BHP Billiton Diamonds has realized significant gains through the workplace literacy programs it put in place for its Ekati mine, 300 km northeast of Yellowknife, N.W.T.
Faced with a far-reaching low-literacy rate (about 34% of the mine’s 1,500 employees could not recognize the word “stop” beyond the familiar context of the octagonal, red road sign), the company worked with its employees in developing teaching opportunities to improve not only the workers’ efficiency but their lives in the community beyond the mine.
Part of the company’s original development agreement with the federal government was a promise to use northern, and particularly Aboriginal, workers, and to build a sustainable workforce.
To do this, BHP Billiton developed the Ekati Workplace Learning Program (EWLP). Initially all employees undergo training to ensure that they can do their job properly and safely, but EWLP then takes them beyond that. The program is designed to work on several levels, serving the needs of those with literacy skills ranging from pre-literate to grade 5, and offering classes for high-school equivalency and apprentice support.
— The preceding is from an information bulletin published by the Toronto-based ABC Literacy Foundation.
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