Workshop Objective

You will learn to achieve more win/win settlements with contractors, better prepare themselves before negotiating, gain confidence about their ability to negotiate effectively, and build positive long-term relationships with contractors.

Workshop Content

• Best/worst negotiators and strategies
• Why being tough doesn’t always work (but neither does being the “nice guy”!)
• Understanding the nature of disagreement and conflict
• Constructive and destructive uses of conflict
• The most common negotiating styles
• The negotiating process revealed
• Tactful handling of disagreement and dialogue
• Specific techniques for offers, counter-offers, and counter-tactics
• How to persuade without being too aggressive
• Building for long-term relationships
• Conflict is healthy: constructive methods for ensuring a win/win outcome
• Dealing with the politics of conflict
• Dealing with those who refuse to negotiate
• How to determine the contractor’s best alternative to a negotiated agreement

Who Should Attend

Managers and inspectors who administer contracts for municipal construction and rehabilitation projects.

Accreditation

This course is recognized by:

• This course may be used for the technical specialist programs only. Please contact OACETT to ensure that this course satisfies your particular examination program for certification. Point Value = 5
• The Engineering Institute of Canada awards 14 Professional Development Hours to this workshop.

Format

Small and large group discussions, self-assessment questionnaires, video, case studies and exercises. Groups will be asked to recommend solutions to work specific case studies, then will practice their solution with the instructor.

Course Description
The course provides an in-depth understanding of municipalities’ exposure to liability due to their legal obligation to provide safe road facilities to the public, and how to avoid that costly exposure. The course explains the legal principle of “joint and several liability” in Canadian courts, and practical steps that municipalities can take to fulfill their legal obligations through proper design, inspection, maintenance, and documentation of road facilities. Several real-life examples will be discussed to explain how municipalities were found legally liable.

Course Content

• Liability in designing roadways and Intersections
• Liability in implementing traffic control devices
• Liability in designing roadway/intersection lighting
• Liability in routine road patrol and maintenance
• Liability in winter patrol and maintenance
• Liability in planning and designing road facilities dedicated to vulnerable road users
• The importance of conducting routine traffic safety studies
• Identifying and documenting design/maintenance flaws
• Practical methods to address design/maintenance flaws
• The benefits of using emerging technologies

Who Should Attend?
The primary target audience of this course are transportation professionals and risk managers involved with road design, inspection, and maintenance. Participants do not need to have formal engineering education. Example municipal positions that would be interested in taking the course include:

• Transportation manager.
• Transportation planning manager.
• Transportation operations supervisor.
• Transportation engineer.
• Transportation planner.
• Transportation technician.
• Transportation technologist.
• Traffic technician.
• Road superintendent.
• Any position involved with traffic/road safety.
• Any managerial position involved with public works, transportation services, risk management, or design and construction.

Prerequisites
Course participants are encouraged to make themselves familiar with the level-of-service standards adopted by their respective municipalities regarding the design, inspection, and maintenance of road facilities. Participants are encouraged to bring a scientific calculator that may be needed to answer the quizzes and the final exam.

What to bring:

1. Pen and Pencil.
2. Scientific calculator or a scientific calculator app on your smartphone.
3. An Internet-connected device (e.g., a smartphone, laptop) for the daily quizzes and to participate in the course polls.
4. The course polls will be done using Slido. To participate in the polls, you may download the Slido app (from Apple App Store or Google Play Store) or access the polls from any browser.

Evaluation Process
Your grade will be calculated as follows:

A final grade of 60% is required to pass the course.

Course Description

The “Municipal Liability: Temporary Work Zones” course is a one-day workshop that provides up to date comprehensive training on the safety requirements for temporary work zones on municipal roads in Ontario. The curriculum of the course is primarily based on the latest edition (April 2022) of the Ontario Traffic Manual (OTM) Book 7 and the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA).

Currently, there is no standard system in place for municipalities or contractors to ensure that site personnel and engineers/supervisors receive mandatory training on developing and implementing traffic protection and control plans for temporary work zones. This lack of compliance can compromise the safety of all road users (including motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians) and site personnel and may lead to costly claims in the event of an incident.

The course aims at addressing this gap by equipping participants with the necessary knowledge and skills to develop and implement essential safety plans in temporary work zones. It also emphasizes the importance of proper training and certification for site personnel, which can be used as proof of competency in ensuring the safety of all road users and site personnel.

By completing this course and obtaining the certificate, participants can enhance their knowledge and contribute to safer temporary work zones while ensuring compliance with relevant regulations.

Course Content

• Introduction to temporary work zones and their associated risks
• The role of the Ontario Traffic Manual (OTM) Book 7 in ensuring safety at temporary work zones
• Compliance with the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA)
• Developing and implementing Transportation Management Plans, Traffic Control Plans, and Traffic Protection Plans
• Typical layouts of temporary traffic control at temporary work zones
• Speed management in temporary work zones
• Considerations for active road users
• Visibility considerations at nighttime
• Temporary traffic control for unplanned events
• The importance of maintaining records of safety plans and training certificates
• Case studies illustrating the consequences of inadequate safety measures in temporary work zones

Who Should Attend?

The primary audience for this course includes engineers and technicians/technologists who work or supervise work in temporary work zones. It is relevant for those employed by municipalities or contractors involved in roadway construction and maintenance. The course is also beneficial for engineers involved in designing projects impacting traffic operations or exposing workers to traffic.

Prerequisites

Participants are encouraged to bring the following:

• A copy of the 2022 edition of the Ontario Traffic Manual – Book 7 (download it for free here)
• An Internet-connected device (tablet, laptop, or smartphone) for participating in course polls, using the Slido app. The polls can be accessed through the Slido app or a browser – no registration required.

Evaluation Process

The course will be assessed through a final online test at the end of the day. The test will consist of 20 multiple-choice questions and participants must achieve a minimum score of 75% to pass. The test duration will be 90 minutes.

Participants will receive a certificate of completion upon passing the course.

Course Description

This course is designed to illustrate the necessity to create and maintain accurate and current records with goals and targets of roadway maintenance standards together with documentation to mitigate municipal risk arising from perceived hazardous road conditions within the municipalities’ road allowances. This course specifically will emphasize the need to produce and retain an appropriate Levels of Service document with a supplementary Standard Operating Procedures document.

Learning objectives / Course goals:

•  Recognize and Define the influence that Risk Management/Record-Keeping and Asset Management impose on Levels of Service and Standard Operating Procedures
•  Interpret the role of an effective LOS and SOP within a municipality
•  Develop a practicable LOS and SOP balancing Risk Analysis, Asset Management and Best Practices
•  Examine the process required to create a LOS and SOP
•  Propose and produce a sustainable validated LOS and SOP

Required Texts, Materials, or Equipment

• Participation in a Good Roads course with some basic knowledge of municipal risk mitigation
• Participants should attend with an understanding of road maintenance equipment and road classifications/priorities

Major Assignments: Descriptions

 Participants will be required to, by course completion provide the instructor with a brief example (Paper) of a LOS or SOP paper plus completion of the course exam.

Class Participation

Participants will be encouraged in an open forum to discuss their challenges and the positives of working with LOS and SOP documents.

Course Grading  

Explanation of Grading System

• Exam : 75 % of total grade (Approximately 20 questions)
• Paper : 25 % of total grade (Practical of creating a LOS or SOP)

An overall grade of 65% is required to pass