Author: Martin Charlton Communications

Road building depends on heavy equipment being run by competent operators, so making sure more people are choosing to become qualified operators is essential if the industry is to stay strong. As experienced operators get to a retirement age, it is important to ensure younger people looking at their future consider operating heavy equipment and have an opportunity to gain the skills and insight to choose that as their career.

“Experienced operators [comprise] the biggest position we need to fill right now,” said Shantel Lipp, president of the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association (SHCA).

In past decades, employers hired young people, particularly those who may have operated farm machinery, and gave them an opportunity to learn on their equipment, developing the experience necessary to become qualified operators. Now, employers need to hire someone already qualified to work on their projects. That’s where training programs, such as one newly offered at Southeast College, become important – for job seekers as well as employers in heavy construction.

In years past, Southeast College offered a program developed by Saskatchewan Polytechnic, which was its partner brokering institution. However, Saskatchewan Polytechnic discontinued that program. “But there was a huge demand for it,” said Lipp, who explained that a program such as this is expensive to offer because of the cost to rent the equipment for students to gain hands-on experience, which was important for them to be employment ready.

Those at Southeast College recognized the demand in the industry for those with these skills as well as from people wanting to gain them. Southeast College worked with the Assiniboine Community College in Brandon, Man. to offer its program, but adapting that one for students at Southeast College took a significant amount of work. That’s when SHCA was approached about developing an industry-accredited program.

“We sat at the table with [SHCA] members to build a new, better and greater program by learning from them about what is needed,” said Jody Holzmiller, the vice president of education and training at Southeast College. Not all at the table thought that simply training students to be a competent operator was enough, however. “There were also some other pieces of the training that were missing, such as life skills and job readiness,” said Holzmiller.

That includes making sure students recognize that the projects they work on could be far from where they live, requiring them to relocate temporarily. The season to work on these projects is short, so the days can be long. Given the short season, anyone becoming an equipment operator has to be prepared for not having available work in heavy construction during the winter months. “It’s important that students understand what the job is,” said Lipp.

To accommodate everything necessary to prepare students sufficiently for employment, Southeast College extended the program to 12 weeks and included a week of safety training. During their 12 weeks, students spend six weeks in a classroom at the Southeast College Estevan Campus, learning theory and using simulators, which include a grader, excavator, front end loader, rubber tire hoe, articulated truck and dozer. “We’ve had rave reviews about the simulators,” said Holzmiller. “The supplier sent a simulator for demo purposes, at which time we invited industry in to give it a try. One word keeps being used to describe them: ‘wow!’”

Another six weeks is done in the field, gaining experience by working on the equipment. The first cohort of students – a group of five – started their field work in early June on a project in the Estevan area. As they moved out of the classroom, another cohort started their theory learning.

Being in the field gaining in-the-seat experience is a crucial part of the training process. That time is being spent productively as students have the opportunity to work on small projects that municipalities need completed.

Lee Finishen is chair of the South Central Transportation Planning Committee (SCTPC) and a councillor on Fort Qu’Appelle’s town council. He had been thinking about how to complete a project in his area. Fort Qu’Appelle and the surrounding area needed to develop a new cell at the regional landfill authority that Finishen formerly chaired. The project was to dig a pit with an engineered slope. That gave Finishen an idea. “There is an opportunity there for students. It’s not overly complicated for in-the-seat training jobs,” he said.

He approached Lipp about the idea of having students work on such projects, knowing from his experience as a member of the board of directors for the Municipalities of Saskatchewan (formerly the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association) that, for example, many municipalities have short stretches of road building to be done to handle heavier traffic going in and out of new developments. “It’s a win-win-win. Students get the training they need, Saskatchewan heavy construction gets to see more operators gain experience and municipalities get more projects completed,” said Finishen.

The students who work on the project are hired temporarily as employees of the municipality that needs their work. Finishen explains this provides the students coverage under the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) as well as ensures liabilities are covered. The students gain a reference and connections to find work once they receive their certificate of completion. “We are so fortunate to be so closely tied to SHCA,” said Holzmiller.

