CIMS Supports Canadian Construction Women’s Fall Mentorship Roundtable

CIMS Supports Canadian Construction Women’s Fall Mentorship Roundtable

At CIMS we support a fair and equitable workplace culture where every colleague feels valued, respected, welcomed, and treated fairly. As part of our commitment to this our company has invested and supports our people and organizations that champion diversity, every day of the year.

CIMS was very proud to be one of three event sponsors for the Canadian Construction Women‘s Fall Mentorship Roundtable event that took place Thursday September 22 in downtown Vancouver. Our very own Jessica Friday-Conroy, HR Manager was a guest speaker and Shelly Bidlock, VP, Health & Safety, who sits as on the Board of Directors for CCW and is responsible for all of their mentorship events.

We asked Shelly what exactly her role as Director of Community with the CCW entailed and what it means to her, she replied.

In March of 2022, I joined the Canadian Construction Women organization as the Director of Community and I absolutely love this role! For me, it means bringing women together to support each other thus forming a sense of community with each other.  It also means building meaning connections with the communities we live and work in to further establish that sense of belonging for women in construction and to lend a helping hand to the women in our community that my not have access to role models.

CIMS Senior leadership encouraged Shelly to take on this visible role in our industry that supports women.  While this role was new to Shelly and CIMS, so far, the result has been an amazing comradeship for the women of CIMS who have excitedly participated.

Joining Jessica and Shelly from CIMS at this event was Amber Haleta Warehouse Breathing Air Assistant & JOHSC committee member, and Kate Marotto, Accounts Payable Manager. 

Each company sponsor of this event was invited to have a representative speak briefly about their company and their role in construction. Jessica spoke about the services CIMS LP provides, our connection with the trades/ unions and some of our recent achievements.

For the main event, The CCW Fall Mentorship included 7 mentors to speak about their personal journey working in the construction industry, discussing some of the challenges working in the industry and advise to others on how we dealt with them.​​​​​​​ The mentors were a diverse group of women that included Director of Construction, VP of accounts, Assistant Business Manager for Electrical Union, HR, Director of BC Building Trades Labour Relations, and H&S for BC Hydro. Jessica got to speak about her earlier days working as Project Admin / Coordinator with CIMS and some of the challenges working on site as one of the handful of women on location. At the time she had a difficult time dealing directly with those challenges, but now with some more years of experience and in her current role of HR Manager, she feels better equipped to help other women dealing with similar issues today. 

CIMS Celebrating 30 Years

CIMS LP is proud to announce their 30th anniversary. We are excited to be celebrating three decades of service to our industrial and commercial customers throughout North America. 

 

 Since 1991, CIMS has consistently achieved the highest standards of safety, quality, and service for our customers. In an industry where cost and schedule over-runs are common, we deliver customer value by safely completing projects on time and on budget. Since our beginnings in the pulp and paper industry, we have diversified into construction and maintenance in oil and gaspulp and papermining and smeltingpower generation, and chemical sectors.

CEO, John McLaughlin joined the company in 1994 and as a journeyman boilermaker himself, John was keen to create and grow a dynamic company that would provide excellent employment for himself and his colleagues. The first long-term contract was won when John learned that there was an emergency at a local work site and CIMS showed up on location, ready to work.

“I am proud to be part of the growth and success of CIMS, we did this together!” said John McLaughlin.

That determination and willingness has helped grow CIMS to multiple locations across Canada, with over 1600+ employees, serving a wide variety of customers. Our success is built on the long-term relationships we have maintained with our customers and the repeat business that results.

“We have built a strong, financially sound company, that truly partners with our customers, and we all look forward to the next 30 years,” said Herb Gill, President.

We know what differentiates CIMS is our people. Our reputation and values have given us the ability to attract and retain a team with industrial construction experience and knowledge that cannot be replicated and provides our customers with the peace of mind that their equipment will be maintained or built safely and done right the first time.

COO, Patrick McGinley said, “We are so proud of all of our people at CIMS, those with tools in their hands on day one and each and every one who has joined us over the 30-year journey that brings us to today. Thank you so much.”

 

OUR PEOPLE · OUR PROMISE · OUR PASSION

About CIMS Ltd.

CIMS Limited Partnership is 100% Canadian owned and operated. For 30 years we have specialized in industrial construction and maintenance throughout North America. We provide services for large plant shutdowns and complex industrial projects in the oil and gas, pulp and paper, mining and smelting, power generation, and chemical sectors, throughout North America. We consistently achieve the highest standards of safety, quality, and service for our customers.

2020 365 Daily Maintenance Award Winner – IOL Nanticoke

Many industrial plants across the country require year round daily maintenance to ensure efficiency in their operations.

The CIMS IOL team in Nanticoke was recognized nationally as winner of Canadian Safety Achievements Award—365 Daily Maintenance Award for 12 months without a recordable injury. Congrats to the Nanticoke team – Justin Holbrook, Tim Ferguson, Dave Leblanc and all of the Frontline Leaders that made this happen!

