Toronto, Ontario — February 20, 2017 — Continued heavy growth by new, interested and motivated young people in the collision repair industry has again propelled the apprentice numbers upward.
Ontario reported that as of February 1, 2017 a total of 700 auto body and collision damage repair apprentices had registered with the Ontario College of Trades, for this career choice.
All apprentices with initial training agreements registered on or after June 25, 2015, must be trained to a new standard. The College of Trades will mail a printed 310B log book to each apprentice who becomes a new member of their Apprentice Class for the trade after this date. New skills are featured in the training standards after input from industry.
“Including vehicle damage estimating as a mandatory skill and including new electronic skills are steps in the right direction to having shop techs and apprentices respond to advances in automotive technology. New apprentices will now be more valuable and more versatile in their skills to assist in shop repair activities and help move the industry to a higher level of competence in these skills areas” said CIIA industry trade association’s John Norris.
A copy of the updated training standard and the entire implementation advisory are available at collegeoftrades.ca/training-standards.
CIIA, in co-operation with 3M Canada, is also featuring graduation ceremonies and awards for graduating level 3 students at Colleges across Ontario.
