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October 18, 2004 – Pipeline construction leaders embrace e-learning technology
May 13, 2004 – New research spurs construction industry to act on shortages
April 6, 2004 – Construction management training goes on-line
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Pipeline construction leaders embrace e-learning technology |
October 18, 2004
OTTAWA – The launch of computer-based training for pipeline construction workers will improve worker mobility and safety, say industry leaders.
The Construction Sector Council’s Pipeline Construction Safety Training Course has generated widespread interest from pipeline owners, employers, contractors and labour groups because it uses leading-edge technology to meet interprovincial safety standards.
“This on-line, pan-Canadian safety training program will provide a valuable tool to enable workers and contractors to ensure that best practices and safety knowledge remain an integral part of pipeline construction industry practice,” says Ted Shipka, President and CEO of Pe Ben Industries Company Ltd., one of 80 pipeline construction industry representatives who attended a course preview in Calgary last week.
“Training new workers, on a national basis, will also provide a valuable tool to increase worker mobility, which will serve the interests of all industry stakeholders while contributing to the safe completion of projects,” he adds. “This type of training goes a long way to addressing those issues.”
Dermot Cain, the Canadian Director of the International Union of Operating Engineers says “this is leading-edge training that keeps pace with the needs of today’s active learner, allowing them to learn anytime, anywhere, within an interactive environment. It will help reduce workers’ exposure to health and safety risks, and provide a basic level of awareness for all facets of pipeline construction.”
The CSC worked with the pipeline construction industry to create the Pipeline Construction Safety Course. It will soon be available to workers and contractors across Canada at provincial construction safety associations, construction associations, labour organizations, industry training centres and community colleges.
This will be the first product to run off the CSC’s distance learning engine, a software application that allows organizations to create, store, use and re-use construction learning content in a cost-effective way. Management and supervisory training will also be available through distance learning in the near future.
Funding for this project was provided by the Government of Canada’s Sector Council Program.
The CSC is a not-for-profit, independent labour/business partnership organization established in 2001, to address the current and future human resource needs of the construction industry in Canada.
It has several initiatives underway to help the industry deal with the skills and labour shortage including adopting a more systemic, national approach to training, and reaching out to youth through awareness and education about construction trades.
For more information on these and other CSC programs:
Michelle Walsh
Manager, Communications
Construction Sector Council
walsh@csc-ca.org
Tel: (613) 569-5552, ext. 230
Fax: (613) 569-1220
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New research spurs construction industry to act on shortages |
May 13, 2004
OTTAWA – New research from the Construction Sector Council (CSC) highlights the need to tap into new sources of labour and to address inconsistent training in the construction industry to deal with a shrinking workforce and skills shortages where they exist.
“With the results of four new studies, we now have a clearer picture of what we are up against and how to overcome what are some serious challenges for the construction industry and for the Canadian economy in general,” says Robert Blakely, CSC labour co-chair and the director of Canadian affairs for the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO.
“These reports are a wake-up call to the construction industry,” adds Tim Flood, the CSC business co-chair and the president of John Flood and Sons (1961) Ltd. “We must take steps now to reduce the risk of a chronic shortage of skilled workers, whether that means more targeted recruitment programs or working with educators and governments to standardize training, or some of the other options outlined in the reports.”
The research report entitled Future Labour Supplies in Canada’s Construction Industry, outlines the need for accessing largely untapped sources of labour including women, Aboriginals and immigrants, to address dwindling labour supplies caused by an aging workforce and a weak interest in construction careers among youth. The Aboriginal population, for example, is growing faster than other segments of Canadian society, with more than 50% under the age of 15.
The report on The Impact of Technology on the Construction Labour Market concludes that new technology is altering skill requirements for all construction trades, yet important training programs and skills upgrading are either not available or little-known.
A study on Training Canada’s Construction Workforce says the many different systems and standards that exist across the country inhibit worker mobility and cost effectiveness.
A fourth research paper, Emerging Trends in Management, Supervision and Mentoring, notes that managers and supervisors faced with higher quality-expectations, more safety regulations and the need for more documentation do not consistently get the support and training they need.
Funding for this project was provided by the Government of Canada’s Sector Council Program.
The CSC is a not–for–profit, independent labour/business partnership organization established in 2001, to address the current and future human resource needs of the construction industry in Canada.
It has several initiatives underway to help the industry deal with the skills and labour shortage including adopting a more systemic, national approach to training, and reaching out to youth through awareness and education about construction trades.
For more information on these and other CSC programs:
Michelle Walsh
Manager, Communications
Construction Sector Council
walsh@csc-ca.org
Tel: (613) 569-5552, ext. 230
Fax: (613) 569-1220
TOP PRINT
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Construction management training goes on-line |
April 6, 2004
OTTAWA – The Construction Sector Council (CSC) is poised to provide on-line training to construction management following the federal government’s approval of $663,000 in funding.
The CSC is working with the Canadian Construction Association (CCA) to move its national Gold-Seal Certification Program for Project Managers, Superintendents and Estimators into an e-learning environment.
“Computer-based distance learning has a strong future in construction training,” says the CCA’s Human Resources Director, Dennis Ryan, “and the Gold Seal e-learning initiative is a promising testimony to the collective will of this industry to move forward together to develop solutions aimed at promoting education, skills development and training to the Canadian construction workforce.”
“An on-line program that offers courses certified to the rigorous Gold Seal standard, and tailored to reflect provincial or territorial differences, is probably the single, most important way to increase the number of managers, supervisors and estimators, and allow them to take their skills across the country.”
The courses will be offered through the CSC’s distance learning service, which allows employer and labour groups, construction safety associations, education and training institutions, and many others to create and offer web-based, interactive education and training.
“The Gold Seal initiative is just the tip of the iceberg,” says CSC Executive Director George Gritziotis. “The CSC has already developed other material for on-line learning, such as pipeline construction safety training, and the concept is generating a lot of enthusiasm in the industry.”
Terry Brown, General Manager for Greyback Construction Ltd., and a member of the CSC Board of Directors, can vouch for that: “Distance learning technology is a revolution in construction training,” he says.
“It will go a long way to providing opportunities for the continual up-grading of construction manager's skills, and for life-long learning - in all regions of Canada - by making standardized training easily accessible,” says Brown, who is also the chair of the CCA’s Gold Seal Committee.
“By delivering high-quality industry courses through the Internet, we can bring the bricks and mortar to the user’s doorstep or, should I say, laptop.”
The Gold Seal e-learning project is one of many human resource initiatives being developed by the Construction Sector Council to address the current and future human resource needs of the construction industry in Canada. Funding for the project comes from the Government of Canada’s Sector Council Program.
“The Government of Canada is very pleased to support the Construction Sector Council’s “E-Gold Seal” project, which will do much to improve the skills of Canada’s construction industry and improve worker mobility,” says the Honourable Joe Volpe, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development. “The construction sector is vital to Canada’s economy, and this project will help ensure its continued success.”
The CSC is a not-for-profit, independent partnership organization established in 2001, made up of representatives from labour and business. The CCA represents the interests of the non-residential sector.
For more information on this and other CSC programs:
Michelle Walsh
Manager, Communications
Construction Sector Council
Tel: (613) 569-5552
Fax: (613) 569-1220
walsh@csc-ca.org
TOP PRINT
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