 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
Estimating
We have the tender package for the PUC Trbovich Centre Renovation
job but we do not think that we are in a position to submit
a price as we have no one left to do it.
The news on the Nobel project is that it will proceed and
we will be doing it. The sister project in South Porcupine
may also go ahead. They will not start until later this
year, so hopefully we will be able to fit them in. We are
booked solid right now.
Tom submitted pricing for the ASI Iron Making Design-Build
Maintenance Shop and Office Complex and we have been informed
that we will be awarded the project. Tom met with ASI officials
on May 30 to finalize the details.
We are really hoping that we will not get a call for a
while from PGG to schedule the meeting in Albuquerque for
negotiations on this project. Our plate is so full that
we would have a very hard time scheduling this one in until
later this year. We understand that it may get started in
the fall which would work for us.
The 7,200 square foot Steelway building has been given
the approval to proceed. The larger building will not proceed
until next year. This building has two Steelway Material
Handling (SMH) cranes in it, a 20 tonne and a 35 tonne and
is a very nice job. Thanks Pat. We have lined up the locates
for underground services in order for us to do our test
pits for soil investigations and have contacted the PUC
for the incoming service costs.
With our current steel building orders, we have already
punched through Steelway's $1 million Club and have actually
surpassed their $2 million club. Best thing for Rolf is
that we are not done yet! Rolf, let's go for that $3 Million
Platinum Club status!
Mike is waiting for an order for the Sudbury building and
has priced the 47,000 square foot building which is very
expensive. He is waiting for the approval to proceed. He
also priced a Steelway building which was 50' x 60' with
a 32' eave height and 26' high overhead doors!
Mike had a telephone update for an extremely large build-finance
project he prequalified on last year and is expecting an
RFI next week which will ask for clarification on the financing
portion of the project.
Our current workload for 2008 is over $24 million and growing.
How much do we really want to take or better yet, how much
can we really handle? Stay tuned!
|
New Employees
We hired back Andy S. this month, Andy has worked for us
before. He started his own business and has found it is
overwhelming, I can certainly understand what he is talking
about. Welcome back Andy! Andy will be working with the
concrete crew at ASI and then heading to the Praxair project.
Phil O, a long time employee, has left us to return to
the Sheet Metal Workers union and has joined Lopes Mechanical
on the new hospital project. Good Luck Phil with your new
job. Phil is the fourth employee that we have lost to the
hospital project.
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
| |
|
|
 |
Wayne has almost completed the deficiency list and we finally
received Substantial Performance last month, what a performance
that was! This project should be 100% by early June. The
final lift of asphalt along with the landscaping should
be completed shortly.
|
Sorry no photos this month.
|
|
Collegiate Heights Retirement Home Addition
|
 |
KKC, Randy, Donnie, Scotty and Dan B. are completing this
project. They are now working in the Kitchen, the cooler
has been installed and most of the equipment is on site.
Ideal Colour is installing the Tee bar ceilings on the second
and third floor corridors and painting the units. Superior
Tile has been installing the ceramic tile in the bathrooms
and has started installing the carpet. Kone Elevators is
on site installing the elevator. Black Loon Millworks has
delivered a good percentage of their millwork to site. The
Theatre floor infill has been completed and Ontario Concrete
Finishing has poured the topping. Henderson Metal is installing
grilles, diffusers and stats. Spira Fire Protection has
completed and charged the sprinkler system. DNM Plumbing
is setting the plumbing fixtures in the units and City Wide
Electric is installing light fixtures. Our guys are installing
the doors and hardware plus some of the millwork. KKC has
Steel Speed installing the stairwell hand rails and met
with Ellwood Robinson to review the curbs, sidewalks and
asphalt. Site grading will take place shortly. We have been
held up with the kitchen cabinets as there have been several
changes to them.
Blair may be taking over as the Super on this project if
KKC has to depart for the Praxair job.
The scheduled completion date for the complex is June 24th
but that may be hard to meet given the changes and outstanding
changes. KKC and his crew received impressive reviews from
the CSAO guy who video taped his jobsite for safety infractions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
John M and his army consisting of Gerry B, Jerry C, John
B, Ryan J, Paul V, Craig T, Jason Y, Kevin S, Bob H, Doug
B, Nick M, JR, Justin S, Chris M, Cris P, Jake M, Tyson
D, Andy B, Wayne M, Jorge S and Jake K have been working
the concrete pours and they have now poured 2,647 cubic
metres to date. They are working on V-drains (John's favourite),
cooling tower foundations, reservoir walls, bulkheads, deairator
floors, turbine foundations, column grouting, boiler tank
bases, fan bases, housekeeping pads, curbs and pile caps.
