Over the past three years, Barrick Gold Corp. has been on a maintenance improvement journey, taking important steps to improve its maintenance function. Here’s why and how.

Barrick is the world’s largest gold mining company by production and reserves. It’s a Canadian company with its head office in Toronto, but Barrick is truly a global company with 26 operating mines and numerous development projects and exploration activities worldwide. Its vision is to be the world’s best gold company by finding, acquiring, developing and producing quality reserves in a safe, profitable and socially responsible manner.

The Maintenance Challenge
It should not surprise you to learn that the mining industry is capital intensive. Indeed, Barrick has billions of dollars invested in plants, equipment and infrastructure. One large haul truck may cost more than $2.5 million, and Barrick has hundreds of them. A single large tire can cost $60,000. We are currently investing about $7 billion to build two large new mines: Pueblo Viejo in the Dominican Republic and Pascua-Lama on the border of Chile and Argentina. All of this plant and equipment requires on-going maintenance for peak performance and maximum life, so maintenance is one of the largest costs in our business.

The mining environment is rugged and it’s tough on equipment. Blasting and digging generates a lot of dust. Operating conditions include temperatures ranging from –40°C in the mountains of South America to as high as 50°C at some of our Australian sites. Some operations are at high altitude — up to 5,500 metres above sea level at our South American operations. In all of these conditions, our equipment works hard. These conditions can affect reliability and performance. In every sense of the word, our maintenance challenge is significant!

Good maintenance makes good business sense because it improves safety and equipment reliability, and that improves production uptime. Planned and regular preventive maintenance ensures safe and smooth running of equipment and processes.

Lack of proper maintenance can result in bad outcomes in terms of safety, production and cost. When we experienced a number of mobile-equipment fires, we initiated a major review of our maintenance function and found areas for improvement. Our analysis showed a high level of unplanned maintenance, so we recognized we could reduce our costs with better planning and scheduling. We saw the need to improve training and career opportunities for our maintenance staff to improve their effectiveness and encourage retention.

Barrick, like many other mining companies, has often grown by acquisition. The result was a variety of approaches and practices at various sites. We realized we needed a common set of standards and systems across the company, as well as a standard set of key performance indicators to evaluate and manage performance. We needed to focus on reliability and develop a true strategic asset management approach.

Starting the Journey
So we set out on a maintenance journey. The first step was recognizing these issues and acknowledging the value of the maintenance function. We mapped out the existing maintenance situation at our sites, documenting lists of people and structures.

We brought together the maintenance leaders from each region for a global meeting to start the conversation about how to improve the maintenance function. It was an opportunity to understand their issues and challenges — and to offer support to help drive improvement. Involving everyone up front was critical for gaining momentum for this program.

At the same time, we presented the case to the senior leadership team. Several key points gained their support. Poor maintenance was creating safety issues, such as equipment fires. Poor maintenance was causing breakdowns that interfere with production. Our current spend on maintenance was high because of the percentage of unplanned work. With improved practices, we could actually reduce the overall annual maintenance costs over time. The leaders saw the value and made maintenance improvement a priority for the company.

We developed an asset management policy in consultation with our regional maintenance leadership team. It states our fundamental principles about management of our assets from design to disposal. The policy conveys our belief that all equipment failures are preventable. It also commits the organization to develop clear policies and standards and to provide leadership for implementing the asset management strategy across the organization. It’s signed by our senior executives. This one-page document became our mandate. We distributed it widely, and it’s posted at Barrick sites and regional offices worldwide.

Working with the regional teams, we developed our maintenance management system in late 2009. It sets out the company’s minimum standards for maintenance across the organization. It’s a very useful guide that helps maintenance leaders put the right plans and structures in place to achieve good results. It sets standards for nine key areas, including leadership, structure, strategic planning, performance measurement and others. The system also recognizes the interdependence with other functional areas, such as production and supply chain.

To help everyone work in a standardized way, we needed to implement standardized business processes. We worked closely with our supply chain colleagues to define and enhance our business processes. Then, we needed a single computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) platform — which at Barrick is the Oracle eAM.

