Targeted training

Demolition contractors, like most employers, face the challenge of maintaining a skilled, safe and productive workforce. Retirement of experienced workers coupled with the “roulette wheel” of untested workers means high turnover and wasted resources for many contractors.

The balancing act of maintaining job-site productivity while recruiting, hiring and training new workers leaves many contractors with a low return on investment.

LIUNA Training and Education Fund has been providing a way to end this cycle and gain access to trained and qualified construction craft laborers (CCL). LIUNA Training’s key to successful workforce development is partnerships between labor and management. With more than 46 years of achievement through collective bargaining partnerships, the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) and contractors have worked together to deliver increased efficiency and job-site productivity.

LIUNA Training is a joint labor-management fund established in 1969 to service a world-class training network that spans across the United States and Canada. Its network of affiliated sites trains approximately 190,000 CCL a year in a wide variety of construction, environmental, safety and leadership programs. LIUNA Training provides every affiliate with programs and services, grant-funded opportunities, curriculum and professional development for instructors and administrative staff.

As one of the industry’s most experienced labor-management training organizations, LIUNA Training obtained independent, third-party accreditation to assure contractors that the training delivered by LIUNA remains the industry’s best. It is the industry’s only trade training organization to receive International Accreditation Service (IAS) accreditation for training instructors in technical construction skills (AC 371) and for curriculum development (AC 372). In addition, LIUNA Training earned accreditation as a Certifying Body of Personnel by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) under the 17024 standards of the International Standards Organization (ISO). This helps provide assurance to signatory contractors that LIUNA employees receive the industry’s best training in any class they take.
 

Targeting demolition

While LIUNA craft laborers historically perform a wide variety of job tasks, demolition is a sector of strength for

LIUNA. Demolition and deconstruction are a cornerstone of the laborers’ craft and an important component of every training and apprenticeship program across North America. For more than four decades, LIUNA Training has utilized the experience of employers and workers in the demolition sector.

Input on curriculum and training comes directly from contractors who perform demolition work every day, and from a large cross-section of Subject Matter Experts who work in the field. Together this process ensures “real-world” training that is meaningful to the industry, workers and employers. As an example, during the most recent update to the demolition/deconstruction curriculum, LIUNA Training conducted an industry needs analysis survey that included input from members of the Washington-based trade association, the National Demolition Association (NDA).

Survey responses became the basis of the revised curriculum, providing confirmation of the most important skill sets needed by their workforce. From the basics of safety, dust control and cutting and burning to environmental certifications and new tools and technology, contractors had a direct voice in the scope and content of the training. Equally important, the survey results represented the needs of the industry over a wide geographical area, helping to ensure contractors quality training regardless of the job location. The result is training sites that provide classroom and hands-on training that match the workforce needs of the industry and more specifically the contractor.

The combination of classroom training and active practice in a simulated work environment provides every laborer with the skills and knowledge needed to be a productive part of a contractor’s workforce. LIUNA Training’s curriculum includes assessments, for the purpose of gauging student retention of knowledge and skills. Classes require workers to pass a knowledge assessment and many require passing one or more performance assessments related to hands-on skills training. A participant will only be issued a certificate for successful completion of a class if all assessments required for that class are passed.

In addition to curriculum development, demolition contractors have also provided input into LIUNA Training’s U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) approved Construction Craft Laborer Apprenticeship Program. The recently revised apprenticeship program has strengthened workforce development needs specific to the demolition and deconstruction industry. As one of the eight concentration areas, demolition/deconstruction allows for apprentices to gain skills and knowledge specific to the demolition industry. While LIUNA Training’s Construction Craft Laborer Apprenticeship Program is flexible enough to meet even the most unexpected training needs of any employer, demolition contractors know resources spent are directly targeting their needs.

With the participation of demolition contractors, journey-worker upgrade training also has been improved. Demolition contractors rated the top 10 skills as most important:

1. construction safety;
2. basic construction skills;
3. scaffold building;
4. torch cutting and burning;
5. supervisory skills;
6. pneumatic tool use and safety;
7. blueprint reading;
8. hoisting and rigging;
9. material handling; and
10. permit-required confined spaces.
    
     

Beyond skills

From Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 10- and 30-hour classes, to supervisory upgrade training, LIUNA Training understands the importance of life-long learning and continual skill enhancement to keep demolition contractors efficient and effective.

The real importance of specialized demolition training, whether for apprentices, journey-workers or supervisory personnel, is understanding the responsibilities beyond just skills training. Meeting the unique requirements, responsibilities and interactions with the public on either a complete structure demolition or during renovation of an occupied facility requires a workforce that understands public fears and anxieties. LIUNA Training’s network is an unquestioned leader in environmental remediation and has one of the industry’s only independent, third-party accredited Infection Control Risk Assessment for Occupied Facilities courses.

Demolition contractors face a number of challenges that directly affect workers and the public. As a result, few industries are as scrutinized or misunderstood as demolition work, where a mistake can be life-altering. Quality work is the answer but it doesn’t just happen; contractors need a skilled, safe and productive workforce. Specialized training, a DOL-approved apprenticeship program, career advancement and a positive public image all start with a stable and skilled workforce. Cost savings can be realized from the reduction or elimination of rework and because an excellent safety record lowers liability insurance premiums.

As an industry leader in education, training and apprenticeship LIUNA Training and Education Fund has succeeded through the strength of labor-management partnerships. Together LIUNA and signatory contractors have shown the power to excel through world-class training and education programs that target contractor, industry and worker needs. It is time to stop spinning the roulette wheel.

This article was provided by LIUNA Training and Education Fund, the training arm for the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), Pomfret Center, Connecticut. More information is available at www.liunatraining.org.