About three years ago, Manitoba Advanced Education and Training (MAET) decided to improve the effectiveness of expenditures it was making for Heavy Equipment Operator (HEO) training. Training can cost close to 20 thousand dollars per individual and until recently, there were no standards to guide the quality of training or its purchase. Training was not always being conducted by certified or credible training organizations.
Employment Training Services (ETS) formed a committee of industry and labour representatives to create and support a set of standards for HEO. This was completed and signed by all participants in October 2004. Since then, a set of standards was created for Skilled Labourer. Both standards are envisioned to guide the purchase of training with, at the very least, government funded training. The industry training committee will review applications in response to government RFPs. The standards are a good representation of the technical skills required for these occupations but do not necessarily reflect the ES or employability skills which employers say are key at entry level positions.
In the past, many who received training for HEO were still not considered to be employable for a variety of reasons: experience, training on the right equipment, out of date training, lack of suitability to construction, and lack of employability and Essential skills. In addition, there are many individuals who have considerable and lengthy experience on a number of pieces of equipment but lack training and experience in several others and may not have current safety training. To date, there was no systematic and transparent way to determine what they know and can do. Thus, many were forced to take all training at a considerable cost.
It should be noted that in some provinces, HEO and skilled labourer are certified occupations and have standards and licenses. In several provinces, HEO is a regulated trade. Thus, there are a number of well-established curricula for training reflective of the standards within those provinces. In some national organizations, HEO is actually a sub-set of skilled labourer. In Manitoba, skilled labourer is considered to be the entry level occupation while HEO is regarded as one step up from that. The industry committee took this reflection one step further and conceptualized the occupation of HEO as Levels 1 and 2, organized around various pieces of equipment. HEO equipment is very expensive and can be dangerous, which causes many employers to be hesitant or adamant about individuals having the right training and experience.