Snow Removal

María Luisa Mederos Bonilla. Toronto.

A necessary job in Canada is snow removal. Environment Canada says that every year, 10 cities in Canada have 1.5 metres of snow in four months.

The snow contractors tend to face more difficulties than others think. Nick Bohner is the Chief Executive Officer at NIX Snow Removal. He has been in the snow removal business since he was 11-years old. And now, he owns a company with 30 employees and about 2400 residential driveways.

He said “When I was a kid, I was just looking for ways to make money. So, I would walk around my neighbor’s doors and knock on the door and say, ‘Can I shovel your driveway?” Snow removal was always his dream. Now, working in snow removal in the winter months means he has achieved his dream.

In 2019, the Washington Post released statistics that indicated 11,500 injuries and 100 deaths caused by shoveling. The results showed that soft injuries are the most common taking 55 percent, followed by lacerations that are 16 percent, fractures 7 percent, and heart-related injuries are 7 percent. Snow workers help prevent these injuries.

Winter 2022 came with one of the biggest snowstorms in the country, which covered the streets of Ontario with around 60cm of snow. It caused car accidents, the halting of public transportation, and the closing of schools. Snow contractors found it difficult to reach the areas they had to clear, a problem they also experience as pedestrians.

Bohner mentioned, “It’s a 24/7 business. So yeah, just finding people to want to do that. Keeping them happy. And even just getting them to show up every storm. That’s a whole other challenge.” As it’s a seasonal job, they depend on a good team to make the company run. While they were facing the huge snowstorm in January, all snow contractors’ insurance rates continued to increase, causing many snow-clearing businesses to shut down or reduce staff.

In addition to the aforementioned problems, Bohner added that snowblowers focused on driveways are affected by the city plows. Since they don’t coordinate departure times and may cross paths when removing snow. The accumulated snow ends up interfering with each of the plow drivers’ commute. To avoid crossing or interfering in each other’s jobs, Nix contractors go to clean their respective driveways every day between three and seven in the morning.

The city plows are in charge of the roads all day. According to Toronto, the city has 600 snow plows, 360 sidewalk plows, 200 salt trucks, and a 1,500 person team. A big team, in comparison to Nix Snow Removal. Nix mostly works with tractors, they own 120 tractors for clearing driveways, which makes the work easier.

The city of Toronto website outlines that the fine for not clearing snow from public property is $105, plus a $30 surcharge making the total, $135.  Nix prevents incidents when shoveling, which we rarely think of. People who don’t want to, or are unable to clean their own driveways can hire them. In spite of all the problems, they always continue with their work trying to leave their customers happy. They are helping families get to their destination in a safe way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/the-big-number-snow-shoveling-results-in-about-11500-injuries–including-100-fatalities/2019/12/06/10c46858-178a-11ea-8406-df3c54b3253e_story.html

https://www.canadianfamily.net/snow-removal-safety/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-snowstorm-january-17-2022-1.6317236

https://nixsnowblowing.com

https://globalnews.ca/news/8521359/union-calls-for-policy-change-after-ttc-buses-get-stuck-snowstorm/

https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/streets-parking-transportation/road-maintenance/winter-maintenance/levels-of-snow-clearing-service/

https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/streets-parking-transportation/road-maintenance/winter-maintenance/clearing-snow-and-ice-from-your-property/