Fast Facts: Training Our Work Force
- A critical part of a community’s economic strength is a workforce with in-demand skills
- The Economic Partnership is supporting a 14-month research project to identify current and anticipated training and talent gaps in Sarnia-Lambton
- The research, which began in early 2009, will result in a workforce development strategy to address local training and talent gap
- The project is directed by the Sarnia-Lambton Workforce Development Board
- The research is overseen by a steering committee made up of representatives from business, economic development and education
- Funding is provided by Employment Ontario, through the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
- Employers in the sustainable energy sector are already looking to Lambton College’s Alternative Energy Engineering Technology program for qualified labour
- The three-year program provides theory and application skills in current and emerging energy technologies
- The 2008 inaugural graduating class found itself in high demand in the marketplace
- Lambton College also provides training in leading-edge process technologies and applications through its Centre of Excellence for Process Manufacturing. Theory and applications are tested through dynamic simulations and the processing of samples in advanced technology laboratories
- The University of Western Ontario offers three Master of Engineering programs, in environmental, chemical, and biomaterials and biochemical engineering
- The Sarnia Construction Association, the Sarnia Heavy Construction Associatin, the Sarnia-Lambton Industrial Education Co-operative and the local workforce collaborate on workplace safety training on an ongoing basis.
- The safety record of Sarnia-Lambton's construction workers is 25 times better than the provincial average
- The WSIB (Workplace Safety Insurance Board) is launching a program to try to replicate Sarnia-Lambton's safety record in other areas of the province
For further information contact:
George Mallay, General Manager
Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership
Telephone 519-332-1820 / Toll Free North America 1-800-972-7642
mallay@sarnialambton.on.ca
