Photo: Wapiti Earthworks Ltd.
Since 2002, Wapiti Earthworks Ltd., based in Fort St. John, has provided the oil and gas industry with quality earthmoving, road building and site construction services. As Wapiti’s core clients began requiring more sophisticated health and safety standards for contractors, the company needed to act to remain competitive. Wapiti Earthworks looked to a subject matter expert to update the company’s health and safety program to meet industry standards and COR certification requirements. The company turned to Northern Development’s Competitiveness Consulting Rebate program to offset the project’s investment. They were successful and received a $3,250 rebate to pay for 50 per cent of the project’s overall budget.
For the past ten years, Northern Development’s Competitiveness Consulting Rebate (CCR) program has been helping small and medium sized companies offset the cost of external business consulting projects. For many small and medium sized businesses, justifying the cost of consulting projects can be a major barrier. A rebate of up to 50 per cent to a maximum of $30,000 can be recovered to support projects like this one.
As a COR certified business, Wapiti Earthworks is recognized as having developed and implemented a health and safety program to mitigate risk and prevent workplace injuries. Having this robust health and safety program allows Wapiti to bid on major contracts and increase the company’s client base.
“I’m sure that our updated health and safety plan will help us work for more clients,” said general manager Guy Maclean. “Now, we’re COR certified and a member of ISN and ComplyWorks. This assures clients that we take health and safety seriously and provides a vote of confidence to those considering us for a job. I’m certain this will help us in the future.”
The health and safety manual developed during this project also enabled Wapiti Earthworks to register on ISNetworld and Complyworks databases, a requisite of many of the company’s customers and creates a solid business foundation for continued growth.
