KELOWNA – Heavy duty machinery and kids, two things that often aren’t seen together. However, that wasn’t the case in Winfield on Saturday as dozens of people of all ages got a chance to see some big machines close up.
It was all part of the Interior Heavy Equipment (IHE) Operator School’s annual open house in Winfield.
“They can climb up in a rock truck, see what a back hoe is, get in a grader,” said business development manager for the school, Christine Bay.
Curious members of the public got to try their hand at operating an excavator, just for fun. It was also a good opportunity for people interested in taking up a career in heavy duty machine operation.
“It just seems really fun. It’s a lot different than doing hands on labour like construction, I’d rather run machines and it’s just fun,” said event attendee, Darian Pifer.
An alumnus of the school, Shane Pritzer, was excited to attend, saying it’s another chance to ‘play in the dirt’.
Pritzer, a trained heavy duty operator, says he isn’t discouraged, despite being unable to find employment in the industry since he graduated a year ago.
“I was more hopeful when I started the program course that there would be more jobs available and I was led to believe that there would be and it looked that way and right as the course was finishing for me, things kind of tanked up north and the oil prices dove and now the big Fort McMurray fire,” said Pritzer.
However, the school continues to encourage new applicants.
“Oil and gas itself is cyclical. Oil is already back up over $50 a barrel, we are expecting approvals on some major, major projects that have been in the works for a long time,” said Bay.
Comments