Finishen is looking for projects to be nominated in the SCTPC area, which covers an area from Lumsden thru the Qu’Appelle Valley as far east as Wolseley, south to the U.S. border near Torquay and west to Rockglen. The types of projects the students can work on are short-term ones that Finishen says might not qualify for grants. There is not time to put the project to tender and larger organizations may not be interested in mobilizing as quickly as needed to take on a project that small in size. The projects are to be engineered so students learn how to work within the parameters.

Finishen is promoting the program’s students for municipal projects as often as he can. He will be talking to other chairs of the 11 transportation planning committees in Saskatchewan as well as representatives of the Municipalities of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) so that all municipalities – urban and rural – are aware of the opportunity.

Seeing this program offered at other institutions so it is available across the province is something Finishen would like to see happen. The program is currently open to anyone living in the province who meets the admission requirements. Applicants need their Grade 10 or equivalent, must meet an English language requirement, possess a valid Class 5 license and be 18 years old at time they apply or within six months of the program’s end. Tuition costs $11,500. A total of three cohorts will go through the program this year, with the third cohort beginning intake on July 19. Each cohort can have up to eight people. 

More information about the heavy equipment operator program can be found at www.southeastcollege.org/courses/heavy-equipment-operator or by calling 866-999-7372.

Protect your business: No organization is too small to not need a policy in place

It is a good feeling spending your workday being productive alongside people that make you feel welcome and valued. So, too, is going home knowing what you did and how you spoke throughout the workday was helpful, not harmful. Not every day or every workplace is like that, but there are tools to guide employers, supervisors and employees towards maintaining that type of work environment.

People don’t always agree, understand or appreciate one another. How some people behave and speak when there are disagreements, misconceptions or biases can be considered harassment.

Doing or saying something that insults, ridicules, threatens or sabotages someone you work with – or who works for you – can put you in a position of uncertainty and risk. That is true for employers, supervisors and employees.

That risk can be handled through a harassment policy that links with a policy on employee discipline. Making those policies available to employees and providing training so everyone in your workplace recognizes how to appropriately navigate interpersonal situations can also help.

Erin Folk guides workplaces and leaders looking to prevent workplace harassment or needing to handle complaints. As an investigator and facilitator with Folk Consulting, she works with governments, private business, non-profit organizations, First Nations and other groups to provide advice and services related to harassment prevention and investigations.

She has also supported her husband’s earthmoving and landscaping business, Folk Construction. Her experience through the company has showed her first-hand examples of questionable workplace behaviour in the industry and the awareness employees have of their rights.

“In years past, if an employee was not being treated well on a job site, they might have just walked away, quit and got a job somewhere else,” said Folk. “That’s maybe not the case anymore. The employer has that legal duty to ensure the safety [of its employees].”

Harassment is inappropriate conduct, comments, displays, actions or gestures that the harasser knows or ought to reasonably know would cause an individual to be humiliated or intimidated. It is inappropriate to intimidate, humiliate or threaten another employee so their psychological or physical wellbeing is damaged, causing a threat to their health and safety. Additionally, if the behaviour and conduct relate to another person’s race, creed, religion, colour, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, disability, physical size or weight, age, nationality, ancestry or place of origin, it is considered a breach of Human Rights legislation, and is considered an illegal act, as well as workplace harassment.

“We all want to come home at the end of the day having put in a good day’s work and not had to put up with abusive behaviour and discriminatory behaviour,” said Folk. “Everyone wants to be respected for the work that they do.”

To take a first step towards preventing and dealing with harassment as an employer, Folk recommends workplaces search online for the many government resources available to guide them on developing a harassment policy. Having such a policy is required under the Saskatchewan Employment Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations. Employers should seek assistance from subject matter experts if they feel uncertain about creating their own policy and procedure.

“Under occupational health and safety legislation, you see that the employer, the manager, the supervisor and the employee all have listed responsibilities when it comes to safety in the workplace,” said Folk, who explains that the more responsibility an employee has in an organization, the higher the threshold is for what is expected of them.

“Psychological safety is a component of the safety of the employee, equally as important as the physical safety of an employee,” she said.

