EDUCATION S oon to be held for the 11th year running, ORBA’s Road Building Academy will provide another useful and entertaining agenda in 2018, all for industry par- ticipants from the frontline to the front office. Registration is already taking place for the event, which will be held from February 26 to March 2 at the BMO Institute for Learning in Toronto. Organizers arranged for an earlier registration this year to generate interest and to ensure participants and their companies could take advantage of the special funding being offered through the Canada Ontario Job Grant. John Blake, Education Committee Co-Chair for ORBA, describes the reasons for the early launch, “During 2017, we met with several agencies regarding the job grant and realized the best way to secure the funding is through early applications. We wanted to ensure our members have that opportunity.” This year’s academy is providing 27 courses to eager participants— including nine that are brand new and 10 available online. With a focus on delivering in more markets with more categories to more participants, organizers have clearly outdone themselves by adding some specialty courses and categories to the 2018 agenda. Lisa Anderson, Vice-President of Human Resources for Cruickshank Construction, has been one of the key players on ORBA’s planning for the annual academy. A member of ORBA’s Education and Occupa- tional Health and Safety commit- tees, Anderson is excited about the agenda. She says, “As a committee we really do work at changing things up—such as updating the content of courses that have been around for a while. We also iden- tify the training needs in our target market(s), researched what was trending, incorporated new legis- lation, and recognized what skills our members may need to help them carry out their roles success- fully. As long as the courses are relevant to our industry—that’s the main criteria.” In the past, academy organizers have included paper surveys to participants to be filled out, which was eventually changed to email surveys delivered to them after the event. Anderson says, “We’re back to including paper surveys at the end of the academy because it’s just more effective. When you deliver an email after the fact you simply get a weaker response. So each course is evaluated on the site, as are the instructors.” And what, exactly, is new for this year? Anderson says, “At last year’s academy, we added a course on all the minutia related to COR-training which we’re repeating because it’s clearly important in today’s health and safety world. And this year we have an important course on the implications and legal aspects of drug and alcohol testing; a timely topic especially ORBA’S 2018 ROAD BUILDING ACADEMY ORGANIZERS KEEP SUBJECTS TOPICAL AND RELEVANT AT ORBA’S FLAGSHIP EVENT by JAMES PETERS because of the looming implica- tions of the new legislation that will legalize marijuana.” Another interesting addition is a course called Navigating Multiple Generations in Construction. It’s all about common sense manage- ment that takes into account the work styles and expectations of today’s multi-generational work- force. A subject that can be contro- versial at times, the course is really a primer on how different Congratulations to Ayad Mohammad on achieving his Gold Seal Certification as a Project Manager – General Contracting. Earn Gold Seal Credits at the ORBA Road Building Academy. To learn more about available courses, please visit www.orba.org/academy 14 Winter 2017 | www.orba.org