B&M NEWSTHE

The Newsletter about Black & McDonald People and Projects

SPRING 2015

Black & McDonald

A Tradition Of Quality Since 1921

INSIDE

In September of 2014 a team from the NL Projects division started construction of a large new secure data storage centre for Bell Aliant. Black & McDonald participated as part of a design-build team with IBM

and Stantec. The team was successful in securing the project to provide a new 2.5 MW data storage facility in an existing Bell Aliant building in the greater St. John’s area.

Black & McDonald provided all construction services for the project including electrical, HVAC, mechanical piping (refrigeration), civil and architectural works. The project provides a tier-three redundant power system with three independent 830 kW power supplies. These provide all the required power for the data centre’s computer equipment and cooling systems.

The finished project will allow Bell to provide safer, secure and constantly available offsite data storage to large corporations operating in the St. John’s area. This

project is part of a larger strategic initiative by Bell to increase its stake in the data storage industry.

The data centre will go online in May of 2015. Black & McDonald personnel worked over 12,000 person hours on the project, and our subcontractors added another 5,000 worked hours.

The site team, spearheaded by longtime Black & McDonald supervisor Derm Corbett, has executed an on-time and on-budget project, without any serious incidents and zero LTI’s.

The project was completed in an existing, occupied building that serves as one of the main hubs for all internet traffic in Atlantic Canada. This provided many challenges for the site team as the client’s expectations were to keep noise, dust and overall interference to building occupants to a minimum. Our team worked tirelessly to achieve that goal.

The André Benard Awards for Safety Excellence are presented annually at the Manager’s Conference to the regions which attain the best results in accident prevention and overall adherence to the Black & McDonald National Safety Program.

The André Benard Safety Awards Program was started in 2002 by Adrian Morrison, Vice President of Atlantic Region and is in recognition of the late André Benard, Safety Officer for the Atlantic Region from 1986 to 2002. André was one of the key individuals involved in the early development of the National Safety Program.

Scoring for this prestigious award is based on a number of categories including the lowest combined frequency and severity rates for all types of injuries, the amount of near miss, site inspections and job observations completed, and the overall performance in complying with our safety program as determined by the results tabulated in our annual national safety audits.

The National Safety Committee is pleased to announce that the winning regions for the 2014 André Benard Awards for Safety Excellence are…

The 2014 André Benard Gold Award:Southern Ontario FMO Region, Toronto, Ontario

The 2014 André Benard Silver Award:Manitoba Region, Winnipeg, Manitoba

The 2014 André Benard Bronze Award:Western Canada Industrial Region, Calgary, Alberta

Sincerest congratulations to all our winners!

For photos, see page 2

2014 André Benard Awards for Safety Excellence

Upgrading Vopak’s MontrealTerminalPage 2

URD in US Operations Page 2

Safety Is Good BusinessPage 3

The 2015 Sales ConferencePage 3

Rooftop installation at the Bell Aliant Data Centre

B&M Teams with IBM, Stantec on the St. John’s Bell Aliant Data Centre Design-Build

B&M Quebec Upgrades Vopak’s Montreal TerminalBlack & McDonald

The 2014 André Benard Award Winners

The Gold Award: Southern Ontario FMO RegionLeft to right: Bruce McDonald, Ian McDonald, Scott Harris, Ray Pleasance, Jason Scott, Bob Martin, David Lawrence

The Silver Award: Manitoba RegionLeft to right: Bruce McDonald, Ian McDonald, Ray Pleasance, Bob Zurevinski, Jeff Jacob

The Bronze Award: Western Canada Industrial RegionLeft to right: Bruce McDonald, Ian McDonald, Ray Pleasance, Chris Plested

The Quebec Region’s Mechanical Division has completed a project to increase the storage capacity of the Vopak Montreal Terminal.

Vopak operates terminals that store oil products, chemicals, biofuels and vegetable oils, liquified petroleum and natural gas.

The project included the erection of three, 150 x 48-ft-high storage tanks. Work began in 2013 with the first two tanks, and ended in the fall of 2014 with the third tank.

Following the erection of the first two tanks, Black & McDonald was awarded a contract to install the connecting piping from the three vessels to the pump station within Vopak’s K5 terminal. The electrical scope was defined as construction was underway and the electrical division was also awarded the electrical portion of this project, which

consisted of the installation of a power container, complete with the MCC and fiber optic connections for the process along with grounding grids and reformers for the three tanks.

The challenge of this project was to begin the piping fabrication and the civil work during the engineering phase (which had not yet been completed). Black & McDonald worked hand in hand with GCM Consultants from June to December in order to expedite the engineering and get the first two tanks, electrical, piping, pumps and fire protection completed by the end of 2014.

Black & McDonald met the customer’s objective and Vopak was able to flow gas into

the first two tanks in January.The B&M team was led by

Construction Manager Steven Dupras, Project Manager Sylvain Beauchamp and Superintendent Patrick Brais.

Vopak’s new storage tanks are now fully operational.

