environmental health officer

Birch Mountain Enterprises

Sleep, wake up, eat, commute, work, commute, eat, sleep, and repeat.  12 hours a work with traveling to and from site can be a long day for some .  14/14, makes for a good life/work balance.  It's really nice when you are home that work doesn't follow you home.

Camp life can be a challenge with quality of food and seperation from family.

Great co-workers, within the company and other companies on site.  Everyone is dealing with the same challenges so everyone understands.

Tense atmosphere within the company at Kearl in regards to current site management and job security.  Many are worried about their jobs.   Layoffs at any time, with poor consideration towards seniority/skill over friends/family.  Have seen long-term workers laid off over new inexperienced workers who happen to be friends or family of management.  The company has done a couple external employee surveys in the past, but the general consensus with fellow co-workers is that those surveys where just a waste of time as no major issues were addressed or even discussed.

Safety is definitely the mindset there.  Some new workers have a challenge buying into that.

Hardest part of the job is the mental stress of uncertainty projected down from site management.

Good group of guys on the lower level. Upper management and ownership doesn't respect employees, they are big fans of threatening employment to try and get a point across. Company cut all employees' wages by 6% and promised that wages will come back when things picked up and that never happened even when things picked back up.

Health care package is terrible and costly, with no option to opt out. It only provides basic PPE and anything other than glasses, gloves and coveralls is 100% on you, so hopefully you do not need to go outside in -40.

As a native based company they need to keep their "numbers" up so if you're any other race you will definitely feel race favouritism. 

The claim of LOA offered is a very loose term. Approximately 300 dollars a month.

The claims of provided rides is also very misleading. For anyone that doesn't live In Timberlea or Thickwood, be prepared to start work 2 hours early and unpaid to go around and pick up the other employees in the company provided mid 2000's minivans. days are 14 hours with travel and only paid for 11.5 of them due to the unpaid lunches.

Great company to work for if you're Native due to the tax returns, but if not I wouldn't recommend this company to anyone unless they're in a tough spot.

The offer itself was fair enough. Decent pay, camp based, flights and accomodations provided. The first few weeks there were good, friendly coworkers, decent equipment, and a variety of equipment and tasks for those willing to do them. Under the averaging agreement, your hours in 2 weeks work were based on monthly to get around paying OT on hours worked. Travel time to and from camp was unpaid, meaning 14 hour days but paid for 12. Supervision on site was nice enough, however the staff managing travel arrangements were dismal and right from the get go trying to get flight times and travel arrangement information was like pulling teeth. Though I was easily signed off on all equipment starting my first hitch, and I showed initiative in joining the safety committee to further my own skills and value to the company, the agreed upon pay rates were not given. 

The contract that BME landed at Syncrude has changed hands a few times over the years.  Peak energy ran that contract for many years and it had loyalty and fair treatment of employees.  BME is trying so hard to prove that they are most safest anyone has ever seen that they routinely fire anyone and everyone for the smallest infractions, which creates a revolving door of employees and in reality a less safe workplace with low morale.  The owners are in a big hurry to grow the company and have massive ego's.  You can make a go of it with BME but know there are better opportunities elsewhere.  I wouldn't without checking all my options.  They will lowball your offer letter big time and if you do decide to work for them keep quiet, dot your i's and cross all of your t's.  Watch your backside or expect to be shown the door.  Like I said the owners are on a massive ego trip, and just want to grow their profits and ride their Harleys.

I have worked at BME multiple times, everytime I have left it has been for personal growth in my career. Every time i have worked there I have felt a very family like enviroment. Lots of long term employees, stable work. Yes they are located a ways out of town but no different than riding a bus to any of the northern sites. Stable work which keeps a good paycheque coming in. As long as you are upfront and honest with management they will treat you good and you'll always have a job. Do your job, put in an honest days work and you'll be treated good. Ups and Downs as with any company but overall enjoyed working at BME and would not hesitate to work there again. I believe most of the reviews on here are just negative people who probably couldn't cut it. Overall great company.

Only worked there for a short time and where one person said management was going through changes is a understatement. The work is meh nothing special safety yes if you only practice what you preach.
Sad part is they have some good people there and some that are dangerous to work with and scary be Use they think they know it all. Small company trying to roll with big boys some of management the usual buddy buddy system and try to rule by fear or intimidation. After hearing some of the horrible stories and confirmed facts about certain incidents that happens on site not my cup of tea! 
Anything to secure a new contract eh boyz oh well good luck!!

Show up at 5:30 AM check in with worker that started early.  Supervision shows up around 6:30 AM try to go over details of last shift and demands os the daily work. Supervision was dismissal and would not communicate about work or concerns. Poor communication from management and lead staff. HR was very unprofessional.  Hardest part of the job was to get team leaders to set the example the refuses to wear proper PPE and do FLRA. Supervision refuses to recognize workers that were a concern and about to make severe safety problems. 

Management is going through a change in which they are pressuring workers to work safe at all times while adding more and more safety regulations to jobs and with that creating a haphazard work day where you aren't focused on the job at hand and that's when incidents happen. The safety officers and supervisors should be keeping company talk among themselves and not stressing out the workers.
Overall, the jobs are pretty simple company wide and are quite tedious but pay well.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The technicians are great to work with. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Getting to work, the drive 40 mins, no travel allowance. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The culture is good. Working environment is safe.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I get a job and I have people check on you and then give you another job and then another job

Management has no experience at managing so they fire staff, write employees up, and threaten. If you're cool with constantly being belittled and talked about then you are in heaven. 

Your benefits package is expensive and offers very little.

Heads up. It doesn't matter how good you are or who recommended you, you are never good enough at Birch Mountain Enterprises.



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