Lakes District Secondary School metal shop students create custom mounts for Coastal GasLink prime contractor
A group of Burns Lake high school students got some hands-on work experience fabricating custom fasteners for Pacific Atlantic Pipeline Construction (PAPC), prime contractor for Sections 6 & 7 of Coastal GasLink. The classroom connection happened thanks to a local supplier, DTU Industrial Wholesale, who saw a perfect skills training and education opportunity for the metal shop class at Lakes District Secondary School in Burns Lake.
When PAPC was looking for a local supplier to provide buggy whip window mounts for their vehicles, the team at Burns Lake-based DTU Industrial Wholesale had the idea to connect the contractor with the metal shop class at Lakes District Secondary School to manufacture the mounts.
“When Nathan Steffenhagen of PAPC approached me and asked if I had any ideas on where to get the usually very overpriced buggy whip window mounts, I knew just who to go to,” explained Crystal Fisher of DTU Industrial Wholesale.
“I approached (the instructor) Mr. Blaine Hastings with the idea of having his metal class take on the task of manufacturing these custom mounts and he was very excited. Throughout the project, his class was able to learn many metal shop basics and came to the table with the official ‘PAPC Local Custom Mount.’”
Lakes District Secondary School metal shop students had the chance to get hands-on experience and learn metal shop basics while creating the official ‘PAPC Local Custom Mount.’
Under the guidance of Mr. Hastings, his class got to work creating custom buggy whip mounts – a fastener that allows workers to attach safety flags to their vehicle’s window.
The class was able to hone their skills, including cutting, bending, drilling, grinding and painting while creating a custom, quality product that’s now proudly installed on hundreds of PAPC contractor vehicles.
The funds that the metal shop earned during this project supported the class budget for supplies and materials, including a new chop saw among other items. Supporting local businesses and communities has always been a priority for Coastal GasLink and its prime contractors. The opportunity to partner with Lakes Secondary School students is just another example of providing opportunities for skills training and education on the project.
Crystal Fisher
DTU Industrial Wholesale