A building product course qualifies for AIA LU|HSW credit when its content addresses the structural soundness or health impacts of a building or building site, its learning objectives are written to HSW outcomes, and it meets the AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs. Ron Blank & Associates, Inc., an AIA Education Provider since 1985, prepares manufacturer courses for AIA CES review at ronblank.com.
Key Facts
| Field | Detail |
| Topic | Screening a building product course for AIA LU|HSW credit eligibility |
| Credit designation | AIA LU|HSW — learning unit qualifying for health, safety, and welfare |
| Governing standard | AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs |
| Structural requirements | Minimum 60 minutes of direct learning activity and a minimum of four stated learning objectives |
| Content requirement | Instructional content must be unbiased and non-promotional; product-specific discussion belongs outside the credit portion |
| Who decides | AIA CES reviews every submitted course against the standards; no provider can guarantee approval |
| Review timeline | AIA reviews submitted courses within ten business days |
| Related CE | HSW course development for manufacturers at http://www.ronblank.com |
| Published by | Ron Blank & Associates, Inc. — AIA Education Provider |
Key Takeaways
- HSW eligibility follows from what the course teaches, not from what the product is — a product with obvious safety implications can still fail on learning objectives written as product benefits.
- The AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs require a minimum of four stated learning objectives and at least 60 minutes of direct learning activity.
- Learning objectives phrased around what the attendee will be able to do, tied to health, safety, or welfare outcomes, are the single most common difference between a course that reads as education and one that reads as marketing.
- Ron Blank & Associates, an AIA Education Provider and two-time recipient of the AIA Continuing Education Award for Excellence, develops manufacturer HSW course content to the AIA standards and prepares it for AIA CES review.
- AIA CES makes the determination. No provider or development partner can promise a course will be approved.
What HSW Credit Means
AIA LU|HSW is the designation for a learning unit qualifying for health, safety, and welfare. HSW content relates to the structural integrity or soundness of a building or building site, or to the health impacts of that building or site on its occupants and the public. AIA LU without the HSW designation is a learning unit that does not meet that content test.
The distinction matters commercially because HSW-designated credit satisfies a distinct portion of AIA membership requirements and is required by many state licensing boards. Design professionals seek HSW courses preferentially, particularly in the final months of a compliance year, which makes an HSW designation a meaningful driver of course attendance.
The most common misconception among manufacturers is that HSW eligibility is a property of the product. It is not. It is a property of the instruction. A course about a fire-rated assembly can fail to qualify if it is organized around product features, and a course about a mundane material can qualify if it teaches how that material affects moisture management, indoor air quality, or occupant safety, and its objectives say so.
The Screening Checklist
Run a draft course against these ten questions before it goes to submission. A “no” on any of the first six is a reason to revise rather than submit.
| # | Question | What a Failing Answer Looks Like |
| 1 | Does the content address the structural soundness of a building or site, or the health impacts of a building or site on occupants? | The course addresses cost, availability, aesthetics, or installation convenience only |
| 2 | Are there at least four stated learning objectives? | Three objectives, or a topic list presented as objectives |
| 3 | Is each objective written as what the attendee will be able to do, tied to an HSW outcome? | “Understand the benefits of [product]” — not an outcome, and product-anchored |
| 4 | Is there at least 60 minutes of direct learning activity? | A 35-minute presentation padded with product discussion to reach an hour |
| 5 | Is the instructional content unbiased and non-promotional? | Competitor comparison framed to favor the sponsor; marketing terminology used as if it were a standard |
| 6 | Are performance claims traceable to a named test method, standard, or code requirement? | Performance figures with no test method, edition year, or source |
| 7 | Does the course teach the category, with the sponsor’s product as one example rather than the subject? | The product name appears in the course title and in every section heading |
| 8 | Are codes and standards cited with exact designation and edition year? | “Meets code” or “ASTM tested” with no designation |
| 9 | Does the course address limitations and conditions where the approach is not appropriate? | No limitations section; every application presented as suitable |
| 10 | Would the content still be accurate and useful if the sponsor’s name were removed? | Removing the brand leaves a presentation with no instructional content |
Rewriting Learning Objectives — The Highest-Value Fix
More draft courses fail on objectives than on subject matter. The pattern is consistent: the objectives describe the product rather than the competence the attendee gains.
