15 2020 JANUARY/FEBRUARY
A
ndy Kerr was the go-to guy for electrical safety in the utility industry. He was involved
in the development of the CSA Z462 standard for electrical safety and the CAN/ULC
standard for electrical generation, transmission and distribution. He was the lead
and subject matter expert for the Electrical Utility Safety Rules by Ontario's Infrastruc-
ture Health and Safety Association (IHSA). He would regularly get calls from utilities all across
Ontario — and sometimes out of province — for help with the rules and standards, training and
incident or fatality investigations.
But eventually, it all became too much.
"The electrical community is small… So, you end up knowing just about everybody. The people
you've done training for are the ones you are doing investigations of when they get hurt," Kerr
explains. "At [one] point, I realized, 'Man, I am broke.' It was one after another after another; I
would leave one investigation and walk into the next one."
Kerr, who was a health and safety consultant for IHSA, took 10 months off work and was
diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and compassion fatigue. With the help
of a psychologist, he determined he could no longer deal with investigations and be the go-to
guy for the utilities. He ended up leaving his position at IHSA, which he held for seven years,
and has been in his new role of director, health, safety, security and environment at Burlington
Hydro in Ontario for a little over a year.
HELP
YOURSELF
Safety professionals
may be exposed to
traumatic events on
the job, but are often
unprepared for the
ensuing emotional
difficulties
By Amanda Silliker
