COS - Canada's Safest Employers Awards Commemorative Guides

6 www.safestemployers.com But being a safety leader is also about embracing these challenges. It can be a difficult role, which is why being passionate about worker health and safety is key. "I worked in the field as a welder's helper and have family friends in the work- place in remote locations, working long shifts. Now that I've moved to a corporate role, I have an absolute passion to try to make a difference, ensure people don't get hurt when they go to work and see how I can help reduce barriers that allow for that to happen," says Shannon Caron, Director of Safety, Environment and Transportation at Michels Canada. Michels is the winner of the 2021 WSIB Award for Canada's Best Health and Safety Culture. Speaking about the win, Caron says: "I'm so grateful! I also think we are very deserving and it makes me feel so thankful for the support I have from my company and all the individuals in our company that helped us get here." Our nominees and finalists have a passion for what they do and a passion for helping others. "I love my job — how lucky am I? I never thought I'd be one of those people who could say that they love their job. But I am, I really love what I do," said Minow. Speaking about the qualities of a good safety leader, Gandossi says: "The individual has got to have gravitas. [They] need to be true leaders; they can't be schooled in safety without being good leaders." In addition, good leadership is something that develops over time, he says — "you can't learn it in a schoolroom." "They're hard shoes to fill," says Gandossi. "Safety professionals play such a vital role within an organization in terms of the business's overall success. They must have extraordinary leadership skills and a determined vision around continual HSE performance improvement to be successful in the profession. They require a remarkable ability to understand system & cultural improvement areas against a backdrop of legislation, client requirements and company objectives. In consideration of the inherent impact potential, skill set requirements and demands of the role as safety professionals," says Taylor. Support We are also very grateful to our sponsors, many of whom have been supporting the awards for a number of years now and are keen to demonstrate their commitment to worker health and safety. "CIAC has been a proud sponsor of Canada's Safest Chemistry Employer for 4 years. For nearly 40 years, Canada's chemistry sector has led the journey towards safe, responsible, and sustainable chemical manufacturing through its U.N.-recognized chemistry ESG, Responsible Care," says Shannon Watt, Vice-President, Sustainability, Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC) — one of our awards sponsors. "Our industry believes the safety of our employees and all Canadians is of para- mount importance." "The oil and gas Industry is one of these workplaces that we work closely with each and every day. We are extremely excited and proud to sponsor Canada's Safest Oil and Gas Employer," says MSA Safety. "With all the additional challenges faced by safety professionals over the past year, we are excited to help support and join in on the recognition of the many men and women who went over and above to keep their employees safe in 2021. Sharing best practices and lessons learned with these individuals will help us to consistently inno- vate and create safer environments for our workers," says the organization. We are immensely grateful to all of our sponsors, and would like to extend a huge thank you to Avetta, BGIS, Bruce Power, CIAC, MSA Safety, Primoris, WSIB and WSPS for their continued support. For almost two years now, our safety heroes have been on the frontlines ensuring that workers are as healthy and safe as possible. It's been a herculean task. But the silver lining is that safety professionals have been able to showcase what they do best: lead with passion, with understanding and with an admirable drive that has only been strengthened by the hardships of the pandemic. Read on from page 8 to find out more about the winners and excellence awardees of the 2021 Canada's Safest Employers Awards. Key Media and Canadian Occupational Safety, along with our esteemed sponsors, would like to congratulate all of this year's winners and nominees, who truly exemplify excellence in the Canadian occupational health and safety profession. Panel recordings from the October 21 virtual event are available on-demand at www.thesafetymag.com/ca/video.

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