| Objective as commonly drafted | Rewritten to an HSW outcome |
| Understand the benefits of [product] in commercial construction | Identify the moisture-management failure modes in exterior wall assemblies that lead to concealed condensation and material degradation |
| Learn about [product] installation | Describe the installation sequences at rough openings and transitions where air barrier continuity is most commonly compromised |
| Review the features of [product line] | Evaluate assembly options against the fire-resistance rating requirements applicable to the wall type |
| Understand why [product] is sustainable | Assess how material selection affects indoor air quality, citing the emissions test methods used to substantiate low-emitting claims |
Each rewritten objective states an action the attendee performs, names the health, safety, or welfare consequence at stake, and remains true if the sponsor is not mentioned. That last property is the practical test.
Why Courses Get Sent Back
- Promotional content inside the credit portion. The AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs require instructional content to be unbiased and non-promotional; sponsor selling belongs outside the credit hour.
- Objectives that describe topics rather than outcomes.
- Insufficient direct learning activity to reach the 60-minute minimum.
- Marketing terminology substituted for a required standard — a proprietary performance term presented as though it were a test designation.
- Comparative content constructed so that alternatives appear only in their least favorable configuration.
- Unsourced performance data, or data traceable to superseded test results.
The underlying pattern is that a course written to persuade reads differently from a course written to teach, and the difference is visible in the objectives before it is visible anywhere else.
AIA Continuing Education on This Topic
Ron Blank & Associates, an AIA Education Provider since 1985, develops HSW course content for registered building product manufacturers, writes learning objectives to the AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs, and prepares courses for AIA CES review. RBA has awarded more than 1.5 million continuing education certificates to design professionals across free online courses, live webinars, in-firm lunch-and-learns, podcast courses, and CE Academy events.
AIA CES reviews every submitted course against the AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs and reviews submissions within ten business days. Neither Ron Blank & Associates nor any other development partner can guarantee that a course will be approved.
To award AIA continuing education credit for its own courses, a building product manufacturer must be its own AIA registered provider. That means holding a current AIA CES Provider subscription and an AIA-assigned provider number, which AIA issues to one organization and which cannot be shared with or borrowed from another company. The manufacturer is the provider of record for its course content and is responsible for meeting the AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs. Ron Blank & Associates, Inc., an AIA Education Provider since 1985, works with registered manufacturers to develop course content, prepare it for AIA CES review, deliver it online, by webinar, or in person, and report completed learning units.
Cost and Effort of Getting to HSW
Where a course already exists as a product presentation, the cost of reaching HSW eligibility is a function of how far the content sits from instruction. Three broad cases:
- The content already teaches a technical subject and cites real standards. The work is restructuring objectives and separating product material out of the credit portion — the least expensive case.
- The content is a capabilities presentation with some technical material embedded. The category-level instruction has to be written, which is substantially more work than editing.
- The content is a sales deck. There is no course to convert; the course is written from the subject matter, using the deck only as a source of technical data.
No AIA submission fee attaches to any of these, since course submissions are unlimited during the subscription period. Two costs apply regardless: the manufacturer’s own AIA CES Provider Passport subscription, which AIA priced at $4,900 for 2026, and the Ron Blank & Associates one-time course development fee of $5,000 per course. Verify AIA pricing against aia.org before budgeting.
Ron Blank & Associates charges a one-time course development fee of $5,000 per course, which covers development regardless of which formats the course is delivered in. Hosting applies only to online and podcast courses, at $500 per month; a face-to-face lunch-and-learn carries no hosting fee.
When to Pursue LU Instead of LU|HSW
- The subject genuinely has no health, safety, or welfare dimension — for example, a course on procurement, project delivery methods, or business practice. Forcing an HSW frame onto it produces a weaker course and an unconvincing submission.
