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Two winners were awarded the Mainstay Award for Individual Safety Champion in 2014 - Trina Peterson and Dave Shannon.
For the past 11 years, Trina Peterson has held the role of Coordinator of Employment Development for the Nova Scotia Youth Facility and Centre 24-7. In this role, Trina is tasked with teaching and developing employment skills with an often challenging client group. However, her passion, energy and enthusiasm go well beyond this job description.
Working with youth of all cognitive abilities, learning styles, behavioral challenges and varying backgrounds, she facilitates groups, conducts individual training sessions and coordinates guest speakers, all in an effort to better prepare these young people for work outside of the facility.
Trina saw the importance in integrating workplace health and safety into her job preparedness programming in order to guard these young people against harm and to educate them on staying safe. A further benefit emerged after the Nova Scotia Safety Construction Association provided access to WHMIS and Safety Certification, not only allowing Trina to offer a more formal education, but it also offered the youth with documentation of their learning and credentials for their resume – in many cases these were the first certificates every earned by these students, who were more used to receiving “incompletes”. The success of the program has led Trina’s external partners to offer even more support, and recently NSCC and Nova Scotia Power provided curriculum on electrical safety.
Now linked with Nova Scotia’s Department of Education, Trina has had over 160 students certified in safety and WHMIS thanks to her mentorship. This is the result of her resolve to access resources and support through any means possible – navigating through numerous government departments and engaging and facilitating relationships with community businesses.
Trina truly exemplifies what it means to be an Individual Safety Champion.
Dave Shannon, Owner and Operator or Dave’s Commercial Cleaning, first became immersed in workplace health and safety after attending the Managing Employees Safety and Health (MESH) course offered through Safety Services Nova Scotia. Upon completion of this course, Dave committed to pursue further education opportunities and access as many resources as possible to make sure his employees stayed safe at work.
L-R: Minister Kelly Regan, Labour and Advanced Education, Dave Shannon, Dave's Commercial Cleaning and Stuart MacLean, CEO of WCB Through the development and implementation of health and safety policies, investing in training for a number of team members to be health and safety professionals through Safety Services Nova Scotia, and by making safety a part of every conversation held on the worksite, Dave has helped to establish Dave’s Commercial Cleaning as a real safety leader in his industry – winning the Mainstay Award for Employer Safety Champion in 2012.
This passion for safety comes from a strong appreciation and admiration for his employees, and a desire to make sure they are protected while working for his organization. In addition to the policies and procedures that make adherence to safety an absolute requirement, Dave makes talking about safety a team-building exercise, where employees can get together and learn from one another.
Through awareness, leadership, and action, Dave Shannon has created a successful safety program where his employees can feel confident that their leader has their health and wellness top-of-mind each and every day.