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Our St. Maries, Idaho facility’s electrician apprenticeship program consists of a combination of online/classroom coursework and practical experience. Electrician apprentices must accrue 8,000 hours of on-the-job work experience and are required to be enrolled in an accredited electrician apprenticeship school for their classroom training. For our program, apprentices can partner with either North Idaho College or the College of Southern Idaho.
Candidates take an average of four years to complete the eight levels of the electrician apprenticeship. Each of those four years requires 144 hours of instruction, for a total of 576 hours. The schooling focuses on electrical codes, wiring, finish work, troubleshooting, motor installation and controls. Our apprentices also enroll in Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) classes.
Electricians at St. Maries perform integral tasks in our wood products operations. Properly working electrical tools, wiring, fuses, receptacles, circuits, and motors, to list only a few items, are a vital part of a mill running efficiently. First and foremost, the electricians are responsible for complying with all Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) safety protocols and to work in accordance with the rules and regulations of the National Fire Protection Association and special local regulations. For example, lock out/tag out systems are a primary mill safety system that electricians must install, maintain, and repair and are critical for all workers at the mill. Everyday tasks can also include rough-in wiring for switches, receptacles, circuits, motors, and fuses; preparing sketches or following blueprints to determine the location of wiring or equipment and to ensure conformance to building and safety codes; diagnosing, troubleshooting, and repairing all types of malfunctioning electrical systems; and providing input to management for capital planning on longevity of electrical systems.
We have nine electrician apprentices at various stages of training at our St. Maries, Idaho lumber and plywood facility. The program offers Team Members a way to acquire skills and certification in a trade that is in high demand in our industry today, and in turn provides our Company with a consistent source of skilled labor talent. Many of the Team Members who have participated in apprenticeships have now successfully completed the program and are currently working as fully qualified electricians at our facilities. Further, once an apprenticeship is completed the apprentice can take the journeyman state test to get their journeyman card. We have had eight apprentices move on to journeyman status after their program was completed over the last five years.
