My first week at Teck had been both fascinating and overwhelming. After our sign-on on our first day, we were immediately immersed in five days worth of computer training. While the information was both fascinating and informative, I had struggled to get use to the nine hour workdays along with the one hour commute to and from work each day (this meant I had to wake up as early as at 4:30 am in order to catch the bus!). Other than that, I had found the mine to be very much different from what I had anticipated as I absorbed a wide array of useful resources concerning safety, the operations of Cardinal Rivers, Teck as a company, as well as the Mining Industry. I had even completed and received a certificate for the Construction Safety Training System! It had contained a wide range of safety topics that were relevant to being on site. It included topics such as worksite and law, personal care and conduct, personal protective equipment, workplace hazards, WHIMIS, environmental factors, defensive driving, and more. These were definitely good common sense tips to have, especially when working in an environment where the chances for accidents are high.
My favorite part of the whole week was our site tour of the mine. It was fascinating to see how all the different operations, equipment, and people worked together in order to accomplish the finished product. Cardinal River Operations produces hard coking coal that are high in carbon and low in moisture which are the perfect combination for steel. After much time spent exploring, planning, assessing, and approving; drilling and blasting takes place to break rocks. As rocks are pushed off seams, large equipments such as the loaders are filled with coal and rocks as they are hauled to the plant for processing. Supporting departments such as operations, maintenance, processing, engineering, purchasing, information systems, finance, and health and safety all aid in ensuring that the process runs smoothly. Environmental concerns and sustainability also plays a large role in the process as I am surprised to find beautifully reclaimed land that are very popular among the animals in and around the site area. As a Human Resource student with the opportunity to work in almost any industry, I am finding this a truly worthwhile experience to be placed here at the mine. Being physically here and having readily available access to information and people really gives me the advantage of understanding what is going on with our employers. This, I feel, is an advantage that the HR department working in the head office in Vancouver will never have. Plus, it’s also all about the experience! =)
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