Barbara Burkowski is a member of the management team at Lafarge Canada Inc. in Winnipeg. As Precast Safety and Environment Co-ordinator, her workday is largely occupied with handling safety concerns, juggling schedules and trouble shooting. After hours, she's a snare drummer in a pipe band.


Barbara, 25, was promoted to her current position in March 1999 after nearly five years with the company. She supervises 55 men (always referred to as "the guys"), but has never encountered any problem with being the only "girl" supervisor. "If they've got a problem, they'll say so, and you can deal with that directly. I like that."

"I look after scheduling, figuring out how many guys we'll need for each job. And then there are discipline issues: if someone fails to follow procedures, I represent management. If there's a problem, I have to solve it. My previous position involved a lot of (truck) driver discipline and labour issues, which is useful in my current job."

Safety and environmental concerns are key elements of her position, along with first aid and safety training and quality control. She also does some technical writing, mainly plant manuals, which can include everything from job descriptions to a basic overview of the entire operation. She thrives on variety: "It's like the Internet: I don't know where I'll be going every day!"