High School Students on attachment with FHH
The commitment of Fulton Hogan Hiways (FHH) to building capacity within the local road construction industry recently extended to knowledge transfer to benefit secondary school students.
Having gone through the mandatory safety induction with FHH, five secondary school students from different schools around Suva have been doing attachments at Fulton Hogan Hiways.
The Ministry of Education, through the National Employment Centre and the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FCEF), is facilitating the development of a pilot programme; “Student Employment Exposure Programme” (SEEP).
“The objective of SEEP is to prepare students for life skills training and to develop work ethics and the required attitude to be job ready. Fulton Hogan Hiways is the first construction company that is pioneering this initiative,” said FCEF CEO Nesbitt Hazelman.
FHH General Manager, Patrick Keenan, said,
“In our six-plus years in Fiji one of FHH’s cornerstone
philosophies has been to develop local staff. We know that
we have been very successful in this area and want to
continue to be a standard bearer for these types of
initiatives.
“People are at the heart of all we do and
this programme really endorses this. The Fiji Commerce and
Employers Federation requested that we be involved in their
initiative, and we are glad to participate,” he
said.
The students worked with Managers in the FHH office
and were also allowed access to worksites, as visitors only,
to observe and experience the work on the ground, with FHH
staff assisting them with any queries.
Ryan Dyer, of Suva
Muslim School, said, “FHH has given us a great opportunity
to see how road works are done. I learnt about every single
step of the business. And I am able to experience what is
like on working on site. This has really taught me a lot and
helped guide me in my career choice.
“We get to see
the importance of working as a team, amongst the FHH staff
and between FHH staff with their subcontractors; the need
for personal protective equipment to be worn on any
construction site; different machine types and their
operation on worksites, and the safety rules to follow when
operating each
machine.”