Canadian Occupational Safety

August/September 2013 17 standard and we're going to adhere to it.'" As a result, pro- vincial guidelines — or the interpretation of them — may vary from jobsite to jobsite and the portability of both workers and contractors are negatively aff ected, Papineau adds. He says a standard is necessary to ensure that whatever program is developed in any given organization will be accepted by other organizations as it conforms to a widely accepted standard. Ontario is no stranger to the lack of political will as well, says Dillon. " e employers and the workers at the provincial labour management table in 1993-94 and from that day for- ward have recommended mandatory entry level training for construction. And it took four guys on Christmas Eve in 2009 to fall off a scaff olding to… move the political agenda a little bit. e political will has to shi ." Several initiatives are underway in Ontario currently — as an outcome of the recommendations by the Tony Dean Review Panel — to move towards standardization. Julien is tasked with moving many of these initiatives along. "We are working now with employ- ers and labour to get those standards in place for entry level training for con- struction and pull the sector together," she says. "Because of the diversity of the sector, some of those conversations can be challenging at times, but they're still conversations that we're having with the understanding that we have regulatory teeth and backing and it's going to be mandated because… it's time to get that moving forward." EllisDon's Fleming says having train- ing standards that are consistent across provinces would prove most eff ec- tive, particularly for contractors that have projects in various jurisdictions in Canada. "We can't have Newfoundland doing one thing, Alberta doing another thing. It's a matter of looking at what the rest of the provinces are doing so we have consistency," Fleming says. As a national company, EllisDon has a large amount of construction workers who travel and work in diff er- ent provinces and, because there is no standardized system, they have to get recertifi ed and retrained in every prov- ince they go, Fleming says. "So we need some kind of group that gets together to be able to have a consis- tent level of training," he adds. Legislation will be a big driver for standards to come to fruition, says Fleming, adding a piece of legislation that is equivalent across the provinces will be ideal. Consistency across provinces in Canada is key, says Dillon. He says a national standard, when the various jurisdictions are in diff erent stages and moving in diff erent speeds with their regulations, may just end up being a barrier. "If we bought into this national stan- dard thing then the only way we can move is if we all move together," Dillon says. Other panelists suggest a national standard is not the only solution for achieving consistency. Julien says regulators can look at equivalency systems when dra ing provincial leg- islation or regulations. Ontario is currently moving in this direction, Julien says. "We are reaching out to the other jurisdictions to say, 'What are you doing?' We looked at the Newfound- land model with respect to the approval of training providers, so we are taking into consideration what our other jurisdictional partners are doing, what's working and, frankly, what's not THE PANEL (LEFT TO RIGHT) Dave Shanahan Project Manager Canadian Standards Association Dan Fleming Corporate Director, Health and Safety Training Ellis Don Corporation Tammy Oliver Director of Operations British Columbia Construction Safety Alliance Enzo Garritano Vice-President, Research, Education and Specialty Consulting Infrastructure Health and Safety Association Cordelia Clarke Julien Director of Training and Safety Programs Prevention Office, Ontario Ministry of Labour Scott Papineau Coordinator/Training Instructor Alberta Ironworkers Apprenticeship and Training Plan Patrick Dillon Business Manager and Secretary Treasurer Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario Clare Francis Health, Safety and Environment Manager PCL Constructors, Toronto District Tammy Hawkins (not in photo) Manager, Learning Services Alberta Construction Safety Association Sandra Strangemore

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