Coinciding with the start of the 2010 season, the WSCA will be hosting a number of training classes designed to either train in-house instructors or assist in training workers.
As you know, we received funding from the Community Development Trust Fund in support of delivering training for silviculture sector supervisors, ATV operators, power saw workers and light truck drivers. This funding is being used to subsidize your cost of training for the 2010 season. The funding allows us to offer the classes at a significantly reduced rate and is available for a limited duration. Taking advantage of the classes this year could have you realize a 90% savings on the cost of training your workers. In comparison, similar ENFORM courses, which are not silviculture specific, range from $225 – $850 per person / per class. The funding dollars on offer are set to expire prior to next year’s planting season without plans for renewal.
We urge you to take advantage of the opportunity this spring by training your in-house instructors and/or utilizing the WSCA sponsored classes to capture workers who may be unavailable to complete the courseduring your in-house session. The class listings being offered are listed below. Candidates must be registered 7 days prior to the start of the class. The WSCA reserves the right to cancel undersubscribed classes so please inform us of your intent to participate within the specified guidelines.
Course, Date, Location
RRD 03, March 27 – 28, Vancouver
RRD 03, March 29 – 30, Prince George
RRD 02, March 31, Prince George
ATV 03, April 1, Prince George
ATV 02, April 2, Prince George
RRD 03, March 31 – Apr 1, Nelson
RRD 02, April 2, Nelson
RRD 03, April 3 – 4, Victoria
ATV 03, April 3, Kamloops
ATV 02, April 4, Kamloops
RRD 03, April 17 – 18, Kamloops
ATV 03, June 5, Kamloops
ATV 02, June 6, Kamloops
ATV 03, May 7, TBA
RRD 03, May 8 – 9, TBA
Please note: 03 = operator; 02 = instructor
Training information, including rates and instructions for registering for courses can be found at www.wscacourses.ca.
Further questions can be directed to Laura Trasolini at registrar@wscacourses.ca.
Thank you, The Safe Silviculture Project Committee
What are the advantages of the WSCA CDTF Program training?
• Defense of due diligence:
Regulation and due diligence requires that employees be properly trained. But the regulations seldom describe what that training should include. This introduces some risk and uncertainty to employers around whether the training they have provided is adequate and defensible. Unfortunately, the only way to find out may be in court or during an investigation. Establishing a credible training standard involves numerous steps. Many of you may have done some of these steps in developing or purchasing training. But in the case of a rigorous investigation, particularly following a serious event, your training may lack the actual authority to designate someone as trained; to say nothing of the possibility the training itself may be incomplete or inappropriate. We have actually seen the latter.
All the training being offered through the CDTF program has been developed by our industry following the processes and conventions all industries use to establish recognized standards and practices. As a result these training standards have legitimacy due to the source of the standard, their acceptance by the industry and the methods used to develop them. These traits all offer a strong defense of due diligence once the training is used properly; to say nothing of their ability to actually reduce injuries and tragedy and all that that entails.
The BC Forest Safety Council has recognized the WSCA ATV training standard. It is our goal to have all the training modules similarly recognized.
• Sector appropriate training:
It has taken the WSCA considerable time and effort to develop these training standards. That time has been spent consulting with the best performers in the silviculture sector as well as comparing practices to other industries and jurisdictions. We have used the recognized and widely accepted Developing a Curriculum (DACUM) process to develop job/task analyses and content. Experts have been employed to advise us on technical and legal aspects of the training materials. As a result, we have legitimate training standards and teaching strategies developed primarily by the industry for the industry. Every time we teach it we also improve it through ongoing review. It is the best training available to us that we have seen on the market.
• It is a good deal:
The cost to train a trainer according to the going rate is approximately $800 to $1,000 (if not higher), depending on the course. We are offering to our members instructor training for just $100. We have also kept the price of registering a seat in the general course offerings to $25; about ten percent of the actual costs to deliver the training and maintain the integrity of the instruction and the standard. The CDTF funding is covering about 90 percent of the actual costs to deliver this training to WSCA members.
• Why is stewarding these standards by the WSCA so important?
Our main obligation to the Community Development Trust Fund, and to WorkSafeBC and the BC Forest Safety Council – once they have recognized the training standards – is to ensure the courses are taught consistently, completely and competently. This obligation is also one of our main costs.
Having established these standards, it is our duty to retain the integrity of their instruction by ensuring sufficient quality assurance. This means we will monitor and evaluate instructors. We also will keep a registry and issue certificates recognizing those who have successfully completed the training. We also attract an obligation to review the course content and adapt it to changes in regulation or practice. All this work will be done in collaboration with WorkSafeBC and the BC Forest Safety Council and is a requirement of their recognizing the training.
Contractors, for their part, must follow all the proper registration procedures and respect the copyright of the materials. If we begin to lose track of the training because employers are using the material on their own without notifying us and bypassing registering their participants, the quality assurance will deteriorate and so will the program. We have received this funding support, a half-million dollars, largely on our own recognizance and credibility as employers and as a sector. We can blow that quickly if we don’t live up these expectations. We anticipate some may abuse the program and put it at risk. But we are hoping that the intelligent majority will behave as exemplary models.
Web Link: http://www.wscacourses.ca/