They are quite a busy group. Ontario Concrete Finishing's
crew consisting of Chris, Danny, Shawn, Dave, Mike, Mike
and James have been in several times to pour various floors.
We have switched or "borrowed" several of John's
army for some of the ASI projects. John has finally gone
hi-tech and now has a laptop. However we are not sure if
he is trying to tell us something but he fried his hard
drive the first week he had it. Perhaps he was just working
it too hard!
|
|
GoodLife Fitness Club, North Bay
|
 |
Design work continues on this project. We have the legal
survey completed and we have finalized the "revised"
floor plan. Our June 2nd start up plan will not make it
but we are hoping to get started later this month. Sid is
quite anxious to begin! Tim will be the PM with Clinton
learning the ropes under Tim's expert toolage (Beverly Hills
Cops). It now appears that this job will extend into 2009.
|
Sorry no photos this month.
|
|
|
|
 |
Wayne Seibt has been a bit lonely on this job so far, kind
of like the "Maytag" repairman! He has only had
Zak on site (his son). General Contracting continues to
remove the contaminated soil and prepare the base for the
building foundations. They are installing the filter fabric
and backfill and have received the new fuel tanks. DMC has
delivered their rebar and if Wayne can get a crew together,
he will be starting the foundations. Phase Four has been
on site hooking up our trailers, removing the existing yard
lights and running the new feeds for the new lighting.
|
|
|
|
Praxair T-900 Oxygen Plant
|
We are waiting for our revised drawings from Praxair for
the concrete work. The Steelway building has been ordered
as well as the SMH crane. Ken Coventry will be the Super
on this project and Tim along with Clinton will be the Project
Managers. All of the piling has been deleted and we are
hoping to be on site in about three weeks. We understand
that Graham Newman Construction has been awarded the Site
Preparation contract and will be starting it shortly.
Mike has priced another Steelway building for the temporary
T-600 compressor which was 40' x 60' with a 30' clear dimension
inside. He is hopeful for this order as well.
|
|
ASI No. 7 Blast Furnace Baghouse Foundations
|
Ken M. is the Superintendent on this project and his trailer
setup and is scheduling the projects in conjunction with
Tom who is the PM on the 3 projects we have to date. Tom
is now getting a crash course in EdgeBuilder from Blair
who is helping Tom get the projects started. Ken has Sid,
Bob and Wayne M on site so far and will be ramping up soon.
Not a lot to report here as the daily EdgeBuilder reports
have not been completed yet, only the draft copies. Hey
guys, let's get this reports completed. Unfortunately, we
will not be able to post any pictures. My old friend Dino
Cassagrande is the ASI representative on this project.
|
|
ASI Iron Making Maintenance Building
& Office Complex
|
As noted earlier in the newsletter, we have been informed
that we will be awarded this project and Tom is in final
negotiations with ASI. The job is slightly over budget and
we are working with ASI to bring it in line. More on this
job next month.
|
|
 |
|
Howard Avery Construction Building
This project is very close to completion with just a bit
of trim left to install and some extra work requested by
Keith. We understand that Chris Cooper's crew is now on
site and preparing his new Gym for the grand opening. Good
Luck Chris. We will be looking for our invitation to the
opening, perhaps we can get some newsletter pictures!
CTC Store Erection, Hearst
Jason and his crew consisting of Jeremy, Paul, Tyler S,
Len, RyanC and Cal are in the final stages of this project
and quite happy about it. They really love the weather up
there. All of the structural steel has been erected and
all of the roofing has been completed and seamed. They are
now working on finishing up the liner panel, trims and openings.
Joe Febbraro from MRW was on site completing his steel inspections.
We understand that Jay and his crew had some fun on May
26th as you can see from the picture of the month. Nice
job guys, the hardhat and the sign were a nice touch! Jay
should be completed by early June. Not too sure of the store
opening date on this one.
 Photos:
Photo
#1 | Photo
#2 | Photo
#3 | Photo
#4 | Photo
#5 | Photo
#6
CTC Store Erection, Deep River
Dwayne's crew now consists of Scott M, Glen, Tyler M, Trevor
and Jeff. Their structural steel is complete as well and
Paul Wood of MRW was on site to complete his inspections.
