On Canada's east coast sits the largest refinery in the country, Irving Oil Refinery. In the fall of 2015, the refinery had a $200 million turnaround project known as Operation Falcon. International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Lodge 73 was there to supply the qualified Boilermakers that were needed to make the project a success.

The Irving Oil Upgrade provided jobs for over 2700 people; 2400 alone came from the province of New Brunswick and $80 million was spent on wages & benefits. For the Boilermakers, the project provided worked for close to 470 members during the 60 day shutdown. "They came from far and wide to fill the job orders for this project" said Kim Blyth, Assistant Business Manager of Lodge 73.

Lloyd Raiche, General Foreman and a 23 year member of Lodge 73, said "I jumped at the chance to come home to work as a General Foreman on a shutdown of this magnitude, as it's the biggest shutdown in the refinery's history." Lloyd explained "The job itself was well planned, and gave an opportunity for our members to come home and work, as things have been quiet here for a while."

Lodge 73 member, John Larter, explained how a crew of Boilermakers from various lodges came together to make the lifts on removing and replacing the 266,000 pound head of the Catalytic Cracker Unit, saying "As the job steward and a member of the lift team, I was very proud of all the members from the different locals across Canada that helped out with the lift. From engineering to supervision for Lorneville Mechanical to the rigging team on the ground and up in the structure it was a job well done by all, not to mention the skilled hand of the crane operator Derrick McCallum."

The Rigging Foremen, Joel McLaughlin, said "The lift was done with a group of riggers with various experiences in lifts, but as a group they all worked together. The lifts went flawlessly and everyone involved can hold their heads high with pride for another job well done by the Boilermakers!"

Babcock & Wilcock (B&W) was responsible for the removal and replacement water tube section of the Flue Gas Cooler (FGC). There are 24 sections in the FGC, each section is an independent coil assembly with 2,916 tubes weighing between 10,000 to 15,000 pounds. The 24 new coils were made in St. Catharines, ON.

For the Boilermakers, the removal and installation of the sections was planned for safety and optimization of the schedule. The loads were over 30 feet long, each lift required two cranes and mon-rails to remove and install the coils.

Jacobs Industrials was responsible for the Hydro Cracker, Sulphur Plant, Residual Fluid Cracker, Hydrogen Plant, Flares, Sour Water Plant, 81 Exchangers, 46 Drums, 30 Columns and 29 Heaters.

Kim Blyth says that when Irving Oil informed 73 of their plans "We insured our partners that Boilermakers were ready, willing & able help them to achieve their goals." Blyth tells us "we supplied 22 welders on the cat cracker head and they delivered a 100% pass rate, you will not get that anywhere else in the world".

Cooperation by all the parties was key. An example of that was between the Boilermakers, Employers, Client and the New Brunswick Construction Safety Association (NBCSA). Thirty members from Local 271 had successfully completed a 30 hour safety course but the program is not accepted outside of the province of Quebec. In the province of News Brunswick there is training required on fall protection and confined space before starting work. Lodge 73 approached the Employee, Client and the NBCSA to explain the course outline. They listened and studied the course information provided before they made the decision to accept these qualified Boilermakers.

Operation Falcon was under the General Presidents Maintenance Committee and National Maintenance Committee (GPMC/NMC) agreement. The GPMC/NMC is an alliance of International Building Trades unions that negotiate and administer labour agreements tailored for maintenance work at industrial plants in Canada.

International Representative, Kent Oliver, explained "Under the maintenance committee agreements, Boilermakers in Canada have worked almost 4 million hours between January 1 and September 30 in 2015 and this job will add to that total." Oliver added "The GPMC/NMC system provides a stable, long-term maintenance solution for industry and a reliable source of secure employment for unionized construction tradesmen, a win-win situation."

Raiche also told us about what he thought of the forthcoming workplace Boilermaker leaders, saying "It's a good feeling to look at the next generation of Boilermakers we have here; their skills, pride in their work and overall great work ethic in representing Local 73 will just increase our employer's and client's confidence in the future of our trade and union."

One of the largest private sector investments to take place in Atlantic Canada this year, Operation Falcon is another example of the how the Boilermakers cooperate with their fair Employers and Clients to get the job done right the first time.

Check out a video of the removal of the head by clicking here.