Awards

2020 Craftperson of the Year Award – Amber Anderson

We are very excited to announce, our very own Amber Anderson is the winner of the National Award of Craftperson of the Year! The Craftsperson of the Year Award is open to all apprentices, forepersons and general forepersons executing maintenance work under a GPMA or NMA Collective Agreement, across 13 different construction trades.

· 1 Million employed Canadians in a variety of construction trades and professions

· 175 Signatory employers

· An annual average of 28 Million reported craft hours under the GPMC/NMC banner

· 15 nominees across Canada

Amber was nominated for her dedication in multiple areas including:

· Health & Safety

· Quality of Worker

· Ingenuity/Innovation

· Teamwork & Collaboration,

· Cost efficiencies, and leadership

For CIMS, Amber is and has been a trusted supervisor that leads her teams safely and efficiently. She owns her work scopes and as her superintendent described, ‘makes my life easy’. She meets not only CIMS expectations but the client’s expectations on safety, schedule, and cost.

Amber’s day to day performance is exceptional. Her approach to her craft is an example for her peers and those coming up through the trade. It is not one outstanding trait or skill that separates Amber from others. It is her ability to lead by doing all the ‘little things’ repeatedly and doing them exceptionally well.

Congratulations Amber!

Amber Anderson – Craftperson of the Year Award

2020 CIMS President’s Award Winner

This award was created to recognize a single outstanding CIMS employee or team who pursues operational excellence, elevates CIMS to new levels of success and exemplifies our core values:

Our People, Our Promise, Our Passion!

From sending all our people home safe every day, building things right the first time, reducing costs, doing what we say we will do, and working in an open and honest manner with all our internal and external customers, the CIMS President’s Award winner demonstrates what can be accomplished when we work together.

We are very excited to announce that our 2020 CIMS President’s Award winner is Shelly Bidlock.

Shelly joined CIMS in August of 2014 as the Regional EHS Manager for our Alberta operations, in September 2017, she was promoted to EHS Manager for Western Canada, and in October 2019, she assumed the role as the Director of Health and Safety. Shelly graduated from CIMS The Leadership Academy and is a member of our elite Leadership Excellence Program.

This year was a very difficult year from a Health and Safety point of view. We had to learn about COVID – 19 and learn how to keep our people safe and still get the work done in a timely fashion.

Shelly was our Dr. Bonnie Henry for CIMS, we had daily briefings that she led where she was knowledgeable, calm, and kind. Shelly is well respected in our organization and we are very proud of her accomplishments. Congratulations Shelly!

Pictured below: Shelly Bidlock receiving her award from CIMS’ President, Herb Gill

CIMS Women in Trades Leadership Award Winners

CIMS is dedicated to creating and supporting an environment where individual differences, contributions and experiences are valued and shared. A huge congratulations goes out to our very own Vicky Mihopoulos, Jen Duguay, Deidra Hardy and Callie Chatton for consistently striving for excellence and demonstrating an extraordinary commitment to the CIMS Mission, Values & Goals. This group of CIMS leaders received the CIMS Women in Trades Leadership Award last week in Rossland, BC by the CIMS Knowledge Sustainability and Innovation Department.

Statements from the award winners peers;

“Their safety records and understanding of the CIMS family and safety culture is constantly shared with their work partners. With our ever diminishing work force it his been my pleasure to work side by side with each and every one of them with what they bring to the table.”

“They show up every day with a smile on there face and have a great sense of job pride in everything they do, they are team players and everyone knows they can count on them”

“These leaders at CIMS are performing top notch work in what was once considered a “mans world” and they have blown that concept out of the water.”

Pictured above left to right Vicky Mihopoulos (Ironworker), Chris Balfor (PF GF), Jen Duguay (Iron worker), Deidra Hardy (Pipefitter) Mike Williams (Kootenay Division Construction Manager), Callie Chatton, (Labor GF), Marc Boudreau (Iron Worker Superintendent)

Selfless Actions Save a Life

On Thursday March 19th at a jobsite located near Corunna ON, CIMS workers responded to a man down situation.   These workers ultimately saved a man’s life through their selfless actions, quick and calm thinking.  Some made the appropriate calls and some were directly involved in responding to the man-down.  We recognized these workers with gas cards and a donation to charity of their choice for their acts.

Pictured from right to left are Grant Minielly, Dean Stewardson, Thomas Blennerhassett, Paul Maitland, Greg Jones with the recognition presented by Adrian DiCocco.

CIMS Attends Boilermaker Project Manager Course

CIMS sponsored our very own Richard Taylor to attend the 2020 for the Boilermaker Project Manager course put on by very experienced and knowledgeable veteran Boilermakers from Canada and the USA and helps to set Boilermakers up for success as they grow into higher leadership positions.

Kelly Rayne, CIMS  Director of Knowledge, Sustainability and Innovation, was invited to audit this course. This is a typical example of the positive partnership CIMS works to maintain with it’s union and client stakeholders for the benefit of everyone in the heavy industrial construction industry.