The Newfoundland and Labrador chapter of the Canadian Welding Association held its inaugural event in late November with close to 70 people in attendance.
Held at the Manuals River Interpretation Centre, the first event for the chapter addressed the newest edition of the CSA Standard W59 “Welded Steel Construction.” The 2013 edition of the standard is the 9th revision and includes changes and additions to address evolving welding technologies and the changing needs of the industry, as well as new welding requirements for fixed steel offshore structures.
“Personally, as chapter chair, and as an executive, we are very pleased with our first event,” said CWA Newfoundland and Labrador Chair Brad Forsey. “This is our second attempt in the province to try and establish a Chapter, so to have this kind of turnout for our first event was very reassuring and is a clear indictor that the chapter can succeed.”
Forsey said the chapter is focusing on getting industry involved as much as possible because it will help industry disseminate their message while boosting appeal to attendees.
“We’re going to work collaboratively with industry and leverage the great things their doing in the welding landscape here in the province while getting the chapter’s word out and promoting the benefits of becoming a CWA member,” he said. “So far we have had positive feedback from our first event and I’m excited to see this chapter grow over time.”
Guest speakers for the event included: Rod Bursey, P.Eng., who focused on the latest revisions to CSA W59-13, Greg Saunders, P.Eng., discussed fixed steel offshore structures – CSA W59-13 Annex U vs. S473, and Stig Skarborn, P.Eng., who presented on Quality: The Welder’s Responsibility.
“Having distinguished speakers attend the event was a great honour,” he said. “They did an amazing job and the attendees were very pleased. All of the topics are very timely.”
“I am very confident on the chapter’s future success,” said Forsey. “Local industry is at a place right now where the CWA can provide a lot of value and I don’t see that changing for the foreseeable future. The CWA is very important to industry here for educational seminars, new technological information, networking and the overall presence it has with regards to the welding industry.”
Although the chapter’s first event recently concluded, Forsey said the executive is working hard preparing for future events.
“We’re working on two high impact events for the new year as a chapter, as well as work with the Canadian Welding Association (CWA) Foundation to host a Mind over Metal welding summer camp for students and work with industry to promote the 2015 CWA CanWeld Conference that will be right here in St. John’s from September 13-15.”
Dan Tadic, Executive Director of the CWA, said it’s great that the Newfoundland and Labrador chapter had such a successful event.
“It is wonderful news – I’m very pleased with the hard work by everyone to really make this a success,” he said. “It truly indicates the commitment by Brad and all the chapter committee members. There’s a lot of activity in the province right now and I’m looking forward to seeing this chapter successfully grow.”
