Safety Matters

 

L-R: Stuart MacLean, CEO of WCB, Eric LeFort, NSCC, Minister Kelly Regan, Labour and Advanced Education

As the Lead Occupational Health and Safety faculty member for the Nova Scotia Community College Marconi Campus, you wouldn’t be surprised that Eric LeFort knows a lot about workplace safety. What is impressive is the passion he brings to this topic, and the reach and impact this passion has had across the province.

The Occupational Health and Safety program includes training in Occupational Health and Safety Program Management, Loss Prevention and Control, OH&S Legislation and Regulations, Ergonomics, Environmental Programs, WHMIS, Fire Prevention, Lock-out/Tag-out, Confined Space Entry, H2S Alive and more. These courses help to ensure that students are well-prepared on the theory side of workplace health and safety. But Eric is committed to making sure his students are well versed in the practical side of health and safety training too – and to do that he brings them directly to job sites to put their education to work.

Eric schedules and facilitates a number of field trips to water treatment facilities, power generating plants, coal mining sites and remediation projects, and these visits provide the practical, hands-on experience he believes the students need. He has taught his students to focus on what people do in the workplace, analyze why they do it, and then apply a research intervention strategy to make changes that will create and promote a safer work environment.

This approach has not only benefited Eric’s immediate worksite at the Marconi Campus, but has ensured that organizations across Nova Scotia are receiving workplace health and safety professionals with the highest quality training and dedication toward their work.