Reporter Lisa Hepfner and a crew from CHCH TV in Hamilton visited the OETIO campus at Local 793’s head office in Oakville on May 13 and broadcast this segment on the station’s 6 o’clock newscast. Click the play button above to watch the broadcast as it aired.
A state-of-the-art concrete pump simulator is now up and running at the OETIO campus in Oakville. The campus is the only facility in Canada that has a concrete pump simulator.
Training manager Shawn Robertson said the machine will be a valuable training tool for instructors. “We’re really excited about the capabilities of this machine and what it can do,” he said. “The simulator will enable apprentices to get a feel for what it’s like to operate a concrete pump.”
The machine is a three-metre-high, dome-shaped structure. The operator stands in the middle of the simulator and uses controls to conduct pouring exercises. The machine is modeled after a Schwing 32-metre-boom concrete pump at the Oakville campus. It was designed by CM Labs Inc. of Montreal with input from OETIO staff and instructors. CM Labs is the same company that designed and built crane simulators for the OETIO. The simulator was paid for with Skills Training Infrastructure Program (STIP) funds announced earlier by the provincial government.
The simulator was installed in late March. It enables students to perform a variety of tasks and maneuvers, albeit in a virtual environment. Students are also able to view the pump from various angles in the simulator.
“With this simulator you can simulate pouring a floor or columns on a 10-storey building,” Robertson said. “In the simulator, the operator can actually move around and away from the truck. It provides a real-life scenario that duplicates what it’s like on the job.”
The controls in the simulator are identical to those on the Schwing pump at the Oakville campus. The simulator was pressed into use recently during a pilot concrete pump operator training course at the Oakville campus.
The OETIO is also purchasing a smaller simulator that can be taken to career fairs. The combined cost of the two simulators is approximately $390,000.
