IUOE News September 2014

Training Association
Activity all across
the province and
a successful
Open House
Brad Randall,
Training Administrator
New team member
The Training Association welcomes Brother Darren Suehsschlaf
to the team as Training Coordinator. A heavy duty
mechanic, Darren was working for Traxxon Rock Drills –part
of the Pacific Group of Companies. We look forward to
working with Darren.
Our annual open house
Our 19th Annual Open House and Heavy Equipment Rodeo
brought over a thousand members and their families to our
Maple Ridge training site on June 21.
Our popular 6-person golf carts shuttled people back and
forth under sunny skies from the parking area to the
equipment.
As always, there was additional equipment supplied to us
by SMS Equipment, Parker Pacific and Finning Tractor. Many
thanks to Brother Eric Kan owner of Kansen Cranes who
provided the Liebherr LTM 1095, 120 ton hydraulic all-terrain
and to Brother Mike Anderson who drove the crane to the
site, set it up and manned it for the day.
A huge thank you to the more than 80 plus volunteers who
made the day such a great success. Without their tireless effort
there would be no event. Brother Marvin Salvail did an
outstanding job taking all of the pictures you see on these
pages. And, of course the training association staff did another
fantastic job of organizing and running the show. Thanks!
In conjunction with the open house, we raised over $1300
in donations for Dollars against Diabetes. Thanks to all who
donated.
Kitimat Modernization Plant
Training Coordinator Brother Randy Grisewood and I did a
two-day tour of Rio Tinto’s Kitimat aluminum smelter in July.
We have 175 members working this job known as the Kitimat
Modernization Project (KMP). We viewed the site with other
building trades representatives the first day.
On the second day we were shown around by Brother
Milton Christensen, shop steward for Bantrel. Bechtel is the
general contractor. I would have liked to include some pictures
of the site here but no pictures are allowed. I have included an
aerial view provided by the company. On behalf of the local I’d
like to say thanks to Brother Christensen who is doing a great
job as shop steward. Many thanks to all the other stewards on
the job.
Meeting with Haisla First Nations
Prior to our tour of the KMP site, representatives of the building
trades, Randy and myself met with members of the Haisla
First Nations in Kitimat. We gave them an overview of the
various trades we represent, the training programs we provide
and employment opportunities. Many members of the Haisla
community are working on the KMP site.
Justice Institute High Rescue Training Exercise
The Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) Fire and
Safety Division used our tower crane as part of their semiannual
high-rescue training program at the beginning of June.
Twelve firefighters from the area practiced various rescue
procedures from our 100-foot tower crane. This included
lowering people in different types of man baskets from the top
of the tower. The JIBC asked us to secure the tower crane site
for their training and we supplied Training Coordinator
Brother Randy Grisewood, Mobile Crane Instructors Mark
McGregor and Wes Bauder to help with the work. In addition,
Tower Crane Operator Brother Robert Serena from Tall Crane
Equipment ran the crane.
Sterling Crane helps us out
We have five mobile cranes that we use for on site training.
However, we don’t have a hydraulic truck crane with a dolly.
This equipment costs $1 million and by the time we paid it off
it would be outdated.
So, we recently made arrangements to offer training on a
rental crane with Sterling Crane’s Branch Manager Brother
Mike Leary. Our first and second level mobile crane apprentices
are able to receive ongoing specialized training at
Sterling’s crane yard in Coquitlam. As a result we are always
training on the new technology.
The crane apprentices watch the entire process of moving
and working with a crane commonly used in the industry.
They see how to prepare a Liebherr all-terrain crane for transportation
with a dolly, do a set-up, use the Licon computer
with pin-boom technology plus jib erection and dismantling.
Sterling Crane’s Rigging Supervisor Brother Drew Ferris and
Operator Brother Jim Kreiser deliver in depth information
and demonstrations for our crane apprentices. Thanks to
Brother Leary for working with us on this initiative.
18 News September 2014