Targets Highway Construction

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), with assistance from the Federal Highway Administration on-job-training/support services (OJT/SS) program, is sponsoring a pre-employment training project focusing on introducing trainees to highway construction trades and employment opportunities available in the highway construction and maintenance industry. This pilot training program is designed to assist contractors to locate, hire, and retain people interested in working in highway construction. The pre-employment training was initiated in response to the review of contractors' compliance with federal and state diversity requirements in past projects which showed that there was a need for more females and minorities to work in state and federal funded construction projects.

The pilot project is currently being tested in the Orlando metropolitan area and will be extended statewide in the future if the outcome of the pilot project proves successful. FDOT has contracted the Florida A&M University to implement the program in cooperation with vocational, colleges, and other training centers available in the state. In Orlando, FAMU is working with the Central Florida Joint Training Association (CFJTA) to recruit, train, and place graduates who successfully complete the program with contractors. Through efforts made by Mr. David Wipper, the Project Director for CFJTA, a network link with community and job link centers was established to locate people interested in working in highway construction. The response to the recruitment efforts was very good as an overwhelming number of people expressed strong interest for the training. Analysis of the profile of people interested in the training showed that approximately one third of the people were already working and were looking for something else to enable them move up career ladder, another one third were general laborers who had limited skills and seeking employment, and another one third had some college training and were also seeking employment.

A screening process was established to pick people who meet the requirements of working in a construction job site. In the first training phase which was conducted from May 20 to May 31, 2002, twelve people were screened to attend the training. A second training session was conducted from August 19 to August 30, 2002 with twenty-three applicants picked up for the training. Each training session gave instructions related to technical and life skills. The technical training involved math and measurement reading, hand tools, excavation, and orientation to heavy equipment used in highway construction. Facilities at Mid-Florida Technical Center were used to orient trainees with heavy equipment and safety. The training session also incorporated 10 hours of OSHA instruction certified by the U.S. Department of Labor. The training was generally conducted in the evening to give those who were working a chance to attend. Each trainee who successfully completed the 32-hr training was given a certificate of completion as well as an OSHA card.

A list of pre-qualified contractors with construction projects in the Orlando metropolitan area was acquired from FDOT. A letter was sent to the contracting companies followed by telephone calls to let them know the availability of these graduates for hiring. The first graduate was hired on June 14, 2002 and since then seven graduates have been hired by three different contractors. At this time, fourteen graduates are still available for employment and efforts are underway to secure positions with contractors for them. It should be noted that at this time there is no cost to the contractor and all graduates from this program are available to them for free.

Trainees during one of the heavy equipment orientation session

As the pilot project, scheduled to continue for one more year, continues to grow and get visibility, a need and time-based training is planned in the future. Under this paradigm, contractors will be asked how many people they need and when they need them. It is only then that the training will be conducted in time to meet those needs. This paradigm shift together with cooperation from contractors has the potential of success as the contractors can influence the training curriculum to focus more on their needs.

At this point, the preliminary results shows that the private and public sector cooperation has the potential of diversifying the highway construction workforce as the trainees are from all walks of life and are of different ethnic backgrounds and of both genders. The project team appreciates the cooperation and insight from the President of Florida Transportation Builders Association, Robert Burleson, who has shown strong support for the ideals of this project. The project team will continue soliciting input from contractors to improve the program. If a contractor needs additional information regarding this project, please contact Dr. Renatus Mussa of Florida A&M University at 850-410-6191 or mussa@eng.fsu.edu. You may also contact Mr. David Wipper of Central Florida Joint Training Association at 407-383-5188 or dwipper@cfl.rr.com. Additional information about the program can be found at http://www.eng.fsu.edu/~otete.