a safety professional that was failed as an instructor. One client states that when individual judgment is used, such process is faulty. After viewing the video of the course, the PEC Premier instructors gave very little instruction to presentations and did little to assist the students. PEC Premier appears bias toward certain students and while some students that have taken the PEC Premier train the trainer class could not believe that Menard failed, some that have given worse presentations have passed. One CSP states matter-of-factly "we have tabled our position of requiring our personnel to SafeGulf certified, failing an instructor like [Menard] has proven our point."

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Advanced Investigative Technologies, LLC is managed by Kirk R. Menard and Terry L Lacombe. Mr. Menard has exceptional investigative and legal knowledge while Mr. Lacombe has extensive accounting and marketing knowledge. Kirk Menard is also a safety professional and conducts safety training for many oil and gas companies and is credited with reducing accident and incident rates. His credentials speak for itself. Mr. Menard is also an instructor at McNeese State University and Lafayette Technical College. Mr. Menard is known for conducting undercover operations and successfully reporting his findings to his client's for an accurate assessment of quality control.