Tools and Training
Fundamental to a good business process is the fact that everyone must know and understand their job responsibilities. We reviewed our organizational structure to align the roles and responsibilities across corporate, business regions and sites. Our maintenance management system outlines the recommended organizational structures to support maintenance. We identified gaps and filled those positions.

As we proceeded, we recognized we had a shortage of mechanical and electrical engineers. But just adding more people was not enough. We also needed to make sure their roles were clearly defined and that we had a support structure of training and career development to help them succeed.

We prepared information and tools to help them do their jobs. We developed a set of maintenance standards that cover most of the key topics. These are intended to answer the question, “What does the organization expect from us?” We also developed a series of guidance notes on how to implement important tasks. These are intended to answer the question, “How do I do that?”

We organized all these standards, templates, reference materials, and tools into a Maintenance Knowledge Centre on our company’s intranet site. We included a global contact list, which makes it easy for them to contact each other to discuss common problems and share information. We intend to build on this sense of community through collaborative forums in the future.

The centre includes a set of computer-based training modules on a range of topics, including basic mining, diesel engines, financial analysis, project management and more. We worked closely with some of our OEMs to ensure the training relates specifically to the equipment we use. The modules follow the curriculum for our in-house graduate engineering training program. Each module has a questionnaire that must be completed by the graduate program participants. We track the traffic to see which documents and tools people use. This information helps us enhance the site. All employees, not just maintenance staff, have access to the site and the modules so they can increase their knowledge of maintenance and engineering.

Marketing Our Maintenance
To promote maintenance across the organization, we worked with the our communications department to produce professional materials and to announce our progress through features stories on the intranet and in the corporate global newsletter. These efforts helped us gain and sustain momentum for the program.

The publicity has raised the profile of the maintenance function within Barrick and has helped our maintenance employees feel recognized and appreciated.

We Are Now Here
Members of the global maintenance team have now visited every Barrick site to conduct a site review. During these visits, we assess the site’s activities against the requirements set out in the maintenance management system. We discuss the results with the site managers and develop plans to address any gaps. We don’t approach this like an audit; we approach it like a coaching session. We are there to help the site improve. We monitor the results and document the improvement actions.

We have just commenced our second round of site reviews, and we will track the progress since the first review. The results so far have been encouraging as sites show considerable commitment and improvement. In addition, we recently surveyed maintenance leaders across the organization, and we will use their feedback to further improve.

We’ve come a long way on our maintenance improvement journey. We have a lot of the key foundation elements in place — policy, systems, standards, site reviews, training and other processes. All of our business regions and sites have plans in place to drive maintenance improvement.

The challenge now is to keep the momentum going. It takes time and hard work to implement change in any large organization. We want maintenance improvement to become part of Barrick’s culture. This will ensure work will continue and be independent of individuals.

We are pleased at the progress we have made so far and still have some distance to travel — but we know we’re headed in the right direction and we’re determined to get there. Our success will be rewarding for everyone in the maintenance function, and it will create significant value for our company.

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Robert Cronin is the senior manager of maintenance at Barrick Gold Corp. in Toronto. For more information, visit www.barrick.com.

The Practicing Perfection Institute Inc. (PPI) has established Practicing Perfection Canada Ltd., a partner organization that will offer the full spectrum of human error reduction and human performance enhancement services to Canadian organizations.

Take a look around and you will find that the term “human performance” is everywhere. From the top leaders to the front-line supervisor and the shop floor, excellence in human performance is becoming the edge that organizations need to be on top in the competitive Canadian and international marketplace. In the manufacturing sectors, it is more than that, because while safety in the workplace is paramount, human performance improvement has as much to do with increased productivity and engaged workers as it does with workplace safety. Safety-based training alone, along with technology is not enough without considering the human element — especially in those very routine, day-to-day tasks occurring in the workplace where accidents tend to be more frequent due to complacency.

The concept of human performance improvement is not new, so what is the big deal about the approach Practicing Perfection takes? Culture. Across all levels of an organization, our approach taps into the discretionary effort of its people, which changes the very culture of the organization to one that is not only constantly improving but is positive, productive and self-sustaining.

In the past 10 years, the trend for organizations has been to focus significant effort and finances on keeping up with technology and software without investing enough attention to the largest cost that any organization carries on an ongoing basis: the people on their payrolls.