A harassment policy must contain a definition of harassment, which Folk says can be taken directly by employers in this province from the Saskatchewan Employment Act. The policy should also include a statement by the employer that harassment is not acceptable or tolerated and expresses the employer’s commitment to do everything reasonable to prevent harassment and act when an employee feels they have been the subject of workplace harassment.

But Folk says a more robust policy can benefit an organization. Including a process that outlines how complaints can be brought forward and managed, appropriate procedural steps for mediation or investigation, and how the complainant and alleged harasser will be informed of the outcome of an investigation should also be described.

The more responsibility an employee has in an organization, the higher the threshold is for what is expected of them.

“The policy is there to protect the employees and to protect the employer. The policy is supposed to give clear guidelines that discourage inappropriate behaviours, so you want to have very clear definitions,” said Folk, who encourages employers to link their harassment policy to their discipline policy. “Not only are you protecting your employees by saying this is not tolerated or allowed, but you also have mechanisms under which, if this inappropriate behaviour happened and is found to have occurred, the employer has the ability to take action under the discipline policy however the employer sees fit, under the circumstances – whether that is a reprimand, guidance, education or dismissal.”

When a complaint is made, an investigation looks at whether the allegation occurred as it was alleged and, if it did, if it is contrary to the policy in place. That’s what makes sound definitions important, according to the legislation.

Employers who feel some people today are simply too sensitive and discredit complaints of employees as insignificant or frivolous assume a significant risk to their business.

“We can find harassment based on a vague definition, but where does it go from there? Now what does the policy say about how the employer can deal with that? If you have a very vague definition and limited policy, you might also have a limited ability to apply discipline,” said Folk.

The risk of a vague policy to the employer in a situation where an employee has harassed another is not being able to dismiss an employee with cause, if training and other progressive discipline steps have not rectified the behaviour. An employee who continues their harassing behaviour in the workplace can leave the employer vulnerable to a civil action, known as an employer’s vicarious liability for the conduct of their employees.

Having a policy can mitigate an employer’s responsibility. Not having a policy or allowing an employee to continue their behaviour unchecked can be an aggravating circumstance that could lead to a more significant financial remedy being awarded to the victim of workplace harassment by an adjudicator if the matter is elevated to a tribunal.

An employer who can point to a sufficient policy and training aimed at preventing harassment may have an adjudicator consider that as a mitigating factor and find the employer less liable for the conduct of their employee.

An organization’s policy does not have to be hundreds of pages long, but Folk recommends it being more than a single page in a safety manual and employee handbook. The policy needs to be informative and proscriptive. It should serve as a resource to staff, supervisors and managers, so those accountable for addressing harassment in a workplace understand their responsibilities and the processes. Proactively having this in place and making everyone in the organization aware of it can help minimize disruption to the organization when a situation arises because the expectations have already been made clear.

Employers who feel some people today are simply too sensitive and discredit complaints of employees as insignificant or frivolous assume a significant risk to their business. The financial and human costs of workplace harassment are high. Staff turnover, lost productivity, bad publicity and damage to reputation, as well as costs for paying for a mediator or investigator, have a considerable effect on an organization’s bottom line.

“You are putting yourself in the crosshairs of a lawsuit and/or a lot of bad publicity if someone comes forward with a complaint,” said Folk. “There is a lot of human and financial cost to allowing harassment to occur.”

Being at work means dealing with other people. How you behave towards and around one another can contribute to whether co-workers feel more or less included on the team and at your workplace.

A workplace with people who harm others – psychologically or physically – through their words or actions will eventually be held responsible, Folk says, because workers are increasingly aware of their rights and will act to protect those rights and their wellbeing. Demonstrating respect for those you work with is important to keep a workplace productive, effective and inviting. 

“Banner year” for road construction in 2020

Few sectors can admit it has been business as usual over the past 12 months.

A global pandemic transformed life as we knew it. Mandatory lockdowns, limited capacity for restaurants and retail outlets, working and learning remotely all wreaked havoc on local, provincial and national economies.

Amidst the chaos, the heavy construction industry hummed along relatively unscathed, albeit with a few adjustments.

Overall, the industry enjoyed a productive season in 2020 and expects more of the same this year as much of the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus.

