November 19-December 2, 2014 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— Page 35
T
he great news is that
the
construction
industry is booming,
especially in Colorado; the
bad news is the growth in the
construction industry is cre-
ating huge workforce short-
ages. Both nationally and in
Colorado, construction firms
are struggling to find skilled
craft workers as well as having
difficulties filling supervisory
positions.
According to the U.S. Depart-
ment of Labor, Colorado
gained 7,700 construction jobs
between July 2013 and July
2014. Based on reports from
Fails Management Institute,
the construction industry will
need to add at least 1.5 million
workers to successfully install
the volume of work that is
expected in 2015.
Along with the need to
recruit more employees into
the industry comes the chal-
lenge of ensuring workers
are well trained and perform-
ing the work safely. Associ-
ated Builders and Contractors,
Rocky Mountain Chapter, has
increased our association’s
efforts to meet the demand.
To meet the apprenticeship
training needs, ABC co-found-
ed The Construction Industry
Training Council in the mid-
1980s. CITC is a nonprofit cor-
poration that trains craftspeo-
ple in the areas of carpentry,
masonry, painting, sheet metal,
plumbing, sprinkler fitting,
electrical and pipe fitting.
As the demand for highly
skilled apprentices continues to
increase, CITC has grown and
this year has record enrollment
with more than 550 apprentices
currently enrolled in the pro-
gram. Most of the growth in
enrollment has occurred in the
electrical, plumbing and sheet
metal trades.
CITC also has incorporated
new technologies, such as vid-
eoconferencing, to provide
even more training opportuni-
ties throughout the entire state
of Colorado. Videoconferenc-
ing allows students to “remote
in” to classes and provides
them with the capability of
interacting with the instructor
and other students in the class.
Construction firms also are
facing a shortage of experi-
enced fore-
men, project
m a n a g e r s
and super-
int endent s .
To meet the
needs
of
construction
firms in Col-
orado, ABC
has increased
its
focus
on training
i n d i v i d u -
als in field
supervisory
roles
and
is expanding its educational
offerings to help train existing
and new supervisors in 2015.
ABC launched our Leader-
ship Academy in 2014 with
more than 35 participants
enrolled in the program to
develop the next generation of
leaders in the industry. ABC
partnered with Crestcom to
offer The Bullet Proof Man-
ager where emerging business
leaders can grow their skills,
exchange ideas and share what
is working within their com-
panies.
With the huge influx of new
employees coming into the
industry, the demand for safety
training also has increased. To
meet this demand, ABC has
created a new and innovative
solution to providing safety
training to the industry at a
greatly reduced price. The Con-
struction Core Competency
program is designed around
the basic safety certifications
required by the Occupational
Safety and Health Adminis-
tration and incorporates both
hands-on and classroom train-
ing.
C3 provides the highest-qual-
ity safety training conveniently
organized into four color-coor-
dinated levels that correspond
to the employee’s field expe-
rience and required certifica-
tions. C3 incorporates a unique
tracking system that allows
companies to access safety
documentation for employees
through scanning a bar code
on employees’ hard-hat stick-
er with a smart phone or that
can be accessed online. This
online solution, Complete Safe-
ty Training Tracker, was devel-
oped in a partnership between
ABC and Complete Safety LLC.
In addition to accessing train-
ing certificates through QR
Codes, the system provides a
database that helps companies
organize and manage their
employees’ safety training in
one convenient place.
Other tools that ABC offers
to help construction firms
address the workforce shortage
include an online jobs board
.
com), where workers can con-
nect with companies looking to
hire, and the Build Your Future
website
), which
educates potential employees
about careers in construction,
earning potential and provides
a portal to construction training
centers and job opportunities.
Workforce development con-
tinues to be a top priority for
ABC, both nationally and in
Colorado, as outlined in our
strategic plans. ABC will con-
tinue to expand our workforce
development efforts, build-
ing upon programs already in
place and creating new pro-
grams that complement current
efforts to address the current
and future workforce needs as
they relate to recruiting and
training in the construction
industry.
s
EXPERIENCE
Taylor Kohrs.
9351 Grant Street, Suite 500 • Denver, CO 80229
EXPERIENCE
What defines a successful construction project? For our
clients, it starts at Taylor Kohrs, where you will find the
diverse expertise, integrity and personalized service to
make every project a successful one.
303 . 928 .1800
Construction, Design & Engineering
Mark M. Latimer
President/CEO,
Associated Builders
& Contractors, Rocky
Mountain Chapter,
Englewood
Both nationally
and in
Colorado,
construction
firms are
struggling to
find skilled
craft workers as
well as having
difficulties
filling
supervisory
positions.