Recently, our director of operations, Lee Lane (formerly the nuclear oversight manager for operations and maintenance for Ontario Power Generation), attended the American Nuclear Society Utility Working Conference. There was much discussion regarding how the advances in human performance improvement on the human level are lagging behind the pace at which process, training and equipment technology is advancing. Many attempts to improve human performance are made with engineered solutions or management philosophies rather than effective engagement techniques to sustain behaviour changes. While much of the new “virtual reality” learning technology is capturing operating experience, virtual learning alone is not adequate, especially for the next generation of operating staff. Errors are made in the real world. This dilemma is also prevalent in many industrial sectors.

There is so much potential in the Canadian workforce. We have one of the highest educational levels in the world, and yet we don’t often take full advantage of the capabilities and competencies of our staff. This leads to frustration, disengagement and reduced productivity. The real benefit comes when we focus our teamwork and improvement initiatives on the people that have their “hearts, minds and hands directly on the work.” When you attract the desired behaviours through the experiences you provide for your employees, you will achieve the results you are looking for.

When the Practicing Perfection process was initiated in three separate organizations working with 23 different contract firms in the northeastern U.S., they cut their human error rate by 72 percent in 14 months. Three years after the process was implemented, the error rate was still lower. Instead of management dictating the expectations and results they wanted to the staff and expecting them to “perform to expectations,” they engaged the entire team so they wanted to perform at the next level. In fact, staff drove the expectations even higher.

Another key component to this process is effective coaching. Quite often, coaching programs are not usually experiences that employees look forward to, and quite often produce anxiety. Effective coaching comes from caring about the individual who is being coached by helping them to help themselves be successful.

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Corrina Donaldson is the director of training with Practicing Perfection Canada Ltd. For more information, visit www.ppicanada.ca.

The implementation and maintenance of green construction projects — such as with wind turbines and energy efficient upgrades to boilers and HVAC systems — may help to mitigate climate change but also, because of the dangers inherent to high-hazard construction work, a significant threat in terms of risk to workers.

Last year, the U.S.-based Center for Construction Research and Training released a study that examined the safety hazards associated with such “green” projects, looking for opportunities to elevate worker health and safety. Among such workers were wind turbine service technicians, boiler technicians, HVAC operations and maintenance technicians, electricians, welders, refrigeration engineers, to name just a few.

Regarding wind power in particular, study author Helen Chen writes about fall and electrical hazards: “Windmills can be several hundred feet tall and can therefore pose a serious fall hazard for construction workers as well as maintenance workers,” she says. “Installing wind turbines could potentially expose workers to electrical current, though maintenance workers and technicians face the greatest risk of electrocution. … In Oregon, a wind technician was killed when the energy isolation device on a wind turbine was not properly restored to the operational position after maintenance. When the service brake was released, a blade struck the tower, which collapsed and killed the worker.

“Although this incident involved maintenance and not construction workers, it underlines the importance of proper procedures for controlling potentially hazardous energy.”

Indeed, while many of the hazards described in the study adhere to the traditional categories of hazards — falls, electrical hazards, ergonomic hazards, etc. — the report highlights how this new growth may increase the risk of existing hazards.

The Green & Healthy Jobs report provides a few recommendations:

• Incorporate worker health into the green jobs debate: By building public awareness, when people think of green jobs, they are not just thinking of environmental issues but are asking what makes those jobs safe.

• Promote prevention through design: There are numerous examples of design elements that eliminate or greatly reduce the risk of construction hazards, such as placing light fixtures in areas that are more accessible for maintenance workers.

• Incorporate worker health into green building certification programs: WIth the LEED program, for example, an additional credit could be offered for adding an occupational safety and health professional to the project team. Chen says that at one company, it is required that the contractor, engineer, architect, safety professional, and plant operations and maintenance representative meet during the design phase.

• Promote safety training: “We need to act quickly to train workers in emerging green jobs,” Chen says. “Any training course that teaches green jobs skills should also teach workers how to execute those skills safely.”

Schools aren’t the only ones in the training game. Siemens, a manufacturer of wind turbines, is one of several manufacturers with its own internal programs to help its employees get a mix of on-site and in-class technical and safety training. The company services turbines for a few years after installing them (the length of time varies from farm to farm) and most recently completed its sixth Canadian project near Morris, Man., with 60 turbines that began operation in December 2010.

