Elite Safety Services set for grand opening

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/10/2016 (3266 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After months of planning, constructing, organizing, moving and settling in to their new facility, the owners and staff of Elite Safety Services Inc. are ready to show off their new digs. The grand opening of their 12,508-square-foot building will be held on Oct. 6 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Local owners Marc Watt and Darren Brick said even though they’ve grown substantially in the last five to eight years, they are still very much a family-run operation.

“We try to make our employees come first and we treat them like they are family because they are family. Our employees are our biggest and best assets, and I think that’s one of the main reasons why we’ve grown over the years. They are invested in the company and treat it like it’s their own. It’s a family-run business, and we’ve very much tried to keep it that way,” Brick said.

Elite Safety Services Inc. offers customized safety training programs and services including H2S Alive, first aid, WHMIS, confined space entry, tower climbing and rescue, fall protection and defensive driving. As former firefighters, Watt and Brick believed that some of the calls they were responding to possibly could have been prevented had more safety measures been taken. As such, they slowly developed their safety business, which started out of their homes in 2003.

They’ve expanded from a basic partnership and now have 22 full-time and 50 to 100 part-time (depending on the project and season) employees on the payroll. They work with a variety of sectors including energy, manufacturing, construction and agricultural to meet the standards and needs required. The move to 1850 17th St. East from 930 Victoria Ave. East has allowed them to further expand their business, and as such they created a new division that allows their clients to access confined space management and rope access teams.

“We’re doing more productive things for our clients now. We will actually go into the spaces and do some of the work if we’re capable of doing it. Not only are we able to help them at heights to make sure they are safe — and if they fall, we’re there to rescue them — but we’re now starting to do some of the work at heights and in those confined spaces to assist in those projects,” Watt said.

The move to the new, state-of-the-art building took place in May. A large shop allows for hands-on training, plus they have stand-alone drug and alcohol testing facilities, as well as regular classroom space. The grand opening celebration will include tours, and safety presentations will be ongoing throughout the day. For more information on the company, visit their website, elitesafetyservices.ca.

Domino Effect

As Elite Safety Services Inc. moved into their new home, that meant its former location would be vacant.

As it turns out, though, it wasn’t vacant for long.

The Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation (MHHC) is pleased to have relocated its conservation hub in Brandon to 930 Victoria Ave. East earlier this year

and they are now sharing the space with the Manitoba Conservation District Association.

Their former home was at the Riverbank Discovery Centre. Field and office manager Curtis Hullick said the move has been very positive.

“We were a little tight for office space, and we now have better meeting facilities. We also had separate off-site storage, so this has allowed us to bring everything under one roof. It’s convenient and easy to access, but the visibility has also helped to make people more aware of our organization and the work that we do,” Hullick said.

The MHHC’s mandate is to work with individual landowners, as well as organizations, to conserve, restore and enhance fish and wildlife habitat in Manitoba. Now in its 30th year, this non-profit organization continues to expand its role as a facilitator of conservation partnerships and a delivery agency for voluntary, farm-friendly conservation initiatives that promote ecosystem health and biodiversity. They’ve protected more than 200,000 acres of wildlife habitat through hundreds of conservation agreements.

Some of the programs they deliver include wetland conservation and restoration, habitat conservation and management for species at risk, and riparian agreements to help reduce or prevent erosion along streams, rivers and lakes.

The general public, however, may be most familiar with the work that MHHC does with duck nest tunnels. They install and maintain the hen house structures, the majority of which are in the Shoal Lake and Minnedosa areas, which provide mallard ducks with a safe place to nest.

For more information on MHHC, visit their website at mhhc.mb.ca.