PERSONNEL – IN THE RIG
Switching Gears
Before becoming a piling rig operator, Rory Brown worked in the
car repair industry for many years. He’s happy he made the move.
Rory Brown fixed cars for almost three decades before
he decided to change careers and get into the pile
driving business.
“I was an autobody technician. We lived back in
Nova Scotia which was where I had done the automotive
thing for quite some time, probably close to 30 years,” said
Brown, who moved from the Halifax area to Calgary, Alta.,
with his wife, Christina, seven years ago.
“I did that work for a little bit when we moved to Alberta,
but then a friend of mine who was in the piling business told
me his company was looking for ground workers and he
asked if I’d be interested in going up north and doing camp
work for them,” Brown said. “I thought, ‘Why not?’”
Brown started his first piling job in 2012 as an operator’s
assistant for Red Deer, Alta.-based Copps Services Inc. during
construction of a Nexen Energy facility near Fort McMurray,
Alta. Junttan rigs performed the piling work, and it was the
first time Brown had ever actually seen a Junttan machine.
“It’s a big piece of equipment for sure, and not knowing
anything about it, it was definitely a bit intimidating,” he said.
Brown notes it wasn’t long before he was given the oppor-tunity
to learn how to operate a Junttan rig himself.
“You learn the ground game and how the whole process
works, and then hopefully if you do well at those tasks, they’ll
train you in a machine,” Brown said.
“The transition was pretty smooth. You have a couple of
lumps and bumps along the way… and as long as nobody’s
hurt and everything’s ok, hopefully you learn from it and
move on.”
Brown is now qualified to operate four Junttan machines
— the PM16, PMx20, PMx22 and PM25 — and has experi-ence
with numerous piling applications which include round
steel piles, sheet piles and H-piles as well as soldier piles for
lagging. He’s also installed sheet and H-piles with an ABI
Equipment TM 22 Mobileram piling rig.
Brown has his sights set on learning how to operate
another Junttan machine — the PM23.
“I’ve had a little bit of time in it. The configuration is differ-ent,
and it has a lot longer reach,” he said. “It’s a little different
rig, and I’d like to get some training on that.”
By Mark Halsall
PHOTO COURTESY OF RORY BROWN
PILING CANADA 57