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The HITE Engineering Team |
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Ralph Balbaa, M.Eng, P.Eng.
President
Ralph has over forty years of experience in the design and project
management of commercial, industrial buildings and bridges, accident
investigation and litigation support, welding design, and inspection,
design, testing and certification of mobile tower cranes and elevating
platforms; including seven years as an Engineering Consultant
with the Ministry of Labour. Ralph assisted in writing the regulatory
requirements for |
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Pre-Start Health and Safety Review and was a member of the PEO
committee on establishing standards for Engineers. A leader in
his field he is a member of the following CSA standards technical
committees: CSA Z150 (Mobile Cranes), CSA C225 (Aerial Devices),
CSA Z271 (Powered Platforms), CSA B354 (Aerial Platforms), CSA
Z91-02 “(H &S Code for Suspended Equipment Operations) and
CSA Z248 (Tower Cranes). |
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Nino Balbaa, M.Eng, P.Eng.
Engineering
Manager
Nino holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from McMaster University
(’93) and a Masters from the University of Toronto (’98). He has
held diverse positions in manufacturing ranging from Mechanical
Technician, Machine Shop Supervisor, Development Engineer, Tooling
Manager, Plant Engineer and Management Safety Representative prior
to joining HITE Engineering.Early in his career, he began utilizing machine guarding standards
and has since become an expert on CSA, ANSI, NFPA and EU standards
on machine guarding, safety circuit design and fire and explosion
protection. He is also well versed in TSSA requirements including pressure vessels and fuel systems. He provides on-going training in these topics
to clients and has appeared in court as an expert witness. He is also trained in control circuit design, PLC programming
and new technologies related to safety in control systems. He
is skilled in mechanical design and structural analysis and trained
on engineering software packages such as AutoCAD, SolidWorks,
Algor and STAAD/Pro. |
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| Cathy Klein
Office
Manager/Human Resources
Cathy manages the daily operations of the office, including book-keeping and human resources. Cathy has over twenty years experience in small business office administration. Prior to joining the team at HITE, Cathy spent eleven years managing a law office in Mississauga. She holds BA from York University. |
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Luke Ferguson, E.I.T.
Project Engineer, E.I.T.
Luke holds a Civil Engineering degree from Queens University (‘08). He is fully trained in AutoCAD and STAAD/Pro software. Luke is involved with Pre-Start Health & Safety Reviews for racking systems and lifting devices in industrial settings; as well as engineering reviews for platforms and a variety of steel structures. Luke supports the Industrial and Construction Groups at HITE with structural analysis, design and forensic investigation. |
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Tiago Estragadinho, P.Eng.
Project Engineer
Tiago holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from McMaster University (‘02). Tiago worked in the automotive industry prior to joining HITE and is highly experienced with product design and manufacturing equipment for the rubber and plastics industry. He has a diverse set of skills that include Project Engineering, Product Design/Development, and Program/Project Management. Tiago is experienced in the engineering software packages: AutoCAD, SolidWorks & Cosmos/Simulation, Autodesk Inventor, Pro Engineer & Mechanica, UGS I-DEAS, DDS CATIA V5, and STAAD/Pro. Tiago supports the Industrial and Construction Groups at HITE with finite element analysis, design and forensic investigation, while also performing Pre-Start Health & Safety Reviews for mechanical and structural projects. |
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| Joe Smolcic
Designer / Field Technician
Joe is involved in the design of building façade access systems and specialized construction projects. He also assists in project management for integration projects.
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| Charles Charron, P Eng.
Senior
Engineering Consultant
Charles holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Toronto (82) and has a certificate in Business Fundamentals from University of Toronto SCS (07). He has over 25 years of extensive design and manufacturing experience with vertically integrated companies. He has specified, designed, upgraded, commissioned and troubleshot a wide range of equipment including: manual, semi and fully automated assembly and test equipment, wash systems, chip handling systems, CNC, cam, and manual machining equipment, vision systems, press equipment, packaging equipment, mold and related equipment. He is proficient in the application of CSA Z432-04, CSA Z142-02, CSA Z432-04 and various other CSA, NFPA, ISO, EN, and ANSI standards; as well as being well versed with the OHSA and Regulations. Charles has been granted Canadian and US patents for his product design work. He is also proficient in solid modeling and detail design in CAD. |
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| Sam Wahabi, P.Eng.