Dwayne has his crew completing the interior liner as CTC
is now installing the shelving as quickly as they can. This
store is scheduled to open on June 13th I believe. Jane
Gowland of Advanced Health & Safety was on site representing
Canadian Tire. Dwayne volunteered his safety binder to her
and she was very impressed with it, she said she has never
seen anything like it. She also said she has never heard
of a company that does safety quizzes with their employees
on their safety policies. There we go again, setting the
bar for the industry! Fantastic job Dwayne! Dwayne will
send his crew to site next week and he will remain in town
but will have to return for the final inspection.
Photos:
Photo
#1 | Photo
#2 | Photo
#3 | Photo
#4 | Photo
#5 | Photo
#6
ASI No. 6 Blast Furnace Preheater
Foundations
Ken is the Super on this project and it is just beginning
to get started. More on this one next month.
ASI Utility Corridor Gas Main Bent
Foundations
Ken is once again the Super on this one with Tom as his
Project Manager and Clinton is helping out part time. We
have had some delays on this job due to extra sheet piling
requirements but Tom informs us that we are still right
on schedule. Keith Avery will be on site shortly to begin
driving the sheet piling and then we can start.
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Fall Arrest Equipment
Another piece of equipment to mention including the manufactures
instructions are your rope grabs. (Continued from last month's
column).
Again you must be trained in their use, but what was the
training, has anyone ever looked at the manufacturers instructions,
was a set of instructions, user guides provided when you
purchased the rope grab? To my surprise most users had never
looked at any instructions or user guides. Most users were
not aware that any instructions or user guides were available.
They were supposedly trained and shown how to operate the
rope grab. Most suppliers I spoke to stated that the manufacturer's
instructions or user guides do not normally come with the
rope grab and if you want a set you must ask for them.
I then asked the suppliers if they had read or relayed to
a customer if their brand of rope grab was acceptable to
be used in both the vertical & horizontal applications.
A few responded they did not but would check and ask what
the customer application was. This is very pro active; however
a few stated they would not check and that when a customer
asks for a rope grab, they sell them what they have, and
it's up to them to ensure it is the right one for their
particular application. This from a few certainly does not
make me happy and feeling comfortable and safe.
I guess I know who I will not be buying from.
[Most manufactures have user guides on line on their web
page for their various makes and models, a few do not however.]
In some cases out in the field I found a particular brand
of rope grab was being used for both vertical and horizontal
applications, if you had, and read a set of user guides,
they clearly stated that this brand and model was not
to be used in a horizontal application, only for vertical
applications.
Another feature of some rope grabs is a lever or mechanism
that is usually called a parking break. This feature is
to relieve some of the tension or spring back, and this
allows the user in a vertical application to be able to
move up and down the rope in a hands free fashion. If a
fall occurs it will lock. (I believe the intent was for
climbing ladders etc.)
However if a rope grab with this feature is used in a horizontal
application there could be serious consequences as the rope
grab will not necessarily stay at the set position as the
worker moves about on a roof. {The user guides will clearly
state if it can or cannot be used in a horizontal application.}
Should the Ministry of Labour inspectors be checking these
and other pieces of Fall Protection Equipment to see if
they are adequate, in good shape and appropriate for the
task? Do they check these?
Do you and your company check tools, equipment, worker
knowledge, do you test their understanding and retention
of their training at frequent intervals, and do you check
to ensure they are using the right tools and equipment or
just assume they are? Are you checking to see if manufacturer's
and user guides are available and reviewed?
These issues and concerns have caused us to start writing
and giving all our staff tests and quizzes to ascertain
their level of knowledge, retention and just where we are
and what our focus for retraining and reviews should be,
plus the urgency of the required training if any. Thank
you to all our employees for participating in this endeavour.
I would encourage all construction firms to start testing.
You will not believe where you are in relation to where
you think you are. We will be testing sub contractors on
our sites very soon as well.
|
 |
We had the opportunity to schedule the Construction Safety
Association of Ontario's mobile classroom for one of our
projects. This took place on May 28, 2008 and they came
in and set up seating for approximately 30 persons at a
time. They video taped the entire site and later showed
and discussed what they found, both the good and the areas
that could be improved. We found this to be an extremely
good exercise and all site persons including sub contractors
took part.
They have a very good, professional program, and I would
like to give them thumbs up. We all received some great
insights and helpful information. I would strongly urge
everyone to schedule them if and when they can.
Great job and thank you to John Lichty, CSAO Field Instructor
and mobile classroom facilitator. Excellent and very professional.