Continued from page one

Black & McDonald’s US Operation was recently awarded a five-year contract by one of its largest customers, KCP&L, maintaining their Underground Residential Distribution (URD) system.

Historically, KCP&L buried underground distribution cable in the ground with no mechanical protection such as conduit or concrete caps. The company later discovered that the lack of mechanical protection increased the likelihood of damaging the cable during future excavation activities in the area. In addition, exposure to ground water and frost significantly shortened the life of the cable. Consequently, KCPL changed its construction standards and now installs all underground distribution cable in conduit.

Under the new contract, Black & McDonald will work with KCP&L on a plan to proactively replace the old underground cable with new cable inside a conduit. Black & McDonald will install the conduit through a process called Directional Drilling, more commonly known as Boring. The US Operation currently has 17 crews assigned to this project (68 employees) with the expectation of adding two additional crews by the end of 2015.

US Operation Awarded Five-year URD Contract

While we all want to do the right thing for ourselves and the company sometimes our competing pressures, schedule, budget, and client demands get us off track and we lose focus on looking after our most valued asset – our people.

The National Safety Committee has been working to update our Safety Management System with new Codes of Practice & Standards, updated forms/templates and a master database of Safe Work Practices. This is all well intentioned and of significant value only if we choose to use them.

While we are presently continuing to improve our safety performance we still have a fair way to go to meet our goals and the ever-increasing demands of our clients. We will continue to improve by the continued progressive implementation of our Safety Management System and its tools. The adoption and effective implementation and use of these tools will be critical to our success.

We continue to monitor our top performing projects based on schedule, quality, customer satisfaction and profitability. Not surprisingly, these projects also have our best safety performance. Conversely, on underperforming projects, safety performance is below average. So clearly, from an operational perspective, excellent project safety performance translates into good business.

The ongoing challenge we all face is to effectively integrate the tools of our Safety Management System into the day to day operations of the company.

By doing so we will continue our progression towards becoming a company driven at all levels to work safely with enthusiasm and pride, care for one and another; and the desire to continuously improve.

In the weeks and months to follow, you will hear more about our proactive safety initiatives. Get involved and together we will continue to work towards our goal –

“Nobody Gets Hurt, Today or Tomorrow.”

Ray PleasanceDirector, Corporate Safety

The 2015 Sales Conference: Meeting the Challenge of ChangeBlack & McDonald’s 2015 Sales Conference was held February 17-20 at the Pillar and Post in beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The conference theme “Challenge of Change: Pathway to Success”, focused on presentations and activities including networking and collaboration, training and education, recognizing and celebrating achievements, and of course fun and leisure activities.

Bruce McDonald opened the conference, welcoming the National Service and FMO operations managers and business development teams with an update on the company’s business. Then, together with Phil Taggart, he presented this year’s Paul Ronco Awards for top achievements in sales – Sigrun Asmundsson (FMO Contract Sales), Camille Deveau (Maintenance Contract Sales), Jean Paul Godin (Service Project Sales), and Ashley Olson received the new “Rookie of the Year” award.

Wednesday sessions began with updates on Energy Services, BPS, and Salesforce, followed by the Level 12 Team Building Experience led by Dan Perdue for “Developing High Performance People”. This outstanding team experience challenged attendees to be more, do more, and give more of themselves not just to the company but to family, friends and our communities.

The afternoon included a rousing competition wherein teams assembled bicycles, presented sales pitches for their bikes, and then were touched by the unexpected opportunity of actually presenting the bikes to members of the Boys and Girls Club of Niagara. This drove home the feeling of reward from effort, truly raising the bar for teamwork exercises in the future.

Thursday’s Sales Skill Development Workshop was presented by Dave Paull of SE Corps. A talented speaker, Dave led the attendees through stages and steps for reaching new selling skill heights with insightful dialogue and touches of humour. The afternoon ended with the “Trius Art of the Blend” team event, a peer competition filled with mixing and merriment; and the evening completed a great day with the closing dinner and Top Performance Award presentations to: Don Hartlen, Steve Taggart, Ernest Eddy, Lisa Taylor, Stefano Aondio, David Sacre, and Nancy Wood.

Our sincere thanks go to the conference sponsors Bee Clean and Clintar for enabling some of our events. And thanks to the 2015 Conference Organizing Committee of Phil Taggart (Conference Chair), Nancy Wood, Matthew Macdonald, Camille Deveau, Stefano Aondio and Paul O’Connor. Their great efforts this year have the attendees already looking forward to the 2016 Sales Conference!

Safety is Good Business

S A F E T Y

Left to right: Phil Taggart, Ashley Olson, Sigrun Asmundsson, Jean Paul Godin and Bruce McDonald; below, B&M presents 12 bikes to the Boys and Girls Club of Niagara.

The North Warning System is a 4,800-km long, 320-km wide radar ‘tripwire’ stretching from Alaska to southern Labrador. With 47 Canadian radar sites and five Logistic Support Sites, the North Warning System provides atmospheric air defence of North America through radar surveillance of the northern airspace.

