Shawn Nanaquewitang
Iron Eagle Safety
LD-ACE Graduate
Shawn Nanaquewitang is
from Fishing Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan, and he was born and raised by a
single mother in Calgary, Alberta. Shawn has an extensive background in construction, mainly as an Ironworker. After years of heavy lifting and
repetitive work Shawn was diagnosed with bulging disks and spurs in his lower
lumbar which required surgery to repair. After being told by his Surgeon that
he could no longer continue in his trade, his Union, Ironworkers Union Local
725, stepped in and offered to retrain him as a National Construction Safety
Officer. Shawn is very passionate about safety, and while working out of town
in Exshaw, Alberta, he continued his safety education by way of online OH&S
certification through the University of New Brunswick. He had an idea to start
a safety business through the hall, and the Union hall thought it was a great
idea, he then got his business name registered, created a website and had cards
and pens made up for advertising.
Shawn describes that entering
the LD-ACE Program was his first attempt at being an entrepreneur. Shawn’s
experience in construction includes over twenty years as a reinforcing
ironworker, and over 4500 hours as a safety officer where he has developed the
necessary skills to work in residential, commercial, and industrial projects.
That experience now helps him in identifying physical hazards on the job site as
well as hazards to watch out for that are not so obvious. In his job as a
safety officer, he was unable to spend time with his family as often as he
would like because most of his jobs were camp jobs or out of town. In his last
job Shawn “was away for 10 months, working 6 days on and 1 day off. I come home
for long weekends and major holidays.” However, Shawn is taking steps to own
and operate his own business, sharing his safety expertise to make an impact in
the lives of construction community members whose safety is at risk on the job.
With expertise in
analyzing risk assessment and safety procedures in construction environments,
Shawn spotted a need in communities that he is working to respond to through
his business, Iron Eagle Safety. Shawn describes that “due diligence is of up
most importance” as “every action [workers] do on site should have some sort of
paper trail, everything must be documented, [and] everything in industrial and
commercial construction now has legal documents that are designed to protect
the workers and the business owners from legal ramifications.” Shawn notes, “if
you’re not following your Job Hazard Analysis and are not filling out your
field level risk assessment to every detail for your days work schedule, and a
serious incident happens where someone is badly hurt or killed, supervisors and
company owners can be held criminally responsible and face jail time.
Safety
must be taken seriously too; many families, friends and co-workers lives are
forever changed when something bad happens. I would really like to help out
aboriginal companies and help to teach young workers about the importance of safety,
to help make them better workers by being productive while doing their jobs
safely.
Shawn’s objective with
Iron Eagle Safety is to intervene before an incident occurs, to ensure that
organizations and employees at construction sites are aware of the risks
present and are taking the steps to respond to these risks. Through Iron Eagle
Safety, Shawn is going to “provide construction companies with safety advisors
with actual hands-on trades experience…to review the company safety program,
look at policies and procedures, be in the field, check out how they’re working
and if employees are actually following it.” Further, Shawn wants to ensure
that all workers in construction “know their right to work in a safe
environment, and that they cannot be fired from doing a job they feel unsafe
doing,” while also understanding their roles and “responsibilities as well as
their due diligence.”
Before beginning the ACE
Program, Shawn thought his idea for Iron Eagle Safety was a great idea, and wanted
to learn more about how to start his business. Shawn heard about the ACE
Program after a friend shared it with him over Facebook. Shawn applied to the
program and was accepted, and describes that “with what [he’s] learning right
now, it is exactly where [he] want[s] to be.” Shawn also explains “it’s a
great, great way to introduce me to the realities of actually running a
business.”
Shawn explains that
through the ACE Program, he has combined his expertise as a safety professional
with lessons in creating business plans, powerpoints, marketing and the entire
“strategies that come with trying to start the business.” Shawn’s favourite
part of the ACE Program was working with ACE Program instructor, Michaela
Tokarski, MBA, entrepreneur and investor, who provided “insight into marketing
through the Internet, and…helped us set up a webpage.” Shawn also noted the
additional support provided by all the professors in which students could
contact for further support.
Going forward, Shawn explains that his first step is obtaining his business license, which he is well underway with. Additionally, Shawn plans to use the skills he has developed in Internet Marketing to prepare for launching Iron Eagle Safety in which he is looking to find contracts for. Moreover, Shawn notes that by next year, he aims to have “an employee or two, and after that, double that” number and continue to grow from there, sharing his expertise in safety with others who are passionate about protecting people, property and the environment.
Shawn has advice for
prospective entrepreneurs considering applying to the ACE Program. “There’s a
lot of information in a very short time,” in the ACE program, and “if I could
give you any advice, it would be: don’t miss any days.” Moreover, Shawn
explains that by being committed to the entrepreneurial process, “if you
prepare and do everything they ask, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll learn
enough to get the business going and learn the realities of running a
business.”
We at ACE are grateful to
have the opportunity to work with Shawn and learn from his experience and
vision for the community. We look forward to seeing the impact that Iron Eagle
Safety has in the lives of construction professionals going forward.