There is a core set of training all Siemens personnel must take prior to working on their turbines. The company also offers qualification levels, which range from one to seven.

Their first two levels of training incorporate internal best practices with common safety training modules, including first aid, CPR and defibrillation; region-specific health, safety and environmental (HSE) compliance; fundamental turbine operations; training specific to Siemens’ wind turbine HSE procedures; basic harness and climb training; and rescue and evacuation from the tower and nacelle.

“Based on the individual’s specific job responsibilities — such as installation, maintenance, commissioning or troubleshooting — additional task-specific training both in a formal training environment or as part of our on-the-job competency tracking program is required,” explains Jim Keegan, Siemens’ service project manager.

A technician or engineer that has completed the Level 7 test and competency portions of the program will be authorized to troubleshoot, commission and maintain the specific wind turbine model they are qualified on and also perform competency evaluations on lesser qualified personnel.

One key factor technicians must consider is wind speed, and Siemens has very specific allowances for what type of work can be done. “Work is permitted at wind speeds up to 12 metres per second (m/s),” Keegan says. “For wind speeds above 12 m/s, no work is permitted outside the nacelle. For wind speeds above 18 m/s, work is permitted in the nacelle but with the covers closed and no work in the hub is permitted.” However, once wind speeds hit above 24 m/s, “no work is permitted.”

When workers are maintaining equipment hundreds of feet above the ground, they are also at the mercy of the elements, be it extreme hot or cold. This, Keegan says, is taken into consideration, too: “We use detailed tables that take into account temperature, humidity, wind chill and environment to determine the allowed working conditions, required breaks when work is permitted and recommended fluid consumption.”

For those interested in this line of work, the company is hiring and currently accepts applications from graduates from the various technical colleges beginning to provide certificates or degrees in wind turbine technology. And not a moment too soon. In Canada, wind farms are popping up everywhere, with Siemens involved in a couple projects contracted for completion in 2011: the Greenwich Wind Energy Project near Thunder Bay, Ont., (99 MW) and the Comber Wind Limited Partnership Project in Essex County, Ont. (165.6 MW).

Does Canada have the skills, training and human resources to keep the rapidly growing wind power generating system going? Over the past two years, the number of wind turbines installed in the country, and the power generated by them, has tripled — and it could triple again in the next two years.

So are we ready? We’re working on it.

Growth in wind power
The Canadian power generation industry added 690 megawatts (MW) of wind power generation capacity in 2010, according to CanWEA, the Canadian Wind Energy Association. Wind power’s banner year, though, was 2009, when 950 MW worth of new power capacity came on-stream. As of March 2011, the 2,570 wind turbines in 131 wind farms across Canada produce some 4,155 MW.

And growth will continue, says Stephen Rach, supply chain manager with CanWEA. Plans by power generation utilities and companies will increase total capacity by another 7,800 MW by 2015 — a 200-percent growth. “Quebec is one of the more advanced markets for power generation,” he says, but there are significant plans for more wind turbines in almost every province. CanWEA reports that new projects have been built in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

CanWEA’s Wind Vision plan states that wind power could provide 20 percent of Canada’s total energy demand by 2025, or an additional 55,000 MW of energy per year — an 11-fold increase over the next 14 years. If this comes to pass, the construction industry will generate $79 billion in investment, creating an estimated 52,000 jobs.

The question is, assuming that Canada can generate or attract the capital needed to build this investment, “Does the country have the human resources needed to maintain the turbines?”

A new career
When Chris Offshack was looking for a new career after stints as a computer network engineer in Silicon Valley and the owner of a fishing lodge outside of Kingston, Ont., news that St. Lawrence College was launching a wind turbine technician program grabbed his attention.

“It really excited me, and the first day I saw they were taking applications, I applied,” he explains. “Being a guy running a fishing lodge, I felt like I got a little bit closer to nature and the environment. I saw the real need for alternative energy.”

This spring, the 37-year-old will be part of the program’s first graduating class. The two-year course is taught at St. Lawrence College’s Kingston campus, which celebrated the opening of a new state-of-the-art Wind Turbine and Trades Training Facility last October.

