STAC 2018 Schedule

The State of STAC address is an annual update on the Council’s operations and activities, including a brief overview of recently completed and ongoing STAC projects, and its membership growth and retention.

Speakers:
Clay Parchewsky, WesTower
Keith Ranney, Bell Mobility
Nick Kyonka, CWTA
Chantale Neapole, CWTA

Keynote Address – In a poignant address designed to remind tower industry workers of their need for constant vigilance in hazard identification and safety preparation, special guest speaker Tiara Dietrich discusses how a preventable work place accident has affected her family’s life and how it could have been prevented.

Speakers:
Tiara Dietrich, Saskatoon Public School Division
Moderator: Clay Parchewsky, WesTower

For the first time in more than 20 years, there is federal government support to update the Canada Labour Code. This includes a series of proposed changes that will affect fall protection requirements in the Canada Occupational Health & Safety (COHS) Regulations. Feedback on the proposed changes was encouraged and many companies and groups submitted their input. At the same time, a CSA Z259 technical subcommittee is developing a fall protection training standard. Learn about how these changes will affect fall protection and the tower industry in this session, which features speakers who are actually involved in making these changes.

Speakers:
Ron O’Neill, 3M Fall Protection Group
TBC, Employment and Social Development Canada
Moderator: Dan Renaud, Telecon Group

Marina Guerra, Chair of the CSA S37 technical committee, discusses the next revision of the S37 standard for antennas, towers and antenna-supporting structures and provides an overview of the revision process and philosophy.

Speakers:
Marina Guerra, Bell Mobility
John Wahba, Turris Corp.
Moderator: Jonathan Walsh, Tiller Engineering Inc. (TEI)

Members of the STAC Climber Training Guidelines project team discuss the development of new tower-climber training guidelines and launch an industry-wide consultation on the draft guidelines. Learn about the Climber 1, Climber 2, Rescue 1 and Rescue 2 designations, including what workers will be expected to know to achieve each level and what this means for the industry.

Speakers:
Clay Parchewsky, WesTower
Dominique Valdez, eSystem Training Solutions
Adam Gale, Vertical Specialties Inc.
Moderator: Jeremy Buckles, SBA Communications

What technologies will change Canadian data-consumption habits over the next five years and how will this affect network demand? Which technologies are over-hyped and won’t really affect data-consumption the way that people think?

Duncan Stewart, Director of Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Research at Deloitte Canada, shares his insights into the future during a STAC 2018 keynote lunch address that will change the way you think about the future of network
demand and capacity.

Lunch sponsored by Alliance Corp.

Speakers:
Duncan Stewart, Deloitte Canada
Moderator: Jerry Bezner, Alliance Corporation

Guy anchor corrosion has become an increasing concern in the Canadian tower industry in recent years after failed anchors were cited as the apparent cause of multiple tower collapses. But what exactly can tower owners and contractors even do to protect these below-grade steel components from the inevitable effects of nature?

This session will provide an overview of some of the most common causes of accelerated anchor shaft corrosion on Canadian tower sites, and will discuss the proper design and function of a cathodic protection system. This session will also touch on galvanic protection, concrete encasement and painting/taping.

Speakers:
Johanna Chavez, Englobe
Kevin Sunderman, Stantec
Michael MacDougall, Tower Power Group
Moderator: Asma Arefeen, Rogers

Properly functioning fall protection systems are vital to tower safety, but it takes constant vigilance to ensure those systems are actually safe to use. This session will discuss fall protection design and inspection requirements under Canadian standards and federal regulations, and will identify individual responsibilities under these codes.

Speakers:
Rick Guenette, Gravisys
Moderator: John Lamond, GME Supply Co.

National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) Board Chair Jim Tracy will talk about how NATE is working across normal boundaries to enhance an industry’s economic stability and prosperity by focusing on people. Workforce development is more than just asking someone if they want a job, we need to show them how their lives will be better! Together, we will visit the past, the present and more importantly a brief glimpse into the future of the wireless workforce and pathways of how to get there.

Speakers:
Jim Tracy, National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE)
Moderator: Keith Ranney, Bell Mobility

You do a pre-trip inspection on your vehicle before you head out on the road. You do a tool inspection before you start work. Are you checking on your employees before they do aerial work? Learn what precautions to take so you and your employees are ready to do physical work without injury to you, your workers or others on the worksite.

