Back To School In Moose Jaw

This was a first for me, i had never done a orientation to a company like the one i did this week. Back in the UK when ever i started a new job you probably went in the Saturday before collected the keys to your truck ,ran through a few details with the owner or transport manager, usually just give them your P45 and bank details and pick up a new pair of gloves and a shirt or two if they could be bothered to supply them stow your stuff in a cleaned out truck, pick your trailer up if loaded and head off home , all on a Saturday morning.

This one was just a bit different, last week i was given a itinerary of what were going to do and on the bottom was a phone number of the guy i would be going with , he was on the way over right now and would be arriving in Saskatoon Friday or Saturday morning [it was Tuesday] and he was coming from Ontario.

Terry was his name and i rang him Friday to arrange a pick up on Sunday, as by this time he would be coming from Big River two and a half hours north of Saskatoon, and at the prescribed time of 6 pm he knocked at the door.

I kissed Louise, said buy to the kids and jumped in the chevy and we headed south to Moose Jaw where we had rooms booked in the comfort inn, ready for the 8am start Monday morning.

Tim Hortons must be the busiest place any morning of the week and with coffee in hand we headed for the purpose built training suite above the offices for a quick safety run down we got down to work.

The course content included;

1. Policy & Procedures for the group of companys
2. Transportation of Dangerous goods [TDG]
3. Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System [WHMIS]
4. Hours of Service
5. Payroll
6. In Cab Computer Training
7. Safety Management System
8. Smiths Training
9. Brake Adjustment/inspections
10. Back Basics[practical training in the yard]

As always with a group of people, after a while you realise there are a few characters , and with this bunch there was some.

Nine people in the group three from Europe [Irish, Dutch, British] fresh into the country, one guy from Finland that's been here for years and was the oracle, he knew everything about everything and he did, and one from Bosnia, who also had been in Canada for some time, all the others were Canadians, eight of us were drivers and one was a new safety guy for the group