St. Lawrence is the first college in Ontario with a wind turbine technician program, says Shannon Claggett, associate dean of applied science and computing, and its approach is unique in Canada. With the commissioning of the nearby 197.8 MW Wolfe Island Wind Farm in 2009, and Ontario’s push to bring more green electricity online, creating a program targeted at the wind industry “just seemed to be the next logical step,” she says.

Wind turbine maintenance
“As a rule of thumb, every two megawatts of generating capacity needs one turbine technician to keep it operating,” explains Ron Papp, a wind power industry expert at Lethbridge College in Alberta, and the man who developed the college’s wind power technician program.

Maintaining a wind turbine in optimal condition requires a unique set of skills. It’s a unique installation: an 80-tonne turbine and generator, suspended on a tower 80 metres above the ground. Maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) require a technician that knows not only electricity and electronics but is very aware of safety and can work in cramped conditions far less than optimal.

“Students entering the wind turbine technician program need to have good math and English skills, and they have to be in good physical health,” Papp says. They also must either have a high school diploma or pass an entrance exam.

The program is dual stream: the first year includes the same course material and training that is given in the first-year electrician program, allowing students to change to the electrician program after the first year if they decide that working in cramped, electrified environments 80 metres off the ground isn’t for them.

In addition, the program teaches mechanics, hydraulics, electronics, computers, rigging and cranes, management of a wind turbine farm and a rigorous safety component.

At any given time, there are 32 students in one of two semesters; every six months, about 15 or 16 will graduate. There is a waiting list to enter the program, as well. Nearly all graduates find work quickly in the field. “Within three months of graduating, 80 to 90 percent of our graduates find work in the field,” Papp says. “Fifty percent find employment before graduating.”

Northern Lights College, located in Dawson Creek, B.C., also offers a wind turbine technician program. It, too, requires a high school diploma or an entry exam. The course covers the electrical and mechanical aspects of wind turbines, and like the Lethbridge College program, it also stresses safety. Last year, 15 students graduated from the program. “Most graduates will find work in the industry, especially if they’re willing to travel,” says instructor Duane Mitchell.

St. Lawrence College’s program is similar, combining a registered industrial electrician apprenticeship with a wind turbine technician diploma, a combination that increases employment options for graduates. “It gives them a little bit more knowledge,” Claggett says.

With St. Lawrence College, its new training facility has five turbine nacelles for students to work on, as well as a fiberglass shop to teach blade repair techniques. An advisory committee made of representatives of wind energy and industrial electrician companies guides the program. The college works with industry in other ways as well, says Claggett. Staff at TransAlta’s Wolfe Island project teaches an on-site course on SCADA, a system used to monitor and control the wind turbine plant. Claggett is also looking to the industry to provide co-op placements for students between the first and second years.

Most colleges’ wind power technician programs, including St. Lawrence College’s, also allow students to obtain the internationally recognized BZEE certificate, which enables them to work in the field abroad.

“Many of the employers in this industry are international companies,” Lethbridge’s Papp says. “So we also have the requirement that students be mobile and have a passport.” This allows them to go on work placements or specific training courses, sponsored by the industry, in the U.S. The Lethbridge program also attracts about a quarter of its students from outside Alberta, even as far afield as the U.S., China and Europe.

Supply and demand for skilled labour
Are there enough technicians being trained to maintain all the turbines spinning today and the ones that will be built in the next five years? “I think we should be okay,” CanWEA’s Rach says.

But let’s look at that: according to Ron Papp, one technician is needed for every two megawatts of wind power generating capacity. With an additional 7,800 MW of capacity coming on line in the next four to five years, there will be another 3,900 technicians needed just to keep the system going.

Last December, PEM reported another 600 jobs would open up in Ontario in next two years due to offshore wind production; even though the provincial government has shelved that project — at least for now — there is still a huge demand for new skilled labour.

According to CanWEA, there are 18 educational institutions across the country that offer programs to train wind turbine technicians, technologists, engineers managers and other specialists, from Memorial University of Newfoundland to community colleges such as Lethbridge College and Douglas College in New Westminster, B.C. In addition, a handful of private instructional companies offer workshops in maintaining wind turbines and managing wind generation facilities.

