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Q&A: Unirope’s Justin Brown on Global Lifting Awareness Day 2024

Justin Brown is not only a prominent member of Canada’s heavy lifting community, but a staunch advocate of it. As president of both Unirope, a Canadian wire rope and rigging products manufacturer and the Associated Wire Rope Fabricators (AWRF) association, along with his board position with the International Organization for the Study of Ropes (OIPEEC), Brown is no stranger to advocating for awareness of the heavy lifting sector both on the Canadian and international stages.

With Brown’s impressive resume, we needed to know his plans for celebrating this year’s Global Lifting Awareness Day (GLAD) on July 18 – along with why our readers across Canada should be joining him.

CHC: Could you share a bit about GLAD and your plans for celebrating the industry this year?

BROWN: This year, Unirope is deploying our rigging consultants across the country to host toolbox talks at several customer locations.  At these events we will do our part to bring awareness to GLAD, acknowledge the critical nature of lifting and rigging, and stress the importance of training and using quality products. We will be hosting lifting equipment users at 7 customer sites across Canada.

Fittingly, on July 18, I will be chairing the summer meeting of the Associated Wire Rope Fabricators board of directors. AWRF is a partner of the Lifting Equipment Engineers’ Association (LEEA) and GLAD and we will acknowledge this important initiative during that meeting.

CHC: Could you speak to the importance of having a day of visibility such as GLAD for the international heavy lifting sector? What are some of the benefits that initiatives such as GLAD bring to sector?

BROWN: Any initiative that brings awareness to the critical nature of our industry is a step in the right direction.

First of all, for the heavy lift sector, the precision and complexity that is required is generally not understood by the general public.  But even inside of the industry, inspection and selection of the best rigging tools for a given job also needs awareness.  Some individual companies, like Unirope,  are making an effort to educate on a daily basis and that is great for the individuals and companies that we deal with but when we all pull together under the umbrella of GLAD, I think that really moves the needle.

GLAD is about awareness: awareness of best practices, awareness of standards, awareness of safety protocols and awareness of the products required to execute lifting jobs.  It’s also about promoting this amazing industry to the next generation of tradespeople, operators, and engineers.  The accomplishments highlighted during GLAD has the potential to spark interest and passion in our industry and encourage young people to pursue careers in this challenging and rewarding field.

CHC: You’re no stranger to advocacy and organizational efforts across the industry, with your seat on OIPEEC’s management board and role as president of the AWRF. What motivates you to be a leader and conversation-starter across the industry, and how does this work inform your approach to promoting GLAD and acting as a voice for the industry at large?

BROWN: I’ve always found inspiration in people that take the extra step and work towards change. Our industry is challenging, dynamic and vital, and requires our leaders to be engaged and proactive.

OIPEEC has opened my eyes to the many challenges in our industry and the brilliant people working towards answers and solutions. AWRF provides an avenue to promote best practices in the manufacture and inspection of lifting and rigging products.  The motivation, for me, is the people working with or near the products that our industry is providing.

CHC: One focus of this year’s GLAD is continuous professional development and training. How do you emphasize these principles, both across the heavy lifting industry and Unirope’s own operations?

BROWN: From an industry standpoint and my work at AWRF, we have recently announced a new initiative to hold a technical summit once a year that is geared towards attracting a broader range of members and will serve to get the most relevant and current technical information to our members.

From Unirope’s standpoint, learning and training is part of our DNA.  Each of our customer facing employees become certified riggers through NCCCO’s Rigger certification program.  We also take advantage of LEEA’s training plan and our own internal training programs