‘Safety is No. 1’: College of Carpenters going extra mile to keep classes open during pandemic
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A member of the college will conduct screening and are considering having a nurse on site to perform COVID-19 testing if needed.
The college’s efforts aim to address concerns of students and staff alike, which mainly revolve around social distancing. Both groups want to be confident that the school is as safe as possible.
Smaller classes sizes are part of the equation, but have a downside: fewer students means it will take longer to bring workers into the industry.
In order to provide skills relevant to the COVID era, the college has also been emphasizing a training program called Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA). ICRA is a three-day program for health-care workers and lab technicians, designed to teach them how to protect people from infections. Contractors have been asking the college to provide this training to them.
Yorke said the college is undertaking these safety protocols to be responsible to its members.
“When you think about a college, there’s many young apprentices,” he said. “These are young people with not a lot of experience in the industry and on the job site. We have a responsibility to mentor them and to ensure safety is No. 1 to protect them.”
