Oilfield Worker Program back after three-year hiatus
CARRIE KELLY The Pipeline
The Oilfield Worker Program recently saw 24 students trained after a three-year hiatus attributed to a downturn in the economy.
Connections Career and Safety Services in Medicine Hat schooled 48 students in the program in 2008. Forty-seven of them completed the training and found jobs.
“At the time, it was the most successful program funded by the Government of Canada,” says Wes Paterson, program co-ordinator at Connections Career and Safety Services.
“The government scrapped the program when the recession came and now they are testing the waters again.”
The program is set up for 18 to 30-year- olds. After a three-stage assessment process, 24 people were chosen from a flood of applications. One person from Germany even applied, although the program is open only to Canadians.
Tuition for the four-week program is paid
by the Government of Canada. Some students continue on for another four weeks for work experience placement.
“Some students are hired right after the classroom training,” Paterson says. “But some students who may have a few more challenges, like English as a second language or no driver’s licence, they can go on a four-week work experience program subsidized by the government.”
By the time classroom portion of the Oilfield Worker Program is complete, the students have a newfound oilfield vocabulary and have earned 14 safety tickets, such as first aid0, H2S Alive and a confined space ticket.
Companies donate gear such as hard hats, work gloves and goggles and the program provides each student with coveralls and work boots.
Not all the training is done inside the classroom walls. Field trips are a crucial part of the training and students are taken to a service rig and to visit pipeline, wireline and well servicing companies.
“We are giving them a broad range of experience about what is out there,” Paterson explains.
Medicine Hat’s Russell Bassett found out about the oilfield worker program after reading about it in the newspaper. Getting a job on a service rig was always something he wanted to do, but getting all the safety tickets can be an expensive endeavor. When he saw that this program would provide him with the tickets and skills he would need, he signed up.
“I was looking to get into a permanent job that pays well,” Bassett says of wanting to get into the energy industry.
Since the class ended around the same time as spring break up, Bassett didn’t have a job lined up as soon as school ended. But he is confident that he will be working on a service rig soon.
Paterson hopes that Connections will be able to offer the program again this fall. Companies wanting to get involved in providing work experience opportunities are encouraged to contact Connections Career and Safety Services.
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41037986•04/29/11
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