THE
A Tradition Of Quality
Since 1921
Black & McDonald
WI NT E R 2 0 1 5
B&M NEWS
The Newsletter about Black & McDonald People and Projects
B&M Helps Extend The Toronto / York Spadina Subway
The Toronto Transit Commission is
in the final stages of building an 8.6km subway line from the existing
Downsview Station on the Spadina
Line to the Vaughan Metropolitan
Centre.
When complete, the extension
will take riders to six new subway
stations, serving Downsview Park,
York University, and Pioneer Village
B&M’s Emergency
Response to Toronto
City Hall Outage
On September 25, a catastrophic explosion in
Toronto City Hall’s main transformer room left
the entire complex without power. The FMO
who received the initial call quickly reached out
to the Mechanical/Electrical Region to arrange
manpower; as this was a Thursday evening, the
majority of electricians were done for the week.
They also arranged a security team and secured
the required roads and space to park our
generators. Then the hard work began.
B&M sourced five generators; four twoMW and one 1.75 MW unit. We worked with
Toronto Hydro, City Hall engineers, electrical
contractors and the ESA to devise a solution to
isolate the transformer room and connect these
generators to the main distribution boards for
power up. Then we laid out approximately
60,000 feet of cable from the generators down
to the transformer vault and then to the main
electrical room.
Finally, we worked with City Hall’s electrical
contractor to configure the existing bus system
and then land and terminate more than 200
temporary cables.
Our crews worked around the clock from
Thursday evening to Saturday morning and by
Continues on page 2
I NS I D E
Safety
Standards
Released
Page 3
up to Finch Avenue, Highway 407
and the Vaughan Metropolitan
Centre.
Black & McDonald has been
awarded two contracts related to the
new extension: a Tunnel Equipping
contract and a Traction Power
Substations contract.
The Traction Power Substations
contract was awarded in August of
2014 and work on the project is
now beginning. The process takes
power from the grid and feeds it
to the trains, tunnels, stations, and
substations. The project’s scope of
work consists of the installation,
testing and commissioning of
TTC-supplied traction power
equipment to electrify the line,
including 27.6 kV and 4.16 kV AC
switchgear, transformers, rectifiertransformers, rectifiers, 600 V
DC switchgear, control cabinets,
and AC and DC cabling in four
substations. It also includes the
supply, delivery, installation, testing
and commissioning of battery
chargers, DC heating systems,
negative and ground bus systems at
the substations.
“Black & McDonald has a long
history with the TTC on traction
power” says Southern Ontario
Region’s Joe Segna, Civil Division
Manager. “We’ve held the traction
power maintenance contract for
the last 24 years; we’ve maintained
their overhead system for the past
Continues on page 2
Nova Scotia Communication Group
Returns to Atlantic HQ
After a five-year hiatus, the Nova
Scotia Communications group has
returned to B&M’s Atlantic Region
headquarters at 60 Cutler Ave.
With the arrival of the team, there
were new faces to be greeted and
information to be shared on what the
group has been doing during the past
few years.
The Communications group does
a lot more than just cabling. We
have the capability and the people
to tackle any client’s structured
wiring needs. Our expertise
encompasses the configuration,
design, installation, commissioning
and testing of local and campus
area networks and wireless
communications networks. When
combined with the electrical/
mechanical divisions of B&M, we
2013-14
Service
Awards
Page 4
Meeting
Shell’s
Refinery
Challenge
Page 3
are able to provide services in the
Industrial and Utility/OSP sector
which rate second to none. We
have also
partnered
with various
security
leads and are
able to offer
expertise
and
experience
in all aspects
of building
automation
and closed
circuit
security.
Continues on
page 2
The K2
Wind Farm
BBQ
Page 3
Communications
Specialist Greg McKay
Black & McDonald
B&M and the Toronto / York Spadina Subway
Continued from page one
15 years, and their pole installations for
the last six years. We also did the traction
power system for the Sheppard East
subway extension”.
“The team involved with the
installation could be as many as 20
electricians strong thoughout the next
couple of years” says Nathan Morrow,
Project Manager.
The Tunnel Equipping project also
makes the most of Black & McDonald’s
track record with the TTC, as the project
is similar to the services we provided
when the TTC built the Sheppard Avenue
East subway extension.
B&M is providing mechanical,
electrical, metal works, tunnel signage,
and miscellaneous work needed on
the tunnels. This includes lighting and
outfitting the tunnels with Dry Fire
Line systems, mechanical equipment
identification and related signage,
permanent subway drainage systems
(both storm and sanitary drain systems),
an electrical heat tracing system for
pump discharge lines, fire hose storage
cabinets, permanent power distribution,
mini-distribution centres, electrical
equipment identification and related
New U.S. Division
Focused on Heavy
Civil Construction
Black & McDonald U.S. Operations has
created a new Heavy Civil Construction
Division in Utah that will focus on wet
utility installations – sewers, water, storm
drains, and secondary water. With Chad
Walters appointed as manager, the new
division commenced operation June 16,
2014.