Even if every college and university that offers wind energy generation programs graduates 30 new technicians a year, that’s 540 per year; over the next five years, that’s 2,770 — when current plans require at least 3,900 more technicians for the turbines being built between now and 2015, and 11 times that number by 2025 if CanWEA’s Wind Vision becomes true.

Opportunities
Today, the MRO for wind power generation for Canada is dominated by the manufacturers of the turbines themselves, or by large international maintenance companies. These firms have the size and flexibility that allows them to bring in skills from other countries, when needed, and to participate in training. “The company maintaining the wind turbines here brought in five technicians from Germany when they started,” Northern Lights’ Mitchell says. “Since then, they’ve hired four techs locally, and currently have six in total.”

But with the rapid growth projected in the industry, there is clearly a huge opportunity for MRO providers — not only for more contracts, but also to participate in developing the educational programs for the skills they need their employees to have.

For his part, Offshack — among St. Lawrence College’s first graduates — is open to a wide range of potential job opportunities after graduation. “It will be really exciting for me to go into work each day and know I’m helping make clean energy and doing something good for the world.”

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Scott Bury is a freelance writer based in Kanata, Ont. The article includes statistics and reporting provided by CanWEA.

Results of a recent global study show that organizations must become more fully committed and engaged in the transfer of learning to the workplace. Survey findings highlight several weak areas in the on-the-job application of learning, including manager support, trainee preparation, incentives and an overall formal design and measurement process. 
 
Positive indicators of learning transfer include employees leveraging an ever-expanding array of tactics to recall information learned during training and the increasing use of just-in-time tools to apply knowledge and skills directly to the job.
 
More than 3,000 government and commercial training-related managers responded to the survey conducted by ESI International in March. It focused on three key areas in the application and transfer of learning:

1. Program design
2. Motivation and preparation to attend training
3. Post-training (back on the job application)

“The study points out some striking contradictions in how well organizations think they transfer learning and the lack of proof to back up their estimate of learning transfer or on-the-job application,” said Raed S. Haddad, senior vice-president of Global Delivery Services with ESI. “Client experience shows us that organizations often fail to establish success criteria or identify expectations for learning engagements.  This is a key pre-training strategy in order to measure trainee performance against agreed upon standards.”
 
Key Findings
• The top three strategies indicated as the most important for the transfer of learning are: (1) trainees have the time, resources and responsibility to apply learning (30 percent); (2) manager support (23.8 percent); and (3) the instruction approach simulates the actual work environment (21.8 percent).

• While two-thirds of respondents estimate that they apply more than 25 percent of training knowledge back on-the-job, they have little concrete proof. Almost 60 percent say the primary method for proving or measuring this estimate is either informal/anecdotal feedback or “simply a guess.”  
Sixty percent of those surveyed indicate that they do not have a systematic approach to preparing a trainee to transfer, or apply, learning on-the-job.
 
• When asked what specific rewards motivate trainees, almost 60 percent say the “possibility of more responsibility,” followed closely by an impact on their HR/performance review. Only 20 percent indicated that there was any financial reward or other incentives. 

• When it comes to post-learning tools and programs to help trainees recall and apply what they’ve learned, survey responses indicate a varied mixture of tactics, including:

• Post course discussions with the manager/team leader
• On-the-job tools
• Informal support such as social networks or online forums
• Communities of practice such as peer groups/coaching

• Sixty-three percent say managers formally endorse the program, while only 23 percent of managers hold more formal pre- and post-training discussions.
 
“Employees need to know that the application of learning is a priority for management.  This can be shown by aligning training with company strategy, motivating employees by setting expectations beforehand and through incentives and sharing post-training reports on employee success or failure in applying what they learned,” Haddad said.
 
The survey also asked respondents to share specific learning transfer tactics and identify best practices. However, the responses resembled a list of actions management or sponsors should do more of, which fell broadly into the following areas:

• Incorporate real projects in the training and make it more relevant
• Conduct more training and/or better marketing and communication on what exists
• Communicate a transparent measurement strategy
• Establish change management guidelines
• Increase managers’ involvement before and after training

For a free copy of the full ESI study, “Applying Training and Transferring Learning to the Workplace: How to Turn Hope into Reality,” visit www.esi-intl.com/learningtransfer.