In what may be an industry first, industrial owners and contractors in Southern California are close to signing an agreement to share the cost of training craft workers.
The work force development program comes from the Industrial Owners Council of the Western Council of Construction Consumers, Torrance, Calif. The plan was presented on March 4 at the council's annual meeting in Irvine, Calif. Richard A. Igercich, mechanical manager of ExxonMobil's Torrance refinery and chairman of the IOC, said area owners know it's not easy to staff up for major turnaround projects. "Several years ago, we began an initiative to improve training and certification," he said.