In the first four months of operation,
the team generated $3 million of revenue,
with $1 million in backlog going into
2015.
Key projects included:
•Water mains:
6,630 feet of 16-inch pipe;
•Storm drains: 4,800 feet of 36-inch reinforced concrete pipe;
•Sewer mains: 1,550 feet of 12-inch pipe;
•Secondary water meters: 1,400 new meter installations.
The Heavy Civil Construction Division
is expected to serve as an engine of future
growth for the Utah operation.
signage, support channels, tunnel safety
walkway handrails and grab bars, and
signage.
At work since March of 2014,
Black & McDonald has an average of 15
tradespeople on site dedicated to the
Tunnel Equipping project. The project
is being coordinated by Fletcher
Robinson, Project Manager. Completion
is currently scheduled for late 2016.
Atlantic’s Communication Resource
Continued from page one
Our Communications group employs
the best trained and experienced cabling
specialists and technicians in the industry.
This allows us the advantage of foreseeing
and planning to completion all cabling
and connectivity aspects from a typical
indoor commercial and /or industrial
network to indoor/outdoor wireless point
to point or point to multi-point systems.
Our Capabilities:
Partnerships are Key
The Communications group has
vendor relationships with structured
wiring manufacturers Belden and
Panduit and with Proxim Wireless
on wireless communications. These
partnerships allow us to provide
customers with extensive multi-year
warranties and unprecedented technical
and product support.
Our technicians have extensive
vendor specific training in all areas of
copper and fiber optic installation and
testing. We have a full line of industry
specific tools and test equipment and are
current with the challenges and special
techniques that today’s technologies have
to offer.
We have a local RCDD on staff to
address the design challenges dictated by
the well-formulated BICSI specifications
and ever changing EIA/TIA Industry
standards. This professional designation
is mandatory on many government
projects. This is added insurance that
the design and functional needs of our
clients are taken care of cost effectively
and in compliance with the latest
industry and government standards.
Restoring Power at Toronto City Hall
Continued from page one
1:30 a.m. Saturday we were ready to energize City Hall. Days after power loads were
confirmed, we were asked to reconfigure the generators to mitigate the astronomical
cost of running this facility on temporary generators. Once the new plan was approved
by all, our crews were engaged to reconfigure the bus system and redistribute the cables
to two generators instead of five.
The next week we were engaged to remove the temporary connections and restore
the bus system that we were responsible for altering so permanent power could be
re‑energized.
Both the City of Toronto and Toronto Hydro have praised B&M for the
professionalism,
our high regards
for safety and
the efficiency we
demonstrated
through the
outage.
Toronto’s
emergency
response crew
Taking A Break at the K2 Wind Farm Site These photos were taken at our
employee BBQ held at the K2 Wind
Farm in Goderich, Ontario on
September 25.
With crews from over 140 turbine
sites attending, the lineup continued
for nearly three hours. Some crews
were in critical stages of construction
and couldn’t leave their sites so
colleagues delivered heaping plates
out to them.
After everyone was well fed, the
considerable remaining food was
distributed among the needy in
the area. Good work, good people,
good food, and good outreach to
the community – the Black &
McDonald Way!
Mission Accomplished at Shell’s
Montreal-East Terminal
Black & McDonald has just completed
the most important part of the MET
Crude Reception project with Shell
Canada at their Montreal- East Terminal.
Our mandate was to modify the launcher/
receiver and repair underground pipeline
in five locations. The most crucial part of
this project was to replace a section of 18-
inch pipe that went through a 550-foot
tunnel that contained five other pipelines.
The strategy for this part of the project
was defined six months prior and was
a major reason we were awarded this
project. We had to excavate 160 feet on
each side of the tunnel, cut the pipe on
both ends and weld a hook joint on the
pulling end while welding the new pipe
sections on the opposite end. We pulled
the old pipe out (80 feet at a time) while
welding seven new 80-foot sections to
the old pipe. This procedure was done
on a 24/7 schedule and lasted approx. 15
days. The pipe was also fabricated by our
Ottawa fabrication facility.
This project demonstrated our
expertise in planning strategies,
alternative work procedures and our
ability to execute within a tight deadline
and a very difficult scope of work.
The team consisted of Construction
Manager Steven Dupras, Project
Manager Serge Dupras and
Superintendent Christian Marques.
