SAIT Polytechnic and Petroskills are Teaming Up

Written by Mauricio Orozco Tuesday, 23 March 2010 10:00

Today we’re proud to announce that we’ve teamed up with PetroSkills, one of the largest providers of technical training to the petroleum sector worldwide to create PetroSkills O&M, a joint venture that builds on a common strength held by both our training organizations—delivering relevant technical training that supports the development of a safe, skilled workforce.

PetroSkills and SAIT are responding to the bigger crew change that will be occurring across operator ranks over the next decade. Demographic changes in the engineering ranks within E&P represent a small percentage change of the numbers that will be impacted in operations and maintenance. We all know that within our front line workers – those that turn valves, monitor pressures and temperatures, start and stop equipment, and maintain production, industry demographics are as bad or worse than those of the technical professional ranks. Senior plant operators along with their experience and problem solving skills are disappearing into retirement.

Coupled with these demographic changes are shifts in international production. New facilities are located near the “harder to find” resources in remote regions. Nationalization programs require that the supply of new operator technicians stem from local populations. And, the process of training O&M personnel has unique challenges. Many new employees enter a process or chemical plant for the first time, having no related mechanical or operator skills, beginning a time-consuming and expensive process of transferring knowledge, skills and competencies.

What does this mean for our customers in Canada or internationally? Customers using SAIT Operations and Maintenance Training Programs will benefit from the rigour and processes utilized to build the PetroSkills JV offerings within E&P, Facilities and HSE. This includes using member company subject matter experts to direct and maintain detailed competency profiles for each technician discipline. This approach provides an industry “shared viewpoint” of the skills or competencies required to successfully perform at a given level and ensures that training offerings are subsequently aligned to each profile in order to deliver the necessary competencies.

This is just one example on how we’re working to support a skilled and safe industry. For more information, visit our website at sait-training-solutions.ca/om.