Good Practices in Action – Conference Board of Canada Case studie

Based in Mississauga, Ontario, Robinson Paperboard Packaging produces tubes, cans and boxes used in the cosmetics, confectionery and other industries. More than 90 per cent of its employees are recent immigrants from South Asia and Eastern Europe.

Based in Calgary, Alberta, Omega 2000 Cribbing Inc. builds foundations for houses. The company has a strong interest in workplace education, with training focused on three distinct areas: apprenticeship training for journeymen carpenters; health and safety specialization for company officers; and basic skills such as literacy and numeracy for those lacking a solid foundation in those areas.

Lilydale Inc., one of Canada’s largest poultry processors, operates manufacturing facilities and hatcheries in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Keyera Energy provides services and products to oil and gas producers in western Canada, and markets related products throughout North America.

This report outlines the direct and indirect benefits of investing in literacy to improve health and safety in the workplace.

In the 1990s, Winnipeg-based Bristol Aerospace launched a workforce skills upgrading program to help prepare the company to expand into new markets.

Bristol began with a workplace-based Adult Basic Education (ABE) program offering 80 hours of training over 20 weeks. From there, the company partnered with Red River Community College to develop and deliver technical training programs.

Located in Ottawa, Abbott Point of Care (APOC) is a division of globally based Abbott Laboratories. APOC develops and makes products for rapid blood analysis.

Four hundred of APOC’s Ottawa-based employees must participate in a mandatory on-the-job microelectronics apprenticeship training program. Support is provided for employees who first need to upgrade their education to complete the mandatory program.

Loewen Windows, based in the Manitoba town of Steinbach, employs almost 1,700 people and is one of Canada’s largest producers of wooden windows and doors.

The Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation (AHSC) is a regional health authority serving a catchment population of 200,000 people in southwestern New Brunswick.

De Beers, the international diamond mining company, has significant operations in the Northwest Territories. The company is dealing with the need to improve literacy and basic skills among its employees by addressing the issues both at the work site and within the local communities.