This project also had an excellent
safety performance with no recordable
incidents. Great job by all!
SAFETY
Codes of Practice &
Standards Released
The National Safety Committee is
pleased to announce the release of
our first batch of Codes of Practice &
Standards.
These Standards provide direction
and guidance to all operational staff
when conducting work activities that
are impacted by any of the topics listed
below.
The Standards that have been
released to date are:
1. Fall Protection –
Working At Heights
2. Crane & Rigging Operations
3. Working Alone
4. Confined Spaces
5. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
6. Electrical Safety
7. Excavations – Ground Disturbance
8. Management of Hazardous Energy
9. Ladders, Entrances & Walkways
10.Lifting and Handling Loads
11.Powered Mobile Equipment
12.Hot Work
13.Respiratory Protection
14.Noise Exposure Control
15.Heat & Cold Stress
16.Environmental Hazard Management
17.Powered Tools
18.Chemical & Biological Substance Management
19.Asbestos
20.Pressure Testing
21.H2S
22.Lead
For easy reference, the Standards
can be found on the Black &
McDonald SharePoint site. As well,
a listing of Standards still under
development by the National Safety
Committee is available.
The focus of a Standard is to
support our business in a proactive
manner. They are comprehensive
guidance documents and another tool
provided to our employees to ensure
their utmost health and safety when
working.
Our HSE Management System is
the tool box provided to all employees
to support us in our journey to zero
incidents.
Ray Pleasance
Director, Corporate Safety
“Nobody Gets Hurt,
Today or Tomorrow.”
Black & McDonald
Corporate
People Resources
The B&M Way
What’s trending with the B&M Way? The 2015 Corporate People Resources
Strategic Plan! Over the next year we will have the pleasure of working with
the RIC’s and their teams to assist in launching B&M Way to the ‘next level’
of Continuous Improvement and Culture cultivation. The initiatives within
the Strategic Plan include the launch of two eCourses, delivered through our
corporate website (a first for Black & McDonald), development of a new booster
session to continue to reinforce the ‘Way’, and the formation of a Customer Survey
Improvement Team to enhance our customer survey experience and establish an
improvement team ‘process’ that is practical, deliverable and packs a punch!
The purpose of strategic planning is to stimulate creativity in the manner
in which we do our work, generate new ideas to continue the success Black
& McDonald has experienced, and set the tempo for the next year. Given that
strategic planning at its roots encourages change, it is important to take a minute
and appreciate that among the change, some things will remain steadfast and true.
Our Code of Business is our compass to staying the course. You are encouraged
to take five minutes of your day and revisit our Code of Business and embrace the
simplicity and impact of each statement and take the opportunity to drive your
strategic initiatives through 2015!
Human Resources
In the last edition of the B&M News we described the launch of our new
employee survey program, which many of you may have experienced by now.
But where does employee feedback go from here? The purpose of our employee
survey program is to allow us to measure employee engagement to get an overall
pulse check of the organization; gauge results against previous years; isolate
key areas of concern within our organization; and leverage results to put action
plans in place. The follow-up is a crucial component to drive the success of
the employee survey program and is one that involves communicating to our
management, staff and employees; understanding the results; soliciting additional
feedback on key priority areas; development of the action plan (putting pen
to paper); and last but not least, implementing the action plan. In short, the
employee survey program is an employee satisfaction and loyalty key result area
which is measured within each region at Black & McDonald and recognized as an
invaluable asset.
Our corporate HR team is also excited to announce a new group insurance
provider. Many months of review and planning has resulted in a partnership
with Manulife Financial as of January 1, 2015. Manulife Financial was selected
as our preferred group benefits provider as they are able to enhance our plan
members’ overall experience and improve education regarding group benefits, as
well as provide competitive and attractive group benefits. Additionally, Manulife
Financial exhibits similar core values and is vested in a long-term and loyal
partnership with Black & McDonald, as well as our affiliated companies.
Also, just recently released is a revised new employee orientation package (hire
kit) with enhanced changes in the overall formatting of the materials, revisions
and inclusion of policies, and updates to reflect changes in our HSE management
program. It’s important for us to continue to refresh our hiring materials to
enhance the employee experience, set expectations, and create an awesome first
impression.
Black & McDonald’s human resources and continuous improvement efforts
are a testament to its belief that its success depends on the people within the
organization. The People Resource Group strives to not only meet the needs of
employees but also helps to position Black & McDonald as an employer of choice.
For more information regarding Corporate Continuous Improvement please
contact April Jackson ajackson@blackandmcdonald.com, or Jody Bayers for
Corporate Human Resources jbayers@blackandmcdonald.com.
Logan King
Director, Corporate People Resources