National Occupational Standards for the Electricity and Renewables Sector
What are they?
National Occupational Standards (NOS) identify and group the tasks associated with a specific occupation. They describe the knowledge, skills, abilities, and aptitudes that a worker must demonstrate to be considered competent in that occupation.
How are NOS used?
Well-developed National Occupational Standards enable the recognition of workers' knowledge and skills across the entire Canadian labour market and facilitate labour mobility across all Canadian sectors.
There are a wide variety of uses for employers, employees, and education institutions, and the bottom line is that they support effective HR planning. NOS can form the basis for training, curriculum development and accreditation of training programs, recruitment, performance, improvement and can promote employee retention by identifying career paths.
How can the Electricity Sector Council effectively address your workforce planning needs right now?
The Electricity Sector Council (ESC) has developed the following NOS for your use: Electrical Engineering Technician and Technologist, Electrical Power Station Operator, Electrical Power Systems Operator, Utilities Project Manager, Power Protection and Control Technician, Wind Turbine Technician, Geo-Exchange Installer, Solar Thermal Installer, and, Solar Photovoltaic Installer.
NOS for the roles of Utilities Arborist and Cable Splicer are currently underway, and will be available for your use late 2012. Developed and validated with the input of employers, employees, labour and education, all our NOS have the 'seal' of industry approval. Send the Standards to educational or training institutions in your community. Help them do a better job of serving you and training potential employees. Send the Standards to career counseling associations who send potential employees to you. Help them understand your needs.
To obtain a copy of the standards contact ESC at info@brightfutures.ca
What's next for NOS?
We would like to hear from you as to your requirements for National Occupation Standards that have not yet been developed for our industry. Where are the gaps? What occupations should we be looking to next? Are there current National Occupational Standards that need to be reviewed and updated? Contact the ESC to let us know what your thoughts and needs are.
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Update on the Council
While the Government of Canada's funding cuts to the Sector Council program (effective March 2013) will impact all councils differently, ESC is well positioned to continue to serve the industry in its goal to develop and maintain a skilled, safety-focused, diverse and productive workforce.
The Council has developed a high level of credibility with industry and many other partners over the past 6 years. Over the past few months we have continued to reach out to you, our stakeholders, to identify your needs and ensure that our projects and services are sustainable, practical, and relevant. We are currently developing a new vision, mission and strategic plan that will allow us to continue to support your priority issues. We are very excited about the new opportunities ahead and aim to move forward together. Please contact us with any questions or suggestions at info@brightfutures.ca or 613-235-5540
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Energy Specialist Certified Knowledge Manager (CKM) Course
June 4 - 6, 2012
During our stakeholder needs research, we asked you what were some of the top issues facing your organization on a daily basis and what you would like to see from the ESC to assist in these areas. One of the most frequently heard topics was on the issue of knowledge transfer and how to manage and retain critical knowledge. The ESC is delighted to announce that the Knowledge Management Institute of Canada has taken their Certified Knowledge Manager (CKM) program and adapted it specifically for the electricity and renewable industry. In addition, ESC stakeholders will receive a 15% discount.
The Energy Specialist CKM Program will focus on having participants develop solutions to the complex industry challenges by leveraging Electricity Sector Council research data and current best practices from sector stakeholders. The blended approach to program delivery will support deep level collaboration and problem solving, enabling participants to take new knowledge and valuable insights back to their organizations at the conclusion of the program.
Our June CKM course will appeal to:
1. Those who are new to the field of Knowledge Management (KM) and wish to gain a solid understanding of what KM is and what KM is not through an exploration of proven methodologies and practices which support the work of knowledge-centric organizations.
2. Those that are currently in a KM role within their organization and need help to build
Awareness, achieve "buy-in", and create the knowledge imperative.
3. Experienced practitioners who are leading KM initiatives and require additional strategies and tools to support these initiatives.
4. Those who work in the electricity/energy sector and need help solving the unique
knowledge challenges associated with this sector.
5. Those whose business requires dealing frequently with energy/electricity sector
organizations.
Course Instructor: Blake Melnick, Chief Knowledge Officer, The Knowledge
Management Institute of Canada
Toronto
June 4 - 6, 2012
To register, please visit: http://www.kminstitute.ca/CKM_Pre-register
Use code ESC0015 to get your 15% discount
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Diagnostic of Aboriginal Procurement Strategies
The ESC recently partnered with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada to look at Aboriginal procurement strategies in the electricity and renewable industry. The project ran from December 2011 to March 2012 and areas explored some of the following questions: What are companies doing in this area? Where and what are the opportunities for Aboriginal businesses to participate? How can industry organizations develop their own Aboriginal procurement strategy?
The final report looks at all of these areas including the benefits of having an Aboriginal procurement strategy in place, procurement trends and forecasts, case studies of several industry organizations and how they have employed Aboriginal strategies, and a template for developing your own Aboriginal strategy.
The project results will be available to the public on May 30th and will be available both in hardcopy and online.
For more information or questions, please contact the Project Manager, Kevin Joseph: joseph@brightfutures.ca
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Did You Know? 
The ESC recently conducted a sector-wide study to look at the labour market for the electricity and renewable energy industry. Some of the results of the study include: - Much of the existing system (also referred to as Legacy infrastructure), will be replaced or upgraded (also referred to as Next Generation infrastructure) over the next 20 years.
- Next Generation projects are expected to involve two decades of construction at a cost of $295 billion or more
- New investments from 2010 to 2030 will be used to replace coal plants, refurbish nuclear systems and respond to environmental concerns by adding renewable energy generation systems
- 45,000 new employees will be needed between 2011 and 2016 - this represents almost half of the existing workforce as the industry employs over 100,000 people across Canada
- 25.4% of current Power System Operators are expected to retire in 2016; almost 20% of Supervisors of Electricians and Electrical Power Line Workers are expected to retire at the same time
Power in Motion: ESC 2011 LMI Study
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Bright Futures Aboriginal Youth Camps 2012
The first Bright Futures Aboriginal Youth Camp of 2012 will take place in the community of Agassiz, BC from July 16-20th.
Thank you to our sponsors for this camp, without which this exciting event would not be possible: BC Hydro, CUSW, CUPE, Engineers Canada, and AHRC.
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Important Dates
Solar Ontario 2012 (CanSIA)-
May 14-15, 2012
London, Ontario
ESC Diagnostic of Aboriginal Procurement Strategies Report Launch - May 30, 2012
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| Contact Us
Address: 130 Slater Street, Suite 600, Ottawa, ON K1P 6E2
Phone: (613) 235-5540
Fax: (613) 235-6922
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