Photos:
Photo
#1 | Photo
#2 | Photo
#3 | Photo
#4
Our Employee Safety Committee is running full steam ahead
and are really starting to deliver and tackle some hard
and long overdue issues. Great work guys. Keep going and
thank you all for your commitment.
|
"Working safely may get old,
but so do those who practice it"
|
 |
|
Ted Newberry met with Julie at the OGCA and went through
the "Concrete Construction" course. Hopefully
we will be able to offer this course through Sault College
soon and we have a lot of guys that want to attend. It is
an OGCA Gold Seal Certified course. Hey Ted, we need to
get this course in gear!
We held our All Employees Safety Meeting on May 23rd at
the Great Northern Resort & Conference Centre. It was
very well attended (88% turnout) and Ken did a great job.
We had our employees fill out a quiz regarding our safety
policy, the first quiz of many to follow. A special feature
of the meeting was the fact that we had 6 men in Hearst
and 6 men in Deep River who attended the meeting via a conference
call at each site. Rather than miss the meeting, they sat
in from their jobsite trailers on a speaker phone and they
took the quiz as well. This worked very well and we can
tune it up a bit to work even better. There is now no excuse
for our out of town crews to miss a safety meeting. Great
job by everyone.
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
Conventions &
Social Events
Our company golf tournament is scheduled for Saturday, June
14th at Island Springs so get your clubs and balls polished
up. Thanks to all of those suppliers and subtrades who jumped
up to the plate and donated some very impressive prizes! Pictures
to follow next month. Hey John, how is your course?
|
 |
Special thanks to Sunny Naqvi and the Great
Northern Resort & Conference Centre for making our
firm their "Company of the Month." They provided
us with coffee and snacks for our morning coffee break.
Congratulations To:
Dr. Celia Ross and the entire staff at the new "Algoma
University" That is very great news! Congratulation
to everyone who has made this possible. Very good news for
the Sault. I can remember when the Shingwauk Hall was first
taken over by AUC some 41 years ago, I had a part time job
for the summer and worked for Daylite Cleaners and spent
much time cleaning the building prior to it opening as AUC,
but now I am telling you my age! Great job Celia!
Us once again for the Steelway District Performance Award
but Rolf, we have not received it yet!
John B and his better half on the birth of their new baby
boy.
Wayne M and Jennifer T on their recent engagement, wedding
plans are scheduled for September of next year!
Congrats to my niece, Jana M who was married on May 31st.
Marty attended the wedding celebration as my Mother's date!
We are also hearing rumours that Marty will attend the golf
tournament as Shauna's date!
Condolences To:
Terry G on the passing of his grandfather in May and to
all those people who knew Mel Prodan from St. Joe's Island.
Mel was quite a man!
The June Birthday Club:
Gerry B. June 4th
Ross Cash C. June 5th
Amanda S June 8th
Nick Moore June 16th
Donna B. June 16th
Scott G. June 17th
Terry G. June 26th
Mike Moore & Sons Construction's
Final Donation Status
| 2008
Donation Goal |
100 |
| Donations
to Date |
12
(not correct) |
The CBS website is online but we think it is still incorrect
in the number of donations of firm has made. We are following
up with them.
June Clinic Times
Tuesday, June 17th, 12 noon to 2:30 PM and 4:00 PM to 8:00
PM
Wednesday, June 18th, 12 noon to 2:30 PM and 4:00 to 8:00
PM
Thursday, June 19th, 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
Please note that the Clinic is at the Great Northern Resort
& Conference Centre (formerly the Best Western)
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
I am writing part of this letter at the gorgeous "Tribble
Lake Resort" where the weather is currently very windy
and quite cold (May long weekend). Fern caught one fish
the first day we arrived and that has been it. We both have
our laptops here and have been doing a lot of work on them,
so much so that we have had to fire up the generator several
times. I had hoped that my new "World Blackberry"
would work up here, but it doesn't. I will have to investigate
the email dish thing. It would be very convenient for us
to have email access at our "resort"; actually
wireless would work for us as well. Perhaps we could be
emailing business related items from the boat while out
fishing! Despite the weather, my Chopin vodka martinis are
very good!
It is Sunday morning and we are sitting in the Resort watching
the snow flurries, yes, I did say snow! It is blowing straight
across the lake and it is 35 degrees Fahrenheit. We put
out our hummingbird feeders yesterday and we have one tough
little guy coming to the feeders. He has a small parka and
a toque on.
Fern and I brought a ton of work to the Tribble Lake Resort
and had hoped to get a lot of it done. One of them was the
final review of our HR Policy. We are not doing too well
on the review so far. But the martinis, beer, rigatoni,
meat balls, garlic bread, New York strip loins, lobster
tails and crab legs are quite tasty! Our Beagles, Barney
and Storm, have barely left the Resort to wander the island,
they have been quite lazy and the snow isn't that inviting!
