Northern Health will be replacing an aging steam boiler at Prince Rupert Regional Hospital, a move that will result in five positions being re-classified.
“We’re reconfiguring our steam generation plant and replacing the boilers with new electric steam generators. The boilers we’re replacing are 42 years old and are costly to maintain. It is also increasingly difficult to find replacement parts due to the age of the machine,” said Eryn Collins of Northern Health, noting that the boilers being replaced are for the laundry and central sterilization systems.
“It has had performance issues in the past and that has affected operations at the hospital.”
Collins said that the current boiler cost $25,000 to maintain and buy parts for last year, and that replacing aging boilers in Dawson Creek and Quesnel have resulted in increased efficiency and coast savings for the hospital.
“We expect to save $100,000 per year by switching to the electrical steam generators,” she said.
But with the change to electrical steam generation, there is no longer a need for power engineer certified positions and that will affect approximately five positions filled at the hospital
“Those five positions have been eliminated but have been replaced with maintenance positions...Those who have been affected will be able to apply for other positions in Northern Health and will be able to apply for the maintenance positions available. We’re still working that out.”
“Moving to electrical will free up maintenance people to no longer have to look after that piece of equipment.”