NorLand Receives Community and Safety Awards
Written by Devon Sacré
We love what we do, and although we don’t approach our work with the expectation of a pat on the back, it’s always special when our Effort Gets Recognized, and it is a testament to how Passion Leads to Pride. Recently, Dave Reynolds (President and CEO), Brad Tangjerd (Business Development Manager), and Anibal R. Valente (NorLand Board Advisor and past Chair of Canadian Construction Association) travelled to Tucson, Arizona, to accept two awards from the Canadian Construction Association (CCA) at its Annual Convention. The first award was the CCA National Safety Award, which we received for all our work to ensure Everyone Goes Home Safe. The second award was the CCA Community Leader Award, which we received for our work in Helping Build Enduring Communities, Together. We couldn’t be more proud to have received these awards and are grateful to everyone involved in the initiatives that have gotten us to this point.
The CCA Safety Award was created in honour of Gordon M. Vipond to recognize outstanding achievement and commitment to the pursuit of safety. The award is given to a CCA member who has great safety records and has demonstrated excellence in program development, staff training, and industry contributions. NorLand’s Health & Safety team works hard to develop new strategies to keep our team safe. Our main safety training tool is our NorLand Training Portal. Launched in 2019, the portal is an all-in-one training and certification platform that allows us to ensure everyone is up to date with the necessary training to ensure that Everyone Goes Home Safe and beyond. We develop our own training modules and work with other departments to ensure that every course is both accurate and relevant.
Since its inception, over 8000 courses have been completed, improving our WorkSafe BC Safety Experience rating by over 40% and leading to recognition from several awards (Learn More). Besides the training portal, we have several other strategies for keeping our team safe. Each meeting starts with a safety moment to discuss any safety topics that need addressing, and our team is encouraged to raise any concerns they may have. Our senior staff leads by example and must participate in proactive safety activities and provide regular progress reports. NorLand is also well involved with the safety industry at large. Our team is on the boards of several organizations, including Worksafe BC, BC Construction Safety Alliance, Council of Construction Associations, the CIRP, and the BC Construction Safety Officer Certification Board. We are proud of what we’ve accomplished with employee safety and continue to look for new ways to improve our practices.
The CCA Community Leader Award recognizes members who have dedicated time and effort to helping better the community. NorLand has five areas of focus for Community Involvement: Education, Women and Children, EDI & Indigenous Inclusion, Health & Sport, and Environment & Climate Change. We engage in many great initiatives in these areas and have shared a few examples below.
For education, we created a scholarship program for BCIT’s Construction Management Program, hosted a high school summer program, and worked with BCIT students to build a business case for electrifying our fleet. In support of women and children, NorLand fundraises every Christmas for the Dixon Transition Fund, has donated $75,000 over several years to the CKNW Kids Fund, and has hosted a kids’ club during Covid-19. To Support Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI), NorLand’s EDI Committee hosts many awareness days across the year, one example being “Colourful Shirt Day”, donating $10 for QMUNITY for every teammate who wears a colourful shirt. We also promoted economic reconciliation in Indigenous communities, becoming Copper Sponsors of the Bear’s Lair. To promote health and sport, we sponsored two women’s softball teams in our local community (Learn More). Finally, to fight climate change, we have created an Energy & Emissions Reduction Working Group and are committed to reducing our impact on the environment wherever possible, from waste management to emissions reduction.
When Nicki Wilson, our Health and Safety Coordinator, was submitting our applications, we had originally intended to apply for the CCA Excellence in Safety Technology Award, but after submitting, the CCA called Nicki to tell her that our portfolio was amazing and was better suited for the full-fledged safety award, which was great to hear. The submission process was no joke – for each application, Nicki had to put together a three-page document outlining each of our initiatives. Nicki says her biggest regret with the applications was, “I couldn’t even include half the initiatives NorLand has done over the years.” She says she’s proud to work with people that care so much about Helping Build Enduring Communities, Together and give her the freedom to explore new initiatives. She’s thankful for everyone in the company who gets invested in these initiatives. She says, “If it weren’t for all of the workers taking safety seriously and getting involved with our community initiatives, we wouldn’t be able to win these awards.” We are proud to have a team that exemplifies Teammates Get Treated Like Family and believe they are the reason for our success over the years.
Brad Tangjerd was one of the individuals who attended the CCA convention in Tucson and accepted the Community Award on behalf of the group. He said the awards meant a lot to NorLand, “It was a distinct honour for NorLand to be the recipient of the awards, especially considering the competition. I have so much respect and admiration for the other companies nominated, and I’m proud we got to stand among them.” Thank you to our Health & Safety team for working so hard to ensure that Everyone Goes Home Safe, and all Impact Agents across NorLand for leading so many incredible community initiatives. We also want to thank Nicki Wilson, in particular, for building out our submissions. We are proud of everything we have accomplished over the years and are excited to continue creating new strategies for Helping Build Enduring Communities, Together.