Cementation is an underground mine contracting and engineering company that provides an extensive array of services for clients throughout North and South America. Based in Ontario, Canada, the company has a unique structure, one that is well suited for technically challenging projects.
“We set out to do something different,” says President of Cementation, Roy Slack. “We wanted to change the way mine contracting is carried out.” The company started by focusing on three key aspects: safety, relationships and the way it implements contracting.
“We wanted this to be an industry with zero harm so we aligned our vision to focus on safety,” says Slack. “Secondly, we wanted to restructure the relationship between us and the clients and avoid adversarial relationships. We really try and understand what the client wants from a project standpoint and we align ourselves with these goals.
Lastly, we wanted to change the way contracting is done by providing a true design-build service for Clients. Traditionally, different groups would work on different stages of a project; we wanted to establish both continuity and one point accountability through a strong engineering service within our contracting group. These are the changes we wanted to make.”
Above all else, Cementation is committed to safety. The company recognizes that a safe contractor is more attractive to both employees and clients and this aligns with the company’s goal of being both an employer and contractor of choice.
“We wanted to be the employer of choice and we’ve worked extremely hard at that,” says Slack. “We wanted to align employee goals with corporate goals in order to help our people succeed. We have a strong training program in and out of office. We believe safety is the right way to work and we believe in treating employees with respect. If benefits come from that, good, but we look at it as simply the right way to work.”
To maintain the highest level of safety, the company has implemented training programs developed from its internal corporate values as well as legislated requirements specific to the jurisdictions they work in. Cementation has also developed a risk management protocol.
“We’ve developed a system for hazard recognition. The people in our group have a lot of long-term experience and they’ve the ability to recognize hazards,” says Slack. “We wanted to implement that insight into this program.”
For the rest of this article, click here: http://www.miningglobal.com/operations/1272/Cementation-Canada:-A-New-Way-of-Building-Mines