IUPAT DC 17 Industrial Paint Skills Training History
In these economic times, now more than ever, our members must [really] be more knowledgeable, [really] more skilled, [really] safer, and [really] more professional craftspeople than our less expensive non-union competition. To [really] get there and stay there, DC 17 maintains: Training [really] is the foundation for the future of this Hall.

SSPC, the Society of Protective Coatings

To meet this challenge, District Council 17 has ‘gone long’ with SSPC training. Chris Hooter is a lead instructor for several SSPC courses (C1, C2, C3, C5). This affords DC 17 more internal SSPC instructor capacity than any other District Council in Canada. This has allowed, and will continue to allow, DC 17 to be nimble and responsive to most SSPC scheduling requests.
Since the formation of District Council 17, including both 2015/2016 & 2016/2017 off-seasons, DC 17 has offered a marathon of SSPC courses &/or exams:

  • Six [6] SSPC C1s ([2] Edmonton, [2] Saskatoon, [2] Ft McMurray)
  • Four [5] SSPC C3s ([2] Edmonton & [3] Saskatoon)
  • Four [4] SSPC C5s ([2] Edmonton & [2] Saskatoon)
  • Two [2] SSPC Plurals ([1] Edmonton & [1] Saskatoon)
  • One [1] SSPC C2 ([1] Saskatoon)
  • Three [3] SSPC CAS Exam ([2] Edmonton, [1] Saskatoon)
  • One [1] SSPC C7 ([1] Edmonton)
  • One [1] SSPC C12 ([1] Edmonton)

Find out more about our course offerings.

Several photos from these offerings are shown below:


SSPC C1 @ Aluma Systems, Ft McMurray. Left to right, attendees included:
1st row: David Ter-Voert, William Russell, Trevor White, Gary Forgeron (all Aluma Systems)
2nd row: Pat Hyde, Rodney McDougall, Doug Wilcox (all Aluma Systems)
Back row: Pete Lemky (Aluma Systems), Ryan Fizzell (Douglas Coatings)

Another is completing his CAS spray practical in Saskatoon’s DuroAir spray booth

Here, a Park Derochie employee stripes panel for his SSPC C12 / Coating Applicator Specialist Level 2 Spray practical (February 2016, Edmonton, AB)

SSPC Coating Applicator Specialist Level 2 Exam Saskatoon.  Chris Teskey (CSBP) cheerfully gives the thumbs up as he begins his CAS blast practical;

SSPC Plural Instructor Benny Abbott (brown hardhat) reviews [Park Derochie’s] Polyurea gear

[Commercial Sand Blasting & Painting] Epoxy Plural gear w/ DC 17 Attendees. In the 2 photos, various angles of Rob Hofos (CSBP, green hardhat), Rod Sosknowski (PD, Painters hoodie), Cody Purves (PD, yellow hardhat), Ion Campbell (CSBP, grey coveralls); others in the photos are Craig Hendricks (CSBP), Darryl Petit (PD), Adam Braidek (PD) [< Saskatoon, late April 2017]

SSPC Plural Instructor Dudley Primeaux (white) shows DC 17 attendees Advance Coating’s Polyurea setup [Edmonton, AB, mid April 2017]

SSPC Plural Attendees suiting up for Plural Practicals (PD’s Epoxy Plural unit in background). Shown: Jeff Bland (PD, walking twds), then left to right: Mike Iftody (DC17, far left), Kristof Terrio [Advance], Justin Malcolm [Advance], Dudley Primeaux [SSPC, facing away w/ hood sock], & Cory McMartin [Advance]; Rodney McDougall (Aluma Systems) and Kurtis Gunderson (Advance), also in attendance, are not shown

SSPC course offerings are a keystone of DC 17’s training program. The upcoming 2017/2018 SSPC Training offseason is in final reviews and will be posted shortly…. Stay Tuned for Updates!


Edmonton attendees discuss SSPC C3 Ventilation Work Station (box affectionally named Lucille!). From right to left around the table: Terry Blade (NWS), Mike Iftody (DC17), Pete Lemky (Aluma Systems), Kurtis Gunderson (Advance Coating), Garrett Repchinsky (Advance Coating), Jeremy Oram (Advance Coating), Justin Malcolm (Advance Coating), Cory McMartin (Advance Coating), Shane McGregor (NWS), Chris Hooter (DC17 / SSPC Instructor)

NACE International
In mid – late 2016, DC 17 successfully rallied the International to $sponsor$ a back-to-back NACE CIP 1 & 2 for all Canadian District Councils. DC 17 hosted in Edmonton (January 2017). We are very appreciative to IUPAT General President Ken Rigmaiden, FTI Executive Director Anton Rousing, and IUPAT General Vice President Canada Robert Kucheran for supporting and authorizing the funds for this effort. Members from all over Canada attended. As the host, DC 17 filled ~1/2 the seats (13 for CIP 1, 15 CIP 2)

Members ask about NACE CIP all the time. The truth is, this January 2017 [Internationally funded] NACE was probably a ‘one-off’. The bigger challenge re NACE classes – NACE doesn’t enter into similar contractual agreements as (for ex) SSPC does with IUPAT. So, while there are IUPAT NACE CIP instructors, “we” (the District Councils) don’t get anywhere near the ‘per capita’ class discount with NACE as we do with SSPC.
In the open market, a public NACE CIP seat is ~$2000USD. Well, that’s almost what DC 17 would pay per head to host a class. In contrast, the IUPAT doesn’t pay anywhere near the ~$1000USD per head for an internally offered SSPC C3 seat. So, NACE CIPs are more $challenging$. That doesn’t mean we won’t host any – DC17 would love to routinely host “private” NACE offerings (that was ‘private’, not ‘public’, as we don’t use our facilities that our members and signatory contractors paid for to train the competition). But, funding is an issue; there is no way to sugarcoat it.

Industrial Paint Skills Training
In addition to SSPC and the occasional NACE, DC 17 will sponsor additional skills courses this upcoming “off-season” in Edmonton and Saskatoon. Things like Basic Blast and Blast Airless Spray are in the works. Curricula details are being sorted out, but the program in Saskatoon and Edmonton will be the identical. For schedule, each facility will schedule around our upcoming SSPC training (schedule also to be released shortly)!