January 9, 2008

Professional Development

Initial class of building officials graduates

KORKY KOROLUK

correspondent

OTTAWA

One by one, some looking a bit self-conscious, they came to the front of the conference room and received framed certificates telling the world that they were recognized as Certified Canadian Building Officials.

There were 14 building officials in the class.

They hailed from places such as Williams Lake, B.C., and Iqualuit, Nunavut and they were the first to graduate from an accreditation process that has been several years in the making.

The newly certified building officials were celebrating their accomplishment with a recent luncheon at a downtown Ottawa hotel.

In time, certification will be necessary for all Canadian building officials, said Mannie Withrow, president of the Alliance of Canadian Building Officials’ Associations.

But that’s still in the future.

Withrow, who is also a building and fire inspector in Truro, N.S., presented the certificates, and noted that building officials often don’t get the respect they deserve because of the lack of national standards for the profession.

Now though, the standards have been developed, and spell out the requirements building officials must satisfy to be accredited.

They include a thorough familiarity with current and past provincial and national building codes and standards, and federal, provincial and municipal requirements regarding health, fire and life safety in construction.

They must also demonstrate knowledge of construction methods, procedures, practices and materials.

George Gritziotis, executive director of the Construction Sector Council, said an important result of the new program is that building officials’ credentials will be recognized in all jurisdictions, allowing them to work in any province.

That, too, will take time.

Withrow said that although the initial group of people receiving their certificates came from seven provinces plus Nunavut, only four provinces so far — Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia — have mandatory licensing.

Asked when the other provinces will fall into line, he noted that all of them have regulations which set out criteria outlining the requirements for plan reviews and building inspections.

“I’m hoping we can get reciprocity right across Canada in five years,” he said.

“ACBOA would love to see that, but we can’t tell what provinces might do. Generally, provinces will do whatever they see as being the most beneficial for the province.”

The message for provincial administrators, he said, is that there is now a national standard that outlines the training needed for building officials.

That standard was developed by a partnership between ACBOA, the CSC, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and other stakeholders in the construction industry.

Gritziotis said that building officials are like other occupational groups in the industry in that their workforce is aging and they’re looking for ways to bring people into the industry.

“One of the things they wanted to do was identify a way to... demonstrate the professionalism of building officials (as a way of attracting people to the profession),” he said.

National certification reaches that goal, he said, but added that it also does something else.

It confronts the issue of labour mobility.

“If you’re certifying a building official in one part of the country, their credentials, their skills, can be recognized in other parts of the country as well,” he said.

That was a point that Withrow also made.

“If I’m doing my job in Nova Scotia on a new Wal-Mart, or a new Canadian Tire, or a new anything, my task is to ensure that the building is constructed properly to code and that individuals are safe when occupying or using the building,” he said.

“It’s no different whether I do that in Nova Scotia, or Ottawa.”

There is a lot of similarity between the job in two different parts of the country.

“Because a fire exit, for example, that is required in Ottawa is the same exit that’s required in Truro,” Withrow said.

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