Senior
Engineering Consultant / Construction Group Manager
Sam holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from McMaster
University (’93). He has a diverse set of skills that include
Project Engineering, Product Development, Program/Project Management,
SCM, and Business Process and Application design and development.
He has managed many large manufacturing and SCM related projects.
He is well versed with the applicable sections of OHSA, Regulations
and applicable CSA, ANSI standards and European Norms pertaining
to Pre-Start Health & Safety and Machine Guarding audit and
design and application of façade access systems and fall
protection devices. He is also a trained Six Sigma green belt
and has led and participated in many lean transformation initiatives. |
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| Chuck Sparks, C.E.T., Master Electrician
Consultant / Business Development Manager
Chuck is a Master Electrician who spent 29 years with Ontario Hydro and Electrical Safety Authority as Operations Manager in charge of Electrical Inspectors and Inspections for Ontario. He has extensive experience in the electrical industry and Electrical Code knowledge. During his career he worked extensively with Ministry of Labor, WSIB and the Fire Marshals Office to build safe working environments for electrical workers. He has been involved with a number of fire and fatality investigations to assist those agencies. |
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Eryk Ruszkiewicz, P.Eng.
Senior Consultant
Eryk is a graduate of Ryerson Polytechnic University in Aerospace Engineering (2001). Very early on in his career he held roles in health & safety for L3 Communications and Cyclone Manufacturing. He is acutely aware of the challenges of safeguarding machine tools and managing large company health & safety programs. He is fully versed in CSA and international safety standards. Eryk leads the safety solutions integration team in the Industrial Department at HITE. Eryk is also a qualified ISO9000 Inspector and leads HITE's WSIB Safety Group program.
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Taymoore Balbaa M.Arch, B.E.S, LEED AP, MRAIC
Construction Project Manager
Taymoore
Balbaa received his Master of Architecture degree from the University of Waterloo and won
the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's Medal in 2004. He also holds a Bachelor of
Environmental Studies degree from University of Waterloo, and took pre-professional
architecture training in the Universitá Gabrielle D'Annunzio in Italy. Taymoore has held
positions with architectural firms in Spain and Italy, where he worked on several
notable projects in Italy, Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands and Hong Kong. He has
also worked with HLW International in New York and, in 1998, assisted on the Parthenon
Restoration Project in Athens, Greece. In Canada, he worked with the Toronto firm of
Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB) with one of his notable projects being
the Manitoba Hydro Downtown Office, where he applied pioneering technologies in energy
efficiency. In 2005, he became the inaugural winner of the Canada Council for the Arts'
most prominent prize for young architects, the Prix de Rome for Emerging Practitioners.
Taymoore brings his skills to HITE Engineering as an experienced Architectural Designer
and Construction Project Manager.
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Nadeem Wahabi
Field
Technician / Business Development Manager
Nadeem manages the annual inspections and 5 year load testing requirements for building façade access systems. He also performs customer relations and business develpment duties. Nadeem also assists in the design and management of various Construction Group projects. |
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Ashraf Shaker
Administrative / IT Assistant |
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James Wilkinson, P.Eng.
Wilkinson Technical Services (Associated Company)
Jim holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Waterloo (’74) and has had more than 30 years experience in structural engineering in the construction and industrial sectors of the industry. He has held various senior positions with the Occupational Health and Safety Division of the Ministry of Labour in Ontario and was instrumental in the development of provincial policies and regulations involving temporary structures, scaffolds and access equipment, concrete formwork, cranes and hoisting equipment and rack structures in the industrial sector.
As the Ministry’s chief forensic investigator, Jim has conducted numerous highly complex accident investigations and has provided key expert witness testimony and litigation support in many high profile cases. Jim has many years of experience in the development of standards and codes and currently participates on various Canadian, American and International standards committees. Jim chairs the CSA B354 committee for Elevating Work Platforms.
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