As Ken noted earlier in Ken's Corner, we will be instituting
a Safety Quiz program in June. The intent is to have all
of our employees on every site take the written safety quiz
on a certain day. The following day the correct answers
to each question will be given and discussed. The quizzes
will be forwarded to the office where they will be marked
and the results will be tabulated, all confidentially. This
way we will have proof of training and proof that we check
up on the training. It will also serve to show us where
our safety program is lacking and where we need to concentrate
our efforts. It will also keep our employees sharper with
regards to safety which is the main concern. I think this
is a great idea and I am having fun writing some of the
quizzes. We have 6 completed and another 28 to write plus
whatever other ones we come up with. Since we have a few
diabetics on staff, we are going to have a quiz on diabetes
to make sure our other employees are more aware of any warning
signs or symptoms and how they should deal with them.
Ken and I have been toying with the idea of video taping
our jobsites as a kind of safety inspection and then reviewing
the tapes at our safety meetings. Since we attended the
CSAO Mobile Safety Classroom and talked to John Lichty from
CSAO, we think we should really get on with it. John's video
tape of our jobsite was excellent. This is a great way of
providing a second set of fresh eyes to the jobsites.
When you see the Picture of the Month, you will have a
good laugh. I couldn't help but get another chuckle when
I read the Sault Star on May 28th. In the "25 years
ago" section it stated that on May 28th, 1983, the
Algoma area received up to 5" of snow!
I just have to make a comment on something that I consider
a complete waste of time and money; that being the covering
of cigarette displays in stores. I would like to know who
came up with that one, can't see the cigarettes but now
you can look through a book on the counter to find them.
And I am told that the store owner is supposed to take your
money first, give you your change and then quickly give
you the pack, he cannot set it on the counter and leave
it sitting there while you pay. How stupid is that? "Out
of sight, out of mind" is the government's commercial
slogan; I say they are out of their minds! Saskatchewan
blacked out cigarette displays four years ago. Incidents
of smoking have never gone down. Tobacco sales have not
gone down and teen smoking is Saskatchewan is the highest
in Canada. What next, cover up the booze in the liquor stores?
Do they not have anything else better to do with their time?
Let's talk about more important things. How about the manufacturing
industry in Ontario, what has the provincial or federal
government done for this dying industry? Not much!
Doug Chalmers has stepped down as the OGCA Safety Committee
Chair and will be missed. Doug has a very busy schedule
and sits on more Committees than I care to think of and
I can certainly understand why he stepped down but he will
be extremely difficult to replace. I have stepped down from
the OGCA Education Committee as I have elected to have Clinton
sit in my place. Clinton will be a very good Committee member.
It is hard to believe that we now have 63 employees and
will most likely double our best year's total sales this
year. I can see 2009 being just as busy for us and that
should carry over into 2010. This year is the busiest year
that I have ever seen in my 19 years in business. Our reputation,
our safety program and our biggest asset, our employees
are definitely the reason for our success. I would like
to personally thank every one of our employees for their
contribution towards making our company what it is today
and their concerns towards safety.
We hope to set a company record on August 24th for 10 years
with no lost time injuries. If we do make it, we are planning
an awards banquet or dinner dance in recognition of the
event and our employees for making it happen. We would also
be giving out some safety awards and perhaps a gold watch
(just kidding) to those veteran employees who have been
with our company since its inception. More to follow on
this one!
And speaking of safety awards, Dwayne is working with our
Safety Committee on trying to establish a new method of
giving out regular safety awards to our employees. We have
regrouped our Safety Committee and Clinton is now a member.
Thanks for volunteering Clint!
I would like to thank everyone who read my Sault Steelers
sponsorship letter and stepped up to the plate to support
these hard working National Champions and took the time
to meet with Steve Roberts. Special thanks to Harold and
the gang at Henderson Metal with their very generous sponsorship!
I haven't heard from Steve Riddell of Ellis Don or Lisa
Baker of Econstruction with regards to the Safety module
in EdgeBuilder. Hey guys, what is the scoop? Can we get
this up and running before Ken James retires?
Our Co-Gen Superintendent, John McCulloch, has finally
given in and gone hi-tech as mentioned earlier. John received
his new laptop and will be doing his own EdgeBuilder daily
reports from now on. We have heard that John's wife has
even enrolled him into a computer course!
I just had to get one more picture and a related article
from the OGCA Symposium included.
 Read
Article
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