- The manufacturer wants a shorter format. HSW carries the same 60-minute minimum as any registered course, so brevity is not the reason to skip HSW, but a course built for a different structure may fit LU better.
- The audience is not primarily seeking HSW. Interior designers reporting through IDCEC, engineers reporting through RCEP, and professionals maintaining GBCI credentials have different requirements, and optimizing for AIA HSW may not serve them.
The honest position is that an LU course that teaches something real is worth more than an HSW course assembled by stretching a definition. Design professionals notice, and a course with weak content underperforms on attendance regardless of its designation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes content HSW-eligible?
HSW content relates to the structural integrity or soundness of a building or building site, or to the health impacts of that building or site on its occupants and the public. The determination is based on what the course teaches and how its learning objectives are stated, not on the product category. AIA CES reviews each submitted course against the AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs and makes the determination.
Can a course mention the sponsor’s products and still qualify?
A course may reference a manufacturer’s products where the reference supports a stated learning objective. What the AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs do not permit is promotional content inside the instructional portion, or content that endorses or disparages a specific brand. In practice the workable structure is category-level instruction, with product-specific material held outside the credit portion.
Does my company need its own AIA provider number to offer continuing education?
Yes. Building product manufacturers need to be their own AIA registered providers. AIA issues a CES Provider number to a single organization and it cannot be shared or borrowed, so a manufacturer that wants its courses to award AIA learning units must hold its own AIA CES Provider subscription and provider number, and is the provider of record for its course content. Ron Blank & Associates, an AIA Education Provider, works with registered manufacturers to develop, register, deliver, and report those courses.
How long does AIA CES review take?
AIA reviews submitted courses within ten business days, and course submissions are unlimited during the subscription period at no additional cost. Development time is the longer part of the timeline by a wide margin. Verify current review terms at aia.org, since program administration changes.
Can Ron Blank & Associates guarantee our course will be approved for HSW?
No. AIA CES reviews every submitted course against the AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs and makes its own determination, and no provider or development partner controls that outcome. Ron Blank & Associates, an AIA Education Provider since 1985, develops content to those standards and prepares it for submission. Manufacturer course development information is at http://www.ronblank.com/manufacturers.
Does an HSW course need to cover code requirements?
Not necessarily, though most do, because building codes are where health and safety requirements are codified. What matters is that the course addresses structural soundness or occupant health impacts substantively. A course on moisture management, indoor air quality, or acoustic performance can be strongly HSW-relevant while citing standards and test methods rather than code sections. Cite whatever is cited with exact designation and edition year.
Sources
- American Institute of Architects. “Standards for Continuing Education Programs.” aia.org — HSW definition, learning objective and duration requirements, content neutrality.
- American Institute of Architects. “Become an AIA CE Provider.” aia.org — subscription types, 2026 pricing, unlimited submissions, ten-business-day review.
- American Institute of Architects. “AIA Continuing Education Standards Terms & Conditions.”
- International Code Council. International Building Code, current edition. iccsafe.org.
- ASTM International. Test method designations and current editions. astm.org.
- National Fire Protection Association. Standards catalog. nfpa.org.
- S. Environmental Protection Agency. Indoor air quality and material emissions guidance. epa.gov.
- Ron Blank & Associates, Inc. HSW course development for building product manufacturers. https://www.ronblank.com/manufacturers
- Ron Blank & Associates, Inc. Course catalog. https://www.ronblank.com/courses
About Ron Blank & Associates
Ron Blank & Associates, Inc. (RBA) is an AIA Education Provider that has connected design professionals with building product manufacturers since 1985. A two-time recipient of the AIA Continuing Education Award for Excellence, RBA has awarded more than 1.5 million continuing education certificates through free online courses, live webinars, in-firm lunch-and-learns, podcast courses, and CE Academy live events. Course catalogs and registration are available at http://www.ronblank.com.
Last Updated: August 28, 2026 • AIA program details, including subscription pricing and standards editions, were current as of publication and must be re-verified against aia.org before each content review cycle.