“Despite COVID-19 and all of the additional precautions that were put in place, we actually had a really productive year [in 2020],” said Shantel Lipp, president of the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association. “I think we got more built last year than we did the year before (2019). I don’t know if part of that was because there were fewer people on the roads and that meant fewer obstacles and fewer shutdowns at certain times.

“It was a banner year for road construction in terms of the amount of work we accomplished.”

Early in the pandemic, road builders and the work they do was considered by the government an essential service. Lipp praised SHCA members for their dedication to adhering to enhanced health and safety protocols that were introduced last year.

Safety meetings became virtual or were altered for those in attendance to be physically distanced. Equipment was frequently sanitized throughout the day, hand-washing stations were added to job sites. Those were just a few of the adjustments that crews made to enable them to safely work a full season during a pandemic.

Because of their actions, there were no major outbreaks of the virus on job sites across the province.

“The guys were extra diligent because they knew that should a COVID outbreak happen on their job site, they were going to be shut down for two weeks,” she said. “And you talk to any contractor, they’ll tell you that they can’t afford to be shut down for two weeks.”

The look was similar in Manitoba, a province that enforced a full lockdown for several months in 2020.

Chris Lorenc, president of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association, says his members continued working last summer through adjusted procedures. He says daily temperature screening was common on job sites, as were virtual meetings with occupational health and safety officials to ensure everyone knew what was expected.

“Our industry has been permitted to continue providing its construction, maintenance and rehabilitation services throughout the pandemic, so we’re very grateful for that,” he said.

Viewed as an economic driver, the road building industry will be relied upon to stimulate the local and national economies post-pandemic. Provincial governments and the federal government already have indicated additional spending for this sector.

Road improvements are coming to more than 50 rural municipalities across Saskatchewan, thanks to $16.5 million in funding from the provincial government’s two-year, $7.5 billion infrastructure stimulus plan.

The funding is part of a three-year plan with the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities to upgrade municipal roads, bridges and culverts.

In Manitoba, the provincial government unveiled last summer the $500-million Manitoba Restart Program. Of that funding, approximately $150 million is dedicated to resurfacing more than 240 kilometres of provincial highways and $65 million for major projects that will improve highway safety.

Major irrigation projects that will benefit members in both provinces are in the works. The Saskatchewan government plans to embark on a $4-billion irrigation infrastructure project at Lake Diefenbaker.

It’ll be the government’s biggest infrastructure project to date and SHCA will be major players over the next 10 years of construction in three main phases.

The government said it will create more than 2,500 construction jobs per year over the next 10 years, which is welcomed news to our industry.

In Manitoba, Lorenc is waiting to see the outcome of discussions between the provincial government and the federal government over the terms of the Lake Manitoba–Lake St. Martin outlet channel project (a $550-million, multi-year project that aims to mitigate the impacts of flooding).

“The stimulus program announced in 2020 didn’t flow nearly as much as was anticipated, so we assume that it will flow at a healthier clip for the construction season this year,” Lorenc said. “There will be a nominal increase to the highways capital program…the Lake Manitoba project…If all of those approvals, along with the Investing in Canada’s Infrastructure program, materialize, I think Manitoba’s economy will get a good shot in the arm with infrastructure programs.”

In Alberta, the province plans to provide more infrastructure dollars to municipalities this year through the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) with a $1.2-billion investment to provide economic stimulus and create jobs.

But this means a funding drop to $485 million in each of the following two years, where municipalities were initially slated to split $860 million.

Despite the cut to municipalities, a $20.7-billion capital plan will invest in 41 new infrastructure projects across the province and create about 90,000 jobs through 2024.

The 2021 capital plan will include new construction of roads, bridges, overpasses and water projects.

“When you consider that 65 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product is tied to trade and roughly 18 per cent of Canada’s workforce is tied to trade, it’s really important for Canadians to understand and for governments to understand this,” said Lorenc. “There is the infrastructure we want like our parks, swimming pools and recreation facilities. There’s infrastructure we need like healthcare facilities and schools. And then there’s the infrastructure that pays for all of these things – that is our trade infrastructure.

