Masonry Magazine December 2006 Page. 21
Manufacturers Step Up
MAST CLIMBER MANUFACTURERS or their distributors typically offer training for the company's equipment. One such company, Hydro Mobile in L'Assomption, Quebec, Canada, created Hydro Mobile University in 1997 to offer three-day seminars on properly installing and transporting the company's mast climbers. Training is provided at the company's headquarters outside of Montreal, although Gabriel Daigle, Hydro Mobile's director of technical support and training, provides instruction throughout North America.
Distributors are trained and certified, and then they provide training to their customers. Hydro Mobile also spent $100,000 making a training video for distributors and end users, Daigle said.
Similarly, St-Mathias-sur-Richelieu, Quebec-based Fraco Products Ltd. has a four-day training course that covers set up and dismantling of its machines, said Denis Bourgault, training manager for the company.
"After four days, a person can go on any job site. The goal of the training is to make sure people operate the machine correctly and in a safe manner. Some of it's basic, like making sure they don't run out of fuel at 200 feet," Bourgault said. "My goal is to make mast climbers safer, and safer because this is the future."
Fraco's hands-on training is geared toward four groups: users and operators; installers for free-standing equipment; installers who anchor the systems; and mechanical training.
America AS Mast Climbers, a division of American Platform & Scaffolding in Baltimore, trains customers on using erected mast climbers and what to do in case of an emergency. "We hold their hand until they're ready to go," said Barney Hanna, the company's development manager. "The goal is for safe operation and safe building of the machines."
Hanna trains each skill trade that uses the mast climbers, including competent persons, masons and laborers, since they all take turns working on them once they're erected on the job site. He also provides users with written checklists for inspecting the equipment. "We've been doing this as long as I can remember, and it pays off," he said, noting that the benefit is eliminating accidents.
Most MCWP trainers prefer a more focused setting at their own facilities rather than on-the-job training. "The level of training on the job site is not as in-depth as it is at our factory," Hydro Mobile's Daigle said. "You can't do this on a job where you're wearing a pager, the boss is yelling, and the masons need more mud. It just doesn't work."
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