As the above discussion shows, context and circumstances are very important and should be given considerable consideration to ensure the success and sustainability of training programs. A recent study by Brisbois and Saunders (2005), on skills upgrading initiatives in Alberta and the Northwest Territories has also shown the role of context and circumstances in the development of training activities aimed at upgrading the low skills of the workforce. In most of the cases Brisbois and Saunders reviewed, one of the key incentives to train low-skilled employees was the importance of safety issues, particularly where the work involves the use of heavy equipment or machinery. In the Northwest Territories, another motivator was the need to meet hiring quotas for aboriginal employees, many of whom had low levels of literacy and numeracy. These employees needed higher skills to keep the mines where they often work running and for their own safety in the workplace. Legislated requirements may have played a role in employers’ move to provide training, but it is clear that employers often went well beyond such requirements because of their own cost concerns.

Syncrude, a large company operating in the oil sands of northern Alberta, recognized that its business success depended largely on the skills of its workforce. In partnership with Keyano College in Fort McMurray in the late 1980s, it developed a workplace literacy program called ERIC (Effective Reading In Context). Its high effectiveness has been demonstrated and it has been made available to business, industry, unions, high-schools and communities throughout Alberta.

Another example drawn from the Brisbois/Saunders study illustrates the important role that sector councils can play. The Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council (CTHRC) conducted a pilot project with the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute (CPPI) to look at the relationship between essential skills and driver safety among drivers used by CPPI member companies. This partnership benefited both organizations – CTHRC was interested in further promoting essential skills in the trucking industry, and CPPI had a desire to see an increase in safety, and decrease in product handling incidents and personal injuries in their sector.

During the summer of 2003, 231 CPPI certified drivers in Alberta participated in the Test of Workplace Essential Skills for Professional Drivers (TOWES-PD). The pilot looked at the relationship between the safety records of these drivers and their respective TOWES test scores on three essential skills: reading text; document use, and numeracy. Findings from the analyses found that drivers with higher scores on the three essential skills were less likely to have had product handling incidents or personal injuries.

Standards were also set for CPPI drivers on the three essential skills tested based on the CTHRC custom essential skills profile for Professional Drivers. The results found that 50 percent of drivers were below the benchmark for reading text, 41 percent were below the benchmark for numeracy, and 95 percent of drivers did not meet the benchmark for document use. According to stakeholders interviewed, this last result was particularly surprising given the trucking industry is very document driven. Document use among drivers who transport hazardous materials is particularly intense for safety reasons and drivers are continuously using and completing documents (e.g., delivery forms, inventory forms). The results of the pilot have the industry rethinking its training protocols and how it designs workplace documents. They will help to identify and respond to learning needs among CPPI and CTHRC drivers.