Canadian Safety Regulations

[US & CA Tramp]

My questions are:
What are the Canadian equivalent regulations to the USA? Specifically in the US our trade follows 1910.269 or 1926 subpart V in construction, which are both for, Distribution, Transmission & Generation of electrical energy. Must you follow each provinces specific regulations or the ministries Inter-Provincial regulations?

[Trampbag]

Each province sets it’s own, usually through the Worker’s Compensation Board of the Province.

Most every place I worked in Canada require a lineman, or for that matter every employee (utility or contractor employee) to sit in a class then write an examination on the utility rules. Every 2 years the employee must re-qualify by examination. This is for each and every utility a contractor employee works for.

Lineman Trades Qualification, by the way, is set by serving an apprenticeship, regulated by each province. A lineman must carry a Trades Qualification of that particular Province he wants to work in. Most linemen write a, Inter Provincial (IP) Qualification, also called a Red Seal, which entitles them to the TQ of any Province. At least that is the way it works in theory. Some provinces won’t accept the Red Seal, or so I hear. You have to write the Provincial Line Trades exam to bet a TQ. I ran into that years ago and ended up writing the provincial Trades Qualification in several provinces. I understand the Red Seal is accepted most places today.

If a foreign tradesman wants to work in Canada they can write the IP by presenting documentation proving they have X amount of hours. For an example British Columbia (just cause their site popped up first in a search) ( http://www.itabc.ca/profiles-RS/Powerline%20Technician%20Profile.pdf ) requires 7567 documented hours in the trade, there is a specific requirement for hours performing live line work (which I cannot find right now) to allow one to “challenge” the TQ.

So the answer isn’t a just a short answer. The Provinces set the regulations in each individual Province, the Federal Government sets the regulations in the Territories, and a lineman must hold a Trades Qualification in any Province they wish to work in.

It is also my understanding that TQs can be suspended if there is gross negligence by the tradesman. I don’t know if it has ever happened.

BCs Industry Training Authority

http://www.itabc.ca/TrainingPrograms_Profiles.php?TradeProfileID=41


A call to a Canadian IBEW Local will certainly answer questions you may have about working in Canada. The regulations are very simmilar to those in the USA.

[Budda]

The Apprentice training that is put forth by our Gov,T is flawed in some ways, for instance, we had a 1 st year apprentice challenge his 1 st block and passed, The Department of Higher Education deemed that his hours on CATV and Telco were accepted for his apprentice book. so in fact he spent 18 months in this trade and wrote his Interprovincial e-xam and passed. He studied all the pert info and now his is a JL. I worked beside him and I've seen better first steps out there.

Don't get me wrong there is still alot of us who are hard and loyal to the trade, with that said, some do slip through the cracks, and forgive me for saying this, those guys give us statistics.