Local Woman Achieves First Class Power Engineer

by Catherine Watters

Barb Romancia, a long-time Thompson resident who works in the Power House at Inco Ltd., Manitoba Division, and has been an employee of the company for the past 26 years, has just been awarded her First Class Power Engineer Certificate after 18 years of study and hard work.

The Department of Labour issues Power Engineer Certificates beginning with the lowest level, called Fourth Class, up to the highest level. First Class, based on a series of exams that must be written by applicants.

Any company or plant that operates a pressure vessel or boiler is required by law (the "steam and Pressure Plants Act" of the province) to employ power engineers. A power engineer is someone who is qualified to operate the boilers.

There are four levels of qualification and within each level there are several study modules and exams that must be completed, as well as a requirement to work a certain number of hours in the plant for each level.

"The higher you go, the more exams you write," says Romanica. "It’s progressively more difficult. After the Third Class, it becomes quite difficult." She decided in 1982 that she wanted to write the Fourth Class exam, so she began studying. Back then, she never really thought she’d go all the way to First Class.

"I thought, I’ll just take one level at a time, one class at a time and see how it goes," she says. "I just kept going!"

Supportive

She has had a lot of support from her family, friends and co-workers.

"Those of us who are writing exams are very supportive of each other. Everyone hopes everyone does well."

Getting the Power Engineer Certificates is challenging. Romanica points out you have to study and work towards it pretty much on your own time, in between working at your job and raising a family.

However, she says the work was worth it.

"It’s very prestigious to hold a First Class, especially for women, because it’s traditionally a male profession."

She can’t estimate the figures, but notes there are a very small percentage of women working as power engineers within Manitoba, and those who are in the field usually stay at the lower levels.

"It’s not a job women pursue a lot," she says. It’s a field that requires the worker to be around high-pressure steam, operate machinery in a proper and safe manner and know how perform a certain amount of maintenance.

Commitment

She admits when she sat down to write her exam, she was a bit nervous. This was it: if successful, this would be the last exam she’d have to write.

"It’s so much work, so much commitment," she explains. "you have to sacrifice so much in your personal life to study and work towards this."

She was able to take the exams in Thompson because the government sends someone here to host it. People who are writing exams at any level can all sit in the same exam room. Romanica believes she was the only one writing the First Class exam this time around.

When she found out she succeeded, she was ecstatic, and felt a great sense of relief. Now she can spend some time with her friends and family or sit and watch TV. Instead of spending her free time studying all the time.

"I’m really happy to have accomplished my goal," she adds. "I’m really excited. For about a week, I was walking on air."

She’s so used to studying, however, she says it’s going to take a little time before she can watch TV and relax instead of feeling guilty that she’s not preparing for another exam.

Romanica thinks she will probably take on another project, but whatever it is, it won’t be right away and it won’t be stressful. She wants to spend more time with her two grown sons and their families, as well as her friends.

"It’ll be nice just to do family stuff, friends stuff and enjoy some community events. Things I haven’t really done in a long time. It’s going to be a treat!"