Employers play a vital role in ensuring that apprentices move through the system smoothly. However apprentices are ultimately responsible for working with their employer and the provincial apprenticeship division to progress in their training.
When reviewing the information package, keep in mind that although many rules are standard for apprenticeship training, the Rig Technician trade has some exceptions. If you have questions, ask your company's Human Resources contact for clarification.
The most important document to familiarize yourself with is the Record Book or Blue Book. The Blue Book contains the tasks, activities, and functions of Rig Technicians. It also contains the course outline for the technical training. It will be your record of your on-the-job training hours and will be used by your supervisors to track your competency in specific tasks as you advance in training.
The Blue Book is becoming one of the most important documents in the field. It will become a record of your work experience. You will be asked to provide your Blue Book when you start with a new company or with a different rig.
As a Rig Technician apprentice, your biggest responsibility will be managing your Blue Book. The following points outline your basic responsibilities with the Blue Book:
- Read the book so that you are familiar with its contents.
- Have the book available for your supervisor's review/signature.
- Ensure that you follow up with your supervisor to get necessary signatures. How often you do this will depend on your employer's policy. It may be at the end of a two-week shift, or more frequently, or less frequently.
- If you change employers, make sure that the original contractor signs off on your completed hours of work. As well, you will need to work with both your old employer and your new employer to complete the "Transfer Card" process.
- If the transfer process is not completed properly, you may not receive credit for your work hours because you will not be under legal contract to an employer.
- If you lose your Blue Book, you are responsible to replace it. You will also be responsible for retracing your work history - hours worked and completed skills.
- When you move between rigs and/or employers, your Blue Book is your record of employment in the industry. It will give your new manager/employer an accurate reference of your qualifications. It is your responsibility to keep it up to date and to bring it with you to every job.
Why does it say "direct journeyman supervisor" in my record book?
The Rig Technician trade follows many of the standard guidelines and rules of trades, but there are certain distinctions that make the drilling trade unique. Perhaps the most important difference for the Rig Technician trade is that there are no journeymen ratios associated with our trade.
Journeymen to apprentice ratios are established to ensure that apprentices receive adequate supervision. They are not necessary if an apprentice will receive adequate supervision in the absence of regulation. The positions that fall under the trade regulation have been in existence for over 140 years and there are established practices for ensuring adequate supervision of trainees. The management and supervisory personnel attached to the rigs qualify for these positions in part because they are themselves experienced drillers. The provincial government agrees with this logic and has allowed the Rig Technician trade to proceed without ratios.
What happens if I lose my Blue Book?
Since your Blue Book will contain all of your hours in the trade and your skills progress, losing your Book will be a serious situation. There is a replacement fee to get another one. Then it will be your responsibility to go back to your employer(s) and have them re-sign for your OJT hours; and, you will want to get all of your skills re-signed. In the case of the skills, you may find that you will need to be re-evaluated for each one. If you have more than one employer, this could be a long process.
One way to 'back-up' the information in your Blue Book is to send it to the provincial apprenticeship authority for updating at regular intervals (for instance, at the end of each level of training.) They will enter your hours into their main system and therefore an official record will exist. This way, if you do lose your book, the provincial authority will be able to issue you a new one with your past hours included.
