The general manager of Association béton Québec (Quebec Concrete Association) says the main challenge facing the industry is education.
Luc Bédard says all industries have workforce challenges, but some of the ones facing the concrete sector are unique.
Bedard will be explaining just what those challenges are in his presentation at Canadian Concrete Expo 2025, which takes place Feb. 12 and 13 at the International Centre in Mississauga, Ont.
Bedard says The Future of Concrete is Education! will cover education and training in the concrete sector and why education is important to everyone who works in the industry, from drivers to design engineers.
Concrete BC executive director Jason Saunderson agrees with Bedard.
“Concrete education is extremely important, because concrete is becoming more complex all the time,” says Saunderson.
“There’s more attention to the environment, new mixtures and supplementary materials, and it’s important for concrete producers, especially the smaller ones, to be kept up to date.”
Saunderson says Concrete BC offers four main courses, all of which are online:
- Concrete 101: Basic Concrete Technology;
- Concrete Pump Operator Safety Training;
- Concrete Dispatch Training; and
- Certified Delivery Professional.
“We have invested in providing online courses for all our training in order to give universal access to the courses materials, anytime and anywhere,” says Saunderson.
From time to time the courses on basic concrete technology and the pump operator safety training are also offered in-person at the offices of the Vancouver Regional Construction Association (VRCA) and at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford.
“We are planning to add a Canadian concrete plant manager course in 2025,” says Saunderson.
Concrete BC is also planning to adapt its education and training courses so they can be offered in the continuing education program of Engineers and Geoscientists BC.
“Concrete BC’s courses are offered to both members and non-members and we have co-marketing agreements in place with the VRCA, the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (in B.C.) and Concrete Canada to extend outreach,” says Saunderson.
For more information about Concrete BC’s education and training courses, click here.
Ariane Sabourin, spokeswoman for the Canadian Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (CPCI), says the non-profit technical institute offers both on-demand online and in-person learning.
“We also often get requests for lunch-and-learn training from architects and engineers,” says Sabourin.
Learn on Demand Prefab Precast Concrete is a series of interactive online courses for construction professionals, architects, engineers and anyone who wants to learn more about precast concrete products and services.
There are several courses.
In order to pass one course and advance to the next, participants must answer questions about the course’s content.
The National Precast Concrete Association has licensed its master precaster program to the CPCI.
Participants obtain master precaster certification by completing six courses that are specific to precast. The courses cover general industry knowledge, production, safety, technical, quality control and leadership.
Beginning in 2025, CPCI will start to offer master precaster courses in a combination of in-person and web-based events.
CPCI is also developing a prestressing course for practicing engineers who design prestressed precast concrete structures.
The course will have a total of 12 lessons, including fundamentals of bending behaviour, primary design checks for bending, shear and bearing, and design examples.
CPCI hopes to launch the course in 2025.
“In recent years we have delved more into sustainability topics, because the whole precast industry has started to reduce its carbon footprint,” says Sabourin. “The precast industry as a whole has done a lot to reduce its emissions in the last decade.”
Mohammed Farooq, an instructor in the faculty of civil engineering at British Columbia Institute of Technologfy, teaches two courses related to concrete.
“One-half of the course on construction materials, which is for engineering students, deals with concrete,” says Farooq. “The concrete technology course, which is for non-engineering students, is part of the program for a certificate in civil technology.”
He says course content has changed as the industry has changed, with increasing use of automation, such as shotcrete, and new materials used to make concrete, such as fly ash and slag.
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