“We think there should be a significant long-term focus on investing in trade gateways and corridors in Western Canada to allow the region to become an even more prolific global trade partner to keep the economy humming.” 

Milestone School may take on a new look by the end of this school year, thanks to a community initiative spurred by students.

For the past several months, Rebecca Carson’s Grade 4 class has been drawing, designing, fundraising and pitching their plans for an outdoor classroom to school board officials, local businesses and community groups.

Their hope is to construct a gazebo-style structure adjacent to the school that would be used as a classroom setting and double as a community meeting room outside of school hours.

“Through COVID, the school’s goal is to be outside as much as possible when learning,” Carson explained of the project her students have taken on. “When we’re outside, students are able to space out and learn without wearing their masks. When we’re in the classroom, we try to space out as best we can. Sometimes we’re just not able to be six feet apart and, therefore, not able to take off our masks.”

Ideally, Carson said a local construction crew would construct their desired outdoor classroom. The students voted to build a rectangular, partially enclosed gazebo with two walls with stadium-like seating and a third open wall with a chalkboard. The structure would seat roughly 25 people.

As of the end of February, the class was still searching for a local construction company to complete the project.

The hope is to have the Saskatchewan Outdoor Classroom – named by the class – standing by the end of June, with the finer details like painting and tree planting to follow.

“I’m hopeful that any business that is able to help us out for the actual construction aspect, if they wouldn’t mind having Grade 4 students in little hard hats and safety vests helping out where they could,” she said. “I would love if the students could play a small role in that part of the construction to continue with their learning process.

“I would gladly sacrifice a day of class time if the students were able to learn in a different way by doing something with that.”

The Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association drew inspiration from the students and the work they’re doing and donated to the project.

“I think what caught my eye was when the story aired how ‘Saskatchewan’ it was and how well it tied into the belief of the association and our members on giving back to the community,” said SHCA president Shantel Lipp. “It was also a great reminder of the prairie-born ‘fix it on the farm’ mentality that lives here. If there’s a problem, we look at ways to find a solution and that’s what those kiddos are doing with this project.”

Carson’s class, along with others from the school, took advantage of the warm fall weather and shifted much of their learning outdoors in September and October. However, with the exception of a large play structure, the majority of the school grounds is bare – no trees to provide shade or barriers to protect from the wind.

The students occasionally would grumble about being outdoors and exposed to the elements.

They soon started talking about wanting a structure where they could be sheltered from the sun and the wind, all the while being outside and learning.

Carson was on board with the idea. But rather than taking control of the situation, she deferred to her students to address the problem and find solutions. Carson would simply act as a guide.

The students split into groups and got to work.

“The kids started doing their research. They looked into structural designs, drew their own designs and presented all of their work to the class and to school board officials,” Carson said, adding the students factored in wheelchair accessible paths and ramps leading to the structure and which trees they’d like planted on the school property.

Water drainage from the roof of the new structure would filter into a water collection jug, with the collected water used to help grow the newly planted trees, all of which would be native to Saskatchewan.

There’s a catch, however.

Approximately $60,000 is needed to build the structure. Plus, Grade 4 students aren’t exactly equipped for such a job.

This hasn’t deterred the students.

Carson is using this as a learning opportunity and grading the students on various steps throughout this process. They’re being graded on their designs, collaborative work in groups, math-related tasks like adding donation totals and their oral presentation to school board officials.

Students worked with architecture firm Crosby, Hanna and Associates to create concept drawings.

They’ve also been calling local businesses and pitching their outdoor classroom plan and asking for donations.

“I asked the students, ‘How are we going to get the money to pay for this?’” said Carson.

The kids suggested different themed food days – selling ice cream treats, hosting a sandwich or a pizza day, a bottle drive and selling tickets to raffle baskets.

At the end of February, the class had received more than $6,500 in donations to raffle baskets from several local businesses like Redwing Shoes and gift cards to Temple Gardens Hotel & Spa in Moose Jaw.

Every dollar received through donations will go into the Saskatchewan economy. 

Anyone interested in making a monetary donation or donating items to raffle baskets or purchasing raffle tickets can phone Milestone School (306-436-2292) or contact Rebecca Carson (rebecca.carson@pvsd.ca).