b'The workers at the temporary hospital in Burlington were touched bymembers of the community who dropped off rocks with inspirational messages. Health and safety were paramount to the Joseph Brant Hospital project.ECAO IBEW Provide and Essential Services During PandemicOUTSIDE-THE-BOX THINKING WAS NEEDED TO PROTECT VALUED WORKERSBy LINDA WHITE, Postmedia Content WorksW theInternationalof IBEW Local 105 members are consideredWithin a week of COVID-19 being declared When a Burlington hospital was the first in the province to set up a temporary overflowpart of our team, with many starting and fin- aglobalpandemic,ModernNiagara ward during the onset of the COVID-19 pan- ishing their careers with Plan Group. We alsolaunchedanemployeetrainingprogram demic, the Electrical Contractors Associationcount on Local 105 to augment our crewsand even shared it with the Ontario General ofOntario(ECAO)andto help us cross the finish line on projects,ContractorsAssociationandtheCanadian Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Construc- Martineau says. Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. tion Council of Ontario (IBEW CCO) wereUponsuccessfulcompletionofanonline on the front lines. IBEW electricians continue to proudly workawarenesstutorialandquestionnaire,its with our ECAO partner contractors to ensureemployees received a COVID Aware sticker Despitechallengingcircumstances,theyelectrical services are built and maintained worked tirelessly to provide power, generatorsafelyandcorrectlyforkeyinfrastructurefor their hardhats.backup power, nurse call station, lighting andprojects and essential services, including hos- Early outside-the-box thinking was needed. data communications cabling for the 93-bedpitals, says James Barry, executive secretaryThere was no playbook for this. We had to structure being erected on the Joseph Branttreasurer of IBEW CCO. take the steps necessary to protect our human Hospital site. capital, says Oliver, recipient of the Can-TheworkhadtobedonequicklyandThe IBEW CCO represents 11 locals acrossadian Occupational Safety magazines 2020 properly, says Kevin Martineau, vice presi- Ontario serving over 18,000 men and womenSafety Leader of the Year Gold Award.dent of electrical at Plan Group, an ECAOworking in the electrical sector. During the member that delivers electrical, mechanicalpandemic, our IBEW locals have supportedTheworkersatthetemporaryhospitalin andtechnologyconstructionandfacilitiesfood and mask donations to hospital work- Burlingtonweretouchedbymembersof management. We had 25 employees on siteers to help out in these challenging times.the community who dropped off rocks with working staggered shifts. Everyone knew itBarry says. inspirational messages. That outpouring of could be one of their loved ones in the facil- Thepandemichasreinforcedtheroleofappreciation meant the world to those folks, ity, so it had to be resilient and substantial. safetyprofessionalslikeErinOliver,vicemany of whom were working extraordinary PlanGroupsharedlessonslearnedwithpresidentofhealth,safetyandsustain- hours under extraordinary stress, Oliver says.fellow contractors working on other essentialability at Modern Niagara Group, a nationalDisclaimer: This story was created by Content projects. ECAO members hire only IBEWmechanical, electrical, building controls andWorks, Postmedias commercial content electriciansandthatcollaborationhelpedservices company that also worked on thedivision, on behalf of the Joint Electrical ensure another job well done. A core grouptemporary hospital in Burlington. Promotion Plan.www.ecao.org10'