Speakers:
Dean McDougall, SureHire Occupational Health Testing
TBC, RCMP
Moderator: Dan Renaud, Telecon Group

Prequalification questionnaires are a necessary step in the contractor evaluation process, but are they unnecessarily complicated? STAC’s Prequalification Roadmap team has spent much of the past two years poring over prequal questionnaires and questions in an effort to identify a template questionnaire. Ultimately, STAC would like to see this template used throughout the industry.

Come learn about more about this important project, including project objectives, work completed so far, and what lies ahead.

Speakers:
Ed Hachey, SBA
Nick Kyonka, STAC
Moderator: Jeff Carr, Huawei

So you’ve performed tower rescue practices 25’ up a ladder and consider yourself a pro: think you could do it at 10 times that height?

STAC and Nouvelle Hauteur teamed up in September to hold what is believed to be the first ever tall tower rescue simulation. Working on towers up to 300’ tall, a team of qualified rescue trainers performed five different simulated rescues over two days. Join members of the project team to learn about the unique challenges rescuers face when working at heights and about how to better prepare your own crews to rescue a distressed colleague when you can barely see the ground.

Speakers:
Craig McLellan, Nouvelle Hauteur
Moderator: Dennis Graham, CBC / Radio-Canada

Major changes to Canada’s UAV regulations are coming soon after Transport Canada teased a new “risk-based” regulatory regime in 2017. But what will the new regulations say and how will they affect your ability to use UAVs for tower inspections? Join us for a look ahead at Canada’s new UAV regulatory regime and the impact the new regs will have on the tower industry. Among other topics, this session will address the philosophy behind the new regulatory approach, the difference between “complex” and “limited” operations, and the all-important definition of a “built-up area.”

Speakers:
Jason Rule, Transport Canada
Murray Hunt, Canadian UAV Solutions
Moderator: Luc Marceau, NWS Wireless

Join us for the official launch of the STAC 2018 trade show! With approximately 30 exhibitors representing everyone from safety trainers and PPE suppliers to UAV operators and telecom equipment providers, the STAC 2018 Exhibition has something for everyone who works in or around the tower industry.

Refreshments sponsored by SBA Canada.

The annual STAC Conference Welcome Reception provides all conference attendees an unparalleled opportunity to mix and mingle with a broad intersection of industry stakeholders, all while enjoying some great food and a few beers. Held each year directly on the trade show floor, the reception provides the perfect opportunity to chat business or pleasure in a relaxed environment. Catch up with former colleagues or network with new potential business partners – just make sure you don’t miss this annual conference highlight!

The STAC 2018 Welcome Reception is sponsored by eSystem Training Solutions.

Dangerous and costly, tower failures are a tower owner’s worst nightmare. But they’re a learning opportunity. While exceedingly rare in Canada, each tower failure is typically met by in-depth investigation that provides insight into the event. Who was responsible for the failure? Why did occur? Most importantly: how do you prevent it from happening again?

This session will provide key insight into the lessons learned from recent tower failures across the country, including details about the cause of those failures as well as steps that are being taken to prevent them from reoccurring.

Speakers:
Keith Ranney, Bell Mobility
Nathan Schauerte, WesTower Communications
John Wahba, Turris Corp.
Moderator: Gordon Lyman, eSystem Training Solutions

You have just been requested to bring a Cell On Wheels (COW) to an area. Do you know how to do this safely? Join this interactive session on the requirements for towing, grounding systems, power checks and general setting up of mobile towers and communication systems.

Speakers:
KC Yip, TELUS
Moderator: Deanna Spring, WSP Canada

Do you ever feel like your job would be easier if you had a background in tower engineering? Well here’s your chance to learn from some of the best!

Building off the hugely popular “Towers 101” session offered at STAC 2017, this session will provide a crash-course on tower engineering principles for non-engineers that will advance their understanding of why towers are designed the way they are. Additional details about the specific topics covered during this session will be available in the weeks ahead.

Speakers:
Simon Weisman, Weisman Consultants
Devin Finnigan, Trylon
Randy Carrol, WesTower
Moderator: Doug King, Big King Construction

Dark, enclosed, and increasingly tight at the top, inside-climb monopoles are a bit unique in the tower world, and they pose unique challenges and hazards to tower crews. How do you plan a rescue for the first person up the ladder? And just what the heck is that moving around in the dark near the top of the ladder? This session will discuss these challenges and review proposed solutions to the rescue dilemma.

Speakers:
Hervé Landreville, GRAVI-T ZERO
John Dennis, Dynamic Rescue Systems
Craig McLellan, Nouvelle Hauteur
Moderator: Clay Parchewsky, WesTower

Being safe while rigging is more than just attaching slings to a hook and watching it rise in the air. Be part of the discussion as experts in the field explain safe working guidelines to ensure the loads gets to it destination in one piece, without injury to workers, property or the public.

