'Unsung heroes' graduate from snowfighter training
Published Saturday November 7th, 2009
Development: Brun-Way employs 16 students from new program
Clearing snow on New Brunswick highways can be an arduous task.
A new partnership between the New Brunswick Community College and the New Brunswick Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association will make snow clearing more manageable for operators with their new snowfighter training program for plow operators.
"It's quite a unique career because you're out there at the worst times," said operations, maintenance and rehabilitation manager for Brun-Way Romeo Poitras.
"Brun-Way is delighted to employ the first 16 students of the new snowfighter program because plow operators are the unsung heroes of winter road maintenance making the Trans Canada Highway safe and reliable every day," Poitras said.
Plow drivers make the highway safe in conjunction with the implements they use.
"Brun-Way is committed to using the latest technology and winter maintenance thinking to ensure the safety of drivers before, during and after snow storms," Poitras continued.
The first graduates of the new snowfighter training program are 16 students from the Upper River Valley Region, who have been selected by Brun-Way Operations to drive trucks this year. They graduated on Oct. 23.
The students learned to drive Brun-Way's equipment, including the larger tow plow.
The tow plow was piloted on New Brunswick highways two years ago by Brun-Way and was adopted for full usage last winter.
Brun-way's massive tow plow is towed behind a larger than usual plow truck and can be steered into the right-hand lane to clear up to 26 feet of the highway.
Hydraulic rams control the unit, the tow-plow blade and the 8,000 litres of anti-ice solution that is carried in the trailer's tanks.
"Working closely with the New Brunswick Community College has allowed us to develop and implement a vision for our industry's future human resource needs," said Pierre Cadieux, CEO for the N.B. Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association.
"We hope to build upon the snowfighter curriculum and work with road builders across Atlantic Canada to develop critical mass and more purchasing power for expensive items such as virtual training simulators," Cadieux said.
Prior to working with the New Brunswick Community College, Brun-Way had its own training program, said Poitras.
"This is much more elaborate," Poitras said.
In 2008, NBCC and the association collaborated to develop this program. Since that time, the first North American snowfighters DVD has been produced, along with a student's manual and support materials.
"NBCC is very pleased to partner with the N.B. Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association in the delivery of the new snowfighter program," stated Mark Standring, contract training manager of NBCC Miramichi.
"We are very pleased to collaborate and deliver the first of a series of snowfighter programs with Brun-Way Operations in Woodstock and Fredericton," Standring said.
Brun-Way Highway Operations is the private operator contracted by the province to provide highway maintenance on the public road.
The contract stipulates the company must meet certain standards when it comes to keeping the new Trans Canada Highway free of snow and ice.
When a winter snow storm starts, Brun-Way must start plowing operations when two centimetres of snow has fallen on the road surface, and there can be no more than four centimetres of snow on the road surface at any given time.
All four lanes of the highway must be bare within 24 hours of the end of a storm.
Brun-Way Operations provides maintenance on the new four-lane Trans Canada Highway from the Quebec border to Long's Creek.
- with files from Mark Rickard
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