Getumdone Contracting is living up to its name and building First Nations business success through safety, collaboration and cultural understanding in northern B.C. The Aboriginal-owned, Houston, B.C.-based company supplies field crews to industrial projects in northern B.C. Not long ago, Getumdone’s owner Layne Boucher knew that if he wanted to help his company grow and give back to the community he would need to meet certain industry – required health and safety standards to become a prime contractor for the TransCanada’s Coastal GasLink project.
“The planning for the Coastal GasLink pipeline was well underway, and we needed to be able to get to the table to provide input about the local impact to the territory and ensure that First Nations were also benefitting from the development,” said Boucher.
The first step to achieving prime contractor status was to upgrade the company’s existing health and safety program (SEBASE) to meet the rigorous industry requirements of ISNetworld certification. Getumdone Contracting then contacted Northern Development Initiative Trust to inquire about the Trust’s Competitiveness Consulting Rebate program, which they heard about from other businesses in the region and knew could help them offset the costs of hiring a first-rate consultant to help them achieve improved health and safety standards.
“The [Northern Development] application was user-friendly and made it easy to take advantage of the opportunity,” said Getumdone co-owner Chrisann Boucher.