Speakers:
Gordon Lyman, eSystem Training Solutions
Moderator: Phil Clemmons, TBC

The Certificate of Recognition (COR) program is a nationally recognized auditing tool that can help ensure that companies have the policies and practices in place to safeguard their employees and their job sites. As COR continues to expand its reach all across the country, tower companies are increasingly being asked to demonstrate that they are COR compliant.

This session will provide a brief overview of COR and what it takes to gain COR certification in Alberta, where the standards and auditing process are stricter than in many other provinces. It will also take a look at safety designations for individuals, including recent changes to the National Construction Safety Officer (NCSO) designation standard.

Speakers:
Tammy Hawkins, Alberta Construction Safety Association (ACSA)
Moderator: Aimee Arsenault, Tridon Communications

As an increasing number of Canadian communications towers reach 20, 30 or even 40 years in service, proper tower inspections and maintenance are taking on an ever-increasing role/importance to safe-guard tower workers, the public, and critical communications systems. This session will identify inspection and maintenance requirements and best practices as outlined in regulation and in the CSA S37 standard, including those relating to alignment, verticality, tower twist, concrete foundations, and more. It will also identify processes that tower owners can implement into their maintenance programs to help ensure inspections are completed correctly and on schedule.

Speakers:
Jeanne Piercey, P-SEC
Shawn Barry, Comtech
Moderator: Sam Fadlallah, Rogers

Available rescue equipment and techniques are only as good as the rescuers who use them, and how well they remember their training. Your rescue equipment needs to match the training your company can commit to. There is no use having rescue gear in place when there is a chance the rescuer will not be 100% confident when it is time to use it. You are now just setting your organization up for another accident on the same day.

This session will walk through modern rescue equipment and techniques that are easy to learn – and remember – how to use.

Speakers:
Scott Connor, Team-1 Academy
Moderator: Denis Darveau

How can tower owners maximize returns on their infrastructure investments through post-construction inspection and site surveillance of new structures? What steps can they take during construction to reduce the cost of future projects on that tower?

This session will provide information about how to reduce the cost of a tower over its life cycle through initial construction quality control and proper collection and use of technical data. Ultimately, it will show how each dollar invested on initial construction quality control and precise data management will pay off in the long-run by reducing engineering and construction costs for each subsequent project on that tower.

Speakers:
Brent Hrywkiw, Stantec
Serge Charron, WSP
Moderator: Greg Gasbarre, Titan-AEX

This session will explore how innovative technologies are changing the tower industry’s asset management practices through each of the design, fabrication, erection, inspection and maintenance stages. From finite element analysis software used in the tower design phase, to computerized member part detailing during the fabrication phase, and all the way through to 3D model and inventory software used to manage maintenance work: this presentation will cover a range of new technologies that are changing what’s possible in the industry and how tower work is done. Ultimately, integrating these technologies during the tower life cycle will allow for full tower asset integrity management from concept to completion.

Speakers:
Rick Tiller, Tiller Engineering
Moderator: Serge Arsenault, WSP

Mobile networks can provide a lifeline to victims during a natural disaster, but they can also become victims themselves. What steps can be taken to protect communications equipment and infrastructure from predictable disasters? What challenges do disaster recovery efforts face?

This special lunchtime session will feature speakers who have worked to help rebuild or repair communications networks after recent natural disasters in Canada and the U.S., including in Fort McMurray, Florida and Texas.

Speakers:
Dale Barber, SBA Communications
Jason DeHetre, TELUS
Cathy Zemp, TELUS
Moderator: Sharyn Gravelle, WSP Canada

STAC 2018’s final session takes a look ahead at the wireless technologies that will be changing the industry in the years ahead – the much-anticipated 5G technologies. This session will provide an update on the advancement of the 5G protocol and expected global adoption timelines. It will also take a closer look at some of the specific 5G technologies being tested around the world right now and will discuss some of the unique applications these technologies will make possible.

Speakers:
Darrin Lamont, Nokia
Moderator: Eric Smith, CWTA

This training covers fiber termination and repair kits. All of the students are introduced to the kits and receive an overview of each of the tools inside and their uses. Step by step explanation of the termination instructions are also covered in addition to test verification of the terminated fiber. It’s crucial to understand that fiber optics is an integral part of wireless technology and NWS provides the hands-on training that gives your teams a competitive edge.

