Health and Safety Educator Award – anglophone sector
Lindsay Savoie
Lindsay Savoie teaches Grade 2 at Champlain Heights School. A family tragedy fuelled her passion and commitment to promoting allergy awareness in schools.
Lindsay is a founding member of the Sweet Caroline Foundation, a volunteer organization dedicated to promoting allergy awareness.
The group also awards scholarships to students who develop and implement innovative ideas to bring awareness and education to students, adults and the general public.
She has reached thousands of students in the Anglophone South School District through her many presentations. Youth have become more aware and educated on the seriousness of allergies and on the importance of contributing to a safer environment for themselves and others.
Lindsay also organized a school-wide allergy awareness food drive. For two weeks, students were asked to bring in items for a food bank that did not contain an allergen of the day (for example: soy, fish, eggs, peanuts or milk).
This activity taught students how to read labels and become more aware of ingredients that could affect the safety of others.
Though her efforts, every student at Champlain Heights School knows how to use an Epipen and is aware of the importance of protecting classmates with allergies.
Recently, Lindsay was asked to speak to a school on an allergy bullying issue. Her compassion, commitment and desire to keep all students safe is admirable.
Through Lindsay’s volunteer work, students with allergies feel more supported and comfortable knowing their peers understand the seriousness of their allergies. She truly is an ambassador for health and safety.
Health and Safety Educator Award – francophone sector
École l’Odyssée
This team of teachers goes above and beyond to try new safety initiatives with students. As a result, they’ve established an exceptional collaborative culture.
They’ve put extensive effort into improving the health and safety of their trades’ classrooms. This includes participating in activities that evaluate and improve safety using the principles of Lean Six Sigma.
This past school year, the team established a system for tracking near-misses in their workshops. Each near-miss is documented, given the necessary follow-up, and logged in a shared document. The team meets three times a week for 15 minutes to check in, ensuring the process is working properly.
They also take time each week to share information about other issues, such as hazards, and discuss ways to further improve the health and safety of their workshops.
The École l’Odyssée team also organized two safety-focused training days for teachers this past summer. By sharing their project with colleagues from across the province, they’ve motivated others. Their passion for health and safety now extends to schools across New Brunswick.
École l’Odysée team members are Robert St-Coeur, Candy Savoie, Chantal Gagnon-Gallant, Jenny Voisine, Serge LeBlanc, Rock Francoeur, Éric Landry and Alain Bezeau.
Health and Safety Champion Award
Joanne Hardy
Joanne Hardy is the recreation director at Mount Saint Joseph Nursing Home in Miramichi, and has been an employee there since 1982.
A champion for staff education, she was a key driver for the proper implementation of the safe resident transfer system Back in Form (formerly Back in Action), to reduce staff injuries due to strains from improper body mechanics and movement when caring for residents.
She not only provided training at Mount Saint Joseph, but extended the opportunity to others in the nursing home industry.
Joanne recognizes the other risks to nursing home staff and brought the U-First program and Non-violent Crisis intervention to Mount Saint Joseph to help staff deal with unpredictable behaviour shown by residents with dementia.
In addition to educating and training nursing home staff, she has actively participated on the joint health and safety committee, and is an acting safety officer and accident investigator.
Her nominating co-worker wrote:
“Joanne is very conscious of the importance of workplace safety and demonstrates the belief that safety is everyone's business by making herself available to managers and co-workers to address any concerns.
“She implements teaching moments in her everyday interactions with staff and also with our stakeholders.
“Joanne’s engaging personality, enthusiasm for education, and her caring attitude for the welfare of others has done much to enhance the safety culture at Mount Saint Joseph Nursing Home.”
Health and Safety Leader Award
Tom Paisley
Tom Paisley is an inspiring mill manager and safety leader at Irving Paper Limited. He has shown that leaders in senior management roles can have a positive impact.
Tom has displayed a sincere attention to worker safety from the day he became manager. He consistently challenges others through private one-on-one safety conversations, encouraging openness and honesty.
He leads by example by doing what’s right. Tom took the initiative early on, when joining Irving Paper, to challenge the joint health and safety committee to create a safety vision. He asked members to reflect on their participation.
He took members on a benchmarking trip to see how one of the safest mills in Canada operates to showcase what they do as a mill – both on the floor and in the office – to create a safe environment.
Tom believes in safety and has proven that when he says he will look after a particular item, he does. He has also shown through his dealings of safety matters that he reacts fairly and impartially.
He continually looks for opportunities to professionally recognize individuals or work groups for their efforts in achieving safety goals or milestones. Key leading indicators on safety are part of the mill’s everyday operations.