The North Warning System replaced the original Distant Early Warning Line – the famous DEW Line of the cold war era. The system is operated and maintained by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), using Regional Command Centres in Anchorage, Alaska for the US sites and North Bay, Ontario for the Canadian sites.

Since August 2014, Canadian Base Operators has played a key front-line role in the North Warning System: we are teamed with Raytheon Canada Limited, the system’s prime contractor, with CBO providing approximately 75 people working on a host of tasks at the Canadian sites, including:•Facilities management and

maintenance to approximately 100 buildings;

•Environmental protection and regulation compliance;

•Fire services – emergency response, training and inspections;

•Bulk fuel operations – system maintenance, re-supply, and bulk fuel transfer;

•Vehicle and equipment maintenance;

•Airlift scheduling of people and cargo for the helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft needed to reach and service the sites;

•Maintaining potable water systems, monitoring and testing of sewage effluent;

•Wildlife monitoring and polar bear protection.

“We have care, custody and control of all the North Warning System sites” says Les McCaugherty, CBO Project Manager. “Raytheon and CBO take this responsibility very seriously; it’s quite a matter of pride for a contractor to be literally on the front lines of a defence program. That’s quite a privilege, and we are totally committed to that mission.”

90% of CBO’s Arctic-based employees on the North Warning System work a rotational shift of six weeks in, and six weeks out. When onsite, they work a five- or six-day week; the unpredictable weather of the far north often means people end up staying longer than their allocated shift, or wait longer to get in to the sites.

“We have had very little turnover in our first year”, Mr. McCaugherty says. “The type of people who commit to work in the north, and are attracted to the rotational life, really enjoy working here. The mission is important to everyone, and we work in spectacular parts of our country that very few people get to see. Our people get to be jacks-of-all-trades, working in a small team environment, tackling new challenges and solving problems when they get to sites.

In the north, spare parts and resources we take for granted in the south are rarely where you need them to be; 90% of our success can be directly traced back to our people and their flexibility in dealing with hazardous geography, logistics challenges and extreme working conditions.”

Black & McDonald

The theme of this year’s Leadership Conference was Connect, Communicate and Collaborate. Three powerful words that not only relate to people leaders at our company, but to each and every one of us! A perspective from Corporate HR and B&M Way.

When we think about connecting, it highlights the importance of getting to know your colleagues. Getting to know the people who work around you will allow you to share your knowledge and gain experience from each other. For instance, talking with colleagues about a difficulty they are having on a project establishes an avenue and a trusted resource that may result in a quick resolution or a unique idea.

Remember; the secret to Continuous Improvement is in the sharing! Idea sharing between team to team, division to division or region to region is vital to continued success. We have employees and leaders spread coast to coast generating new ideas every day. Connecting with our peers to share lessons learned, areas for improvement or troubleshooting an issue is a behaviour that each of us should begin to practice.

Communication is integral to what we do and who we are. Communication through coaching and providing timely feedback is an ongoing process. This not only includes communication about specific work tasks but about the observed behaviours in others, or in yourself – are you living the company’s business philosophy? Also, the HR planning calendars presents two formal annual opportunities for you and your manager to communicate: the mid-year and annual performance appraisal.

In addition, communicating regularly with our employees is good practice and reinforces the importance of treating our internal customers with the same respect and diplomacy as our external customers. Often we can be caught up in pleasing our customers and ensuring their satisfaction at the expense of our internal relationships. Make a point to say ‘thank-you’ to your peers for a job well done!

There are many great examples of how Black & McDonald employees collaborate on a regular basis. Collaboration within a work team formally or informally can help you achieve individual and shared goals. It goes hand in hand with communication and connecting by encouraging differing perspectives, creativity, and inclusion of your peers. Accepting and advancing differing perspectives and fresh ideas is a key ingredient in continuous improvement. The Black & McDonald Way encourages idea collaboration and communication using the Bright Ideas Program and posting approved ideas on Sharepoint.

For our part, the HR Council has made it commonplace to connect, communicate and collaborate – but it’s a work in progress! The purpose of the HR Council, which includes at least one HR Representative from each region and affiliated companies, is to build a network of people who share the same human resources vision, goals, and practices for the company. And at the end of the day, it’s peace of mind to reach out to a friend to share an idea or gather feedback on a particular project we’re working on!

The same goes for our RIC Team. Our Regional Improvement Coordinators are the ambassadors of the B&M Way. We have made it our business to live up to our core values as listed on our Code of Business and to keep our teams accountable to these ‘value’ behaviours. Connecting, communicating and collaborating are necessary for our RIC’s to share the B&M Way message. Reach out to your RIC to discuss the importance and elements of the B&M Way!

Black & McDonald’s human resources and continuous improvement efforts reflect the company’s 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, contact April Jackson ajackson@blackandmcdonald.com, or for Corporate Human Resources, contact Jody Bayers, jbayers@blackandmcdonald.com.

Thank you,

Logan KingDirector, Corporate People Resources

CorporatePeople Resources

The North Warning System:CBO’s Front-line Role in Radar Defence

CBO are responsible for 47 Arctic radar sites