Like many of the 75 people who attended Interior Heavy Equipment Operator School's (IHES) inaugural open house last week, Michael Moffat came looking for a change.Moffat, a 21-year-old Innisfail resident, travelled to the school's 40-acre campus in Red Deer County near Township Rd. 360 and Rge. Rd. 283C with hopes of finding some information on a new career.ìI just needed a change in direction in general,î said Moffat, who currently works in maintenance for a school board and has signed up for the 12-week heavy operator course.ìI liked what I saw ñ (there are) lots of career opportunities with the courses.îWith thousands of new heavy equipment jobs becoming available every year, IHES graduates are in high demand, site supervisor Kevin Burton said proudly.ìAll those students down there are hired right now. They're hired,î he explained, watching as a number of students guided excavators, dozers and trucks through a series of tasks far below the school's office. ìRight up to this day, we have a 100 per cent hire rate.îWhile the school has operated a campus in Winfield, B.C. for a number of years, the Innisfail campus opened in October 2010 due to industry demand.IHES currently offers three-week courses in the use of individual pieces of heavy equipment including graders, loaders, dozers, rubber tire backhoes, and articulated rock trucks; a six-week course on excavators; and a 12-week heavy equipment operator.All the courses include WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) training, petroleum safety training and construction safety training safety systems (PST/CSTS), first aid and ground disturbance training. IHES also offers the four safety ticket training courses online at www.iheschool.com.Over 50 per cent of the training is in-seat ñ operating the equipment ñ with the rest spent in the classroom studying theory, including information on grade staking, how to read locate markers, aggregates, and the different forms of rock, Burton explained.ìThat's how deep we do get into it,î he said.Other training, including H2S Alive (Hydrogen Sulfide), a training program for the oil and gas, petroleum and mining industries; and OSSA (Oil Sands Regional Orientation), a prerequisite course required to obtain employment at the oilsands in Fort McMurray, are also offered by the school at an additional charge.According to a 2008 Mining Resources Human Resources Council report examining labour market demands in British Columbia, an additional 3,033 heavy equipment operators will be required by next year with another 6,618 required by 2017.A 2009 labour market analysis report by the Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada predicted that more than 105,000 workers will need to be hired between 2010 and 2020 to replace retiring workers and to support new industry activity. About 3,000 new heavy equipment operators will need to be hired to meet the expansion demand and nearly 2,000 will need to be hired to replace retiring workers during that 10-year period.ìEven if there were no jobs created there'd still be a need for heavy equipment operators because of the baby boomers retiring,î IHES general manager Mike Hansen said. ìThey're wanting people with three to five years experience. Right now those people are few and far between because there's so much demand.îThe Sept. 7 open house gave industry executives and prospective students an opportunity to take part in a classroom session and tour to see what the school does, Burton said.ìA lot of people don't understand ñ they just think they get on a machine and push dirt and that's it,î he said. ìBasically what we do is they're coming here and Ö they're given a task that exceeds industry standards. And we let them go ñ we let them find their groove on that machine.îBurton said there are 17 students currently enrolled at the school. With 17 individual pieces of equipment and intakes every Monday, the school has the capacity for up to 40 students at a time.Hansen said the possibility of expansion is there, based on demand.ìOur only limitation is the land we have here,î he said.The school's open-door policy is also unique to the industry, Hansen added.ìWe encourage people to come out and do a site tour,î he said. ìThey just need to phone ahead and book a time.îThe school's toll-free number is 1-866-399-3853.With students from all across the country attending the school, the local impact stretches into other industries including accommodations, retail and food, Burton explained.ìIt spreads further than this campus,î he said. ìWhen these students come here they are taking everything and they are here for three months. That's three months of putting money back into this community.î