Modules in this course include:

• Product Features & Benefits
• Specifications
• Tool Requirements
• Applications
• Termination Instructions
• Alternate Termination Technique
• Hands On Training
• Question & Answer Session

Limited availability for STAC Members only. Registration required.

Please contact [email protected] for registration details or additional information.

Falling from Heights continues to be one of the biggest killers in industrial workplaces. All of these accidents are preventable. Workers need to know and use proper fall protection equipment. An important aspect of this is the maintenance and inspections needed for personal fall protection equipment to ensure that workers who use this equipment are well protected from falling. Workers who conduct the formal inspections on fall protection equipment should, and must, know the proper and effective processes of inspecting and documenting fall protection equipment. It is extremely important that inspectors be effectively trained before conducting any inspection of equipment.

TEAM-1 Academy’s Fall Protection Equipment Inspector Course is designed to introduce standardized practices for fall protection equipment inspection by a variety of hands-on exercises. Written and practical tests are administered to ensure the principles presented in this course are understood.

Limited availability for STAC Members only. Registration required.

Please contact [email protected] for registration details or additional information.

Level 1 (Vertical Systems) – The course structure permits those only needing level 1 to complete this level in two days. Those wishing to achieve level 2 may continue into level 2 in the same week or may return for the final 2 days at a future course.

Description: This course is intended for engineers who work in fall protection and need to design or evaluate systems in accordance with ANSI Z359.6 and/or CSA Z259.16, “Design of Active Fall Protection Systems”. It is taught by the Engineer who led development of CSA Z259.16, which is the basis for ANSI Z359.6 in the United States (he is a member of that standard as well).

Participants gain extensive insight into engineering principles and methods for analyzing critical aspects of fall protection systems and equipment. All formulae in the standards and others needed for advanced analysis are derived and/or explained in the course. Students perform both hand and computer calculations in the class, tutored by the instructor(s).

Level 1 includes eight exercises to practice calculation of:
  • Impact loads from various vertical Fall Arrest Systems
  • Free Fall and Clearance calculations
  • Personal Energy Absorber and Self Retracting Lifeline deployments (and the level of impact
    that may occur if fully deployed due to greater worker weights and free falls)
  • Ballasted anchors
  • Vertical Lifeline behavior on vertical faces and sloping surfaces
  • Non-linear behavior of lifeline ropes.

Level 2 includes nine exercises to practice calculation of:
  • Simple Horizontal Lifelines (HLLs)
  • HLLs with in-line energy absorbers
  • Multiple spans
  • Flexible anchorages
  • Thermal effects
  • Lumped Mass vs. Sequential Falls
  • Force Management Anchor Posts.

The enclosed syllabus lists, course topics for both Level 1 and Level 2, delivered over four consecutive days.

Students receive:
  • Instruction by the Engineer who developed most of the technical content of ANSI Z359.6 and
    CSA Z259.16, “Design of Active Fall Protection Systems”, as well as choice of an electronic
    copy of either of these standards.
  • A course manual containing essential engineering formulae, reference materials,
    presentation summaries and real-world exercises with solutions.
  • MS Excel Software (renewable 1 year license) to analyze a large variety of Fall Protection
    systems and scenarios. The software can analyze most fall protection systems once
    engineering properties of components and equipment are known.
  • Choice of the CSA Z259.16 or ANSI Z359.6 “Design of Active Fall Protection Systems”
    standards
  • Digital copies of articles, catalogues, technical papers, calculation aids and regulations.

Certification: Participants must achieve a minimum score of 80% on written examination to achieve certification at each Level, valid for 3 years. A refresher course is available to renew the certification.

This course is offered by Greg Small, P.E., P.Eng., M.Eng – Founder of Elevated Insight & Engineering Ltd.

Limited availability for STAC Members only. Registration required.

Please contact [email protected] for registration details or additional information.

Relax and have some fun at the end of the conference by joining us for the STAC 2018 Craft Brewery Outing!

Following up on the hugely successful STAC 2017 Winery Tour Outing in Niagara Falls, this year’s event will feature tours of select Calgary-area breweries, and a sit-down meal. This limited availability outing is sponsored by Rigarus Construction Limited and GME Supply Co., whose sponsorship is subsidizing the cost of attending, bringing the cost for each participant down to just $80, including transportation.

The STAC 2018 Craft Brewery Outing will take place from approximately 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18.

Additional details about the specific breweries we will be visiting will be available in the weeks ahead.

Register now for the STAC 2018 Craft Brewery Outing today through the STAC 2018 registration page.