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Beating the odds in hostile conditions
Highbank Resources has delivered its first commercial shipment of aggregates to Prince Rupert Port, British Columbia, Canada. To deliver the shipment, Highbank Director Jim Place accompanies the 100-ft. sea-going tug Sea Warrior for the journey along the Portland Canal. And the tug, in turn, guides a barge carrying about 4,000 tons of 1-in. crushed base material from Highbank’s new ocean-side Swamp Point North (SPN) Quarry. Highbank acquired a 100 percent interest in Portland Canal Aggregates’ SPN operation on Portland Canal, south of Stewart in northwest British Columbia. SPN lies on the east side of the Portland Canal and north of Donahue Creek. A medial glacial marine terrace, it comprises well-sorted gravel and sands. SPN will entail both an aggregates operation and a deep-water loadout terminal. Highbank’s corporate objective, as might be expected, is to create a significant new construction aggregates company, with all major mining operations contracted out. Greg Shafransky, Highbank’s investor-relations consultant and corporate shaman (there is a strong bond with local native group First Nations) looks back at… Keep Reading
Assessing higher-risk workers
Evaluating employees gives aggregate producers a tool to better prevent accidents and improve performance. According to a study by Liberty Mutual Insurance, the direct cost of incidents in industrial workplaces is an average of $38,000 per incident. And indirect costs can add up, too. These may include training replacement employees, accident investigation, implementing corrective measures, lost productivity, repairing damaged equipment and property, and costs associated with absenteeism and lower employee morale. Then there is human error, which may result in up to 90 percent of workplace accidents. Vancouver-based TalentClick monitors various industrial sectors and the percentages at which human factors make up overall accident totals. Operating as a business unit of a larger company from 2010 to 2012, TalentClick was incorporated as a separate company in late 2012. It works in vertical markets, including construction, manufacturing, transportation, natural resources and mining. Stephen Race, who co-founded TalentClick and specializes in occupational psychology, notes that for half a century social scientists have been researching personality. More recently, research has expanded into how… Keep Reading
