White Sand, Blue Lagoon
New members on
Pacific isle

North of 49°
Canadian Senate Approves Anti‑Worker Bill

Au nord du 49° parallèle
Le Sénat canadien
adopte le projet de loi
anti-travailleur

IBEW Helps Build Hospital
of the Future in Toronto

More than 2.6 million people call Toronto home, and every year, lots of them get sick.

If they need to go to a hospital, they have dozens of choices, but like most large North American cities, their hospitals have barely kept up with the furious pace of technological advances and are often run using paper-based systems that would be familiar to a doctor 30 or 40 years ago.

So when the Government of Ontario began planning the consolidation of the three-campus Humber Regional Hospital in 2005, health officials weren't interested in building a state-of-the-art teaching hospital. Far more was needed.

On Oct. 18, doors will open at the new CA$1.7 billion Humber River Regional Hospital, North America's first 100-percent digital hospital, a nearly paperless, interconnected, green and efficient apotheosis of the 21st century hospital, and nearly all of the most complicated, advanced systems were built by members of Toronto Local 353.

"It was one of our most complex data and electrical jobs ever and the scope and size of the job was at some points overwhelming," said Local 353 Business Manager Steven Martin. "There were up to eight tower cranes on 16 slabs and it was right in the middle of the city. We had 500 or more guys on one corner block for a significant amount of time and the partnership ethic across trades was upfront and in your face."

The project also boasted a remarkable safety record: 5 million man-hours without time lost due to injury.

"The general contractor, PCL, had never reached that marker on a project before," said Ted Szwec, Local 353 business representative. "They were very impressed."

A permanent testament to the work done by Local 353 will be marked on the wall honoring hospital sponsors. Martin negotiated a deal with the hospital that if all the electrical work was union, the local would give back a dollar for every hour on the job.

"Next to the foundations, the corporations and the citizens of Ontario, Local 353 will be remembered for donating CA$600,000 to the hospital. We are very proud of what that number represents for the local and our members," Martin said.

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