Telinekataja - Superior skills as the secret of success
A company that specializes in high-quality and safe scaffolding, Telinekataja Oy has invested heavily in developing the skills of its personnel this year.
The flow of information and the utilization of databanks have been improved by focusing on the development of the intranet system as well as by taking new electronic channels into use for the purpose of customer communications. In addition to the digital world, Telinekataja, in collaboration with the vocational adult education center Amiedu, is building an extensive personnel training system for scaffolding skills which, in its scope and focus on specialized skills, is unique in the construction industry.
Telineakatemia into operation
Telineakatemia, or Teline Academy, provides training for Telinekataja’s personnel throughout the organization as well as for its certified subcontractors. In addition, the program also offers vocational training based on apprenticeship contracts for those seeking professional qualifications in the scaffolding business. The training programs began in March 2008. Inititally, the training will be conducted as traditional face-to-face training, but will be supplemented with online competence development and certification procedures in the future.
- We undertook the development of this training program, unique in its offer of specialized construction skills, for many reasons. First of all, it is still necessary to develop the safety of construction work, and in that, professionally built scaffolding solutions have their own, essential role,” says Telinekataja Oy’s Sales Director Mika Eskola.
- Secondly, the specialized skills needed by people who put up scaffolding have not been available other than in the form of receiving instructions from someone more experienced on construction sites. With the training, we want to secure labor resources and their permanence. A qualified worker’s chances for employment are excellent from both the short-term and long-term perspectives. Amiedu was just the right partner for us in building Telineakatemia’s face-to-face training system.
- As an operational environment the web is new to us, but we do see a clear trend towards the increasing use of digital channels. Maintaining skills without the constraints of time and place, which the web is able to offer, brings about interesting opportunities particularly to a construction company. The certification of competence and continuous development require new methods in whose utilization we want to be in the forefront, says Eskola.
Databanks and internal communication into shape
Telinekataja’s intranet and its databank have been targeted at the company’s entire staff of about 190 people. Data contents supportive of daily work and different kinds of models for developing skills have been thought out for each group. Employees are also offered access to the system through secured connections from home computers and mobile devices, since the day of a scaffolding pro is often spent on construction sites – not in the office facing a computer screen.
- Along with technical competence, each group’s training emphasizes their responsibility in jobs that generate safety, says Mika Eskola.
- First aid skills are required from everyone who works on a construction site and every level, right up to executive management, is required to pass the Occupational Safety Card course. Safety is at the core of our line of business. Subcontractors have been taken along so that we can guarantee the quality of their work together with our’s even better than before.
Partnership as the basis for development work
Prewise’s and Telinekataja’s collaboration has begun with the development of the intranet and public website and is now headed toward more guided development of skills online.
- Broad collaboration necessitates understanding a customer’s business and continuous communication. The progress toward defined targets is followed in regular follow-up meetings, says Prewise’s Managing Director Timo Raaska. The collaboration must be open and both parties have to commit to the same targets, else the results will leave something to hope for, continues Raaska.
Telinekataja is the leading company in its branch of industry in Finland. Founded in 1965, Telinekataja focuses on the planning and implementation of scaffolding and weather protection systems for the construction and industrial sectors. In 2001, Telinekataja expanded its operations to cover event scaffolding, tents, stages, and audience stands by establishing Kataja Event Service Oy. Telinekataja has been seeking new markets and internationalized. The subsidiary, AS Telinek, was founded in Tallinn, in 1994. www.telinekataja.fi
Text: Timo Raaska
Picture: Telinekataja