Partners in Prevention 2021 Health & Safety Virtual Conference Game Changers | April 28, 2021

Steve Foran, P.ENG, CSP, MBA

Author + Leadership Expert, Founder, Gratitude at Work

The Grateful Mindset - Your Key to Resilience

Explore the importance and relevance of gratitude as a foundational leadership mindset and demystify the path to living a thriving life. During this session, participants discover the critical barrier that keeps far too many people stuck struggling with never having enough to lead a thriving, happy, meaningful life - and how this bubbles over into the workplace and stymies us from being our best and leads to a sense of being overwhelmed, disconnected and dissatisfied. Participants will leave the session with a visceral understanding of the importance of gratitude as a leadership skill critical to their role in building a culture of safety and two simple practices they can immediately implement to strengthen their resilience and better support their team - both at work and in their personal life.

Workplace Violence & Harassment - Is This Worthy of an Investigation?

Valerie Harrison, President, Centrix Dynamic Inc.
An important mandate for organizations is to make everyone aware of the expectations, reporting protocols, and assessment requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act's Bill 168, Workplace Violence and Harassment (WVH). Translating Bill 168 can be challenging and overwhelming for both employers and employees alike. Join this session as Valerie will navigate through the confusion, facilitate practical application and communication strategies, and how to apply WVH information confidently thereby alleviating the apprehension of dealing with these uncomfortable situations.

• Understand how to properly assess and identify WVH behaviours in ourselves and others
• Learn communication strategies to ensure the right questions through your investigation are being asked without causing gossip or fear mongering; and
• Promote accountability for behaviours regardless of intent or "didn't mean anything by it" attitudes

COVID-19 and the Workplace: Managing and Adapting to Evolving Obligations and Challenges

John Illingworth, Partner, Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark LLP
Jeremy Warning, Partner, Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark LLP
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented numerous challenges to businesses and those who operate and manage them. Developing new ways of working and implementing protective measures never before required have been challenging enough. However, that has been compounded by advice and situations that have been evolving for nearly the past year. It has required business to remain fluid and nimble about workplace practices and processes.

In this session, experienced health and safety lawyers from Mathews Dinsdale will provide some clarity on evolving, and potentially complex, workplace obligations through a discussion of various issues including:

• When to report positive cases of COVID-19 to the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development, Employment and Social Development Canada and Workplace Safety and Insurance Board
• Workplace testing
• OHS and WSIB implications of working from home; and
• COVID-19 leaves and supports for employees

Applied Safety and Risk Management: From Emerging to Systemic - Issues One Year into the Global Pandemic

Dan Black, Employment & Labour Lawyer, Caravel Law
Elizabeth Horvath, Manager, Workplace Mental Health, Mental Health First Aid and Opening Minds, Mental Health Commission of Canada
Manisha Mistry, Senior Director, Occupational Health, Safety & Environment and Change Management, CSA Group
Moderator: Dylan Short, CHSC CRM, Managing Director, The Redlands Group Inc.
One year ago, we were learning about a "novel" coronavirus: COVID-19, and the past year has been anything but "novel". While issues were emerging in the spring of 2020, people and organizations alike had to rethink how we do most everything. Our panel of experts will explore what we have learned one year into living applied safety and risk management. The discussion will include, sustaining remote and mandatory in-person work, supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our teams beyond "tips and tricks" and, the evolving legal challenges while looking forward to navigating requirements for returning to our workplaces.

Supply Chain Shake Up - Changing the Game Through Leadership

Kimberly Biback, Corporate Relations, Sharp Decision
Ted Dezsenyi, Manager, Regional Safety & Vehicle Maintenance, FedEx Ground
Norm Kramer Specialized Service Lead, Warehouse & Distribution, Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS)
Moderator: Jennifer MacFarlane, Senior Account Manager, WSPS
There has been a big shift in warehousing and distribution centres (DCs) since COVID-19 hit. Businesses have had to redesign their strategic plans to address high consumer demand that extended well beyond traditional peak production periods. The types of goods too, have changed from 70% commercial pre-pandemic to now 70% residential. Business leaders have been stretched to the limits trying to manage high levels of product inventory with limited floor space and storage capacity, transportation and driver safety, employee staffing and training, maintain workplace health and safety protocols, and most importantly, employee mental health and well-being. Join this panel discussion and hear firsthand from these leading game changers how these companies are surviving and what they have done differently over the past year to create a strategic plan from the top down and to start thinking long term game plan as a way to navigate the new "normal".

Effective Safety Governance - The Secret Sauce to Sustainability

Rick Smith, Senior Vice President, Strategic Accounts, DEKRA Organizational Safety and Reliability
Safety governance seems like a straightforward concept. Yes, we have committees, we involve people from different levels, they meet regularly and talk about safety. However, when observing these committee's in action, there is a tendency towards a "check the box" approach. No meaningful improvement results from the time and effort spent together. This presentation will make the connections between structure, critical team behaviors and meaningful actions that will drive long term safety continuous improvement. These highlight the "what" of governance. The secret sauce is the "how" of governance. How an organization builds culture, engagement and vision into their governance.

This presentation provides insights and best practices that drive world class governance. Using governance to build a workforce of engaged safety champions has additional benefits. The first improvement is in safety, but the ability to move the lessons learned to other performance measures is just as important.

OHS Law, Vaccinations and the Workplace: What Employers Need to Know

Norm Keith, LLM, CRSP, Partner, Fasken
As news of the COVID vaccine will eventually allow workers back to workplaces, it also carries plenty of questions and challenges. What are the legal implications around a "proof of vaccinations for return to the workplace policy"? May employers require or only just recommend that their employees get vaccinated? What is the position of medical experts, public health, occupational health & safety, and human rights regulators regarding proof of vaccination policies in the workplace? What is the best practice for employers to follow in analyzing their workplace to assess what their COVID-19 Vaccine Policy should cover? Join Norm Keith, Canada's leading OHS lawyer, for this important and timely discussion as he addresses the tough questions and provides clear answers for employers on COVID-19 vaccines. This is a must attend session.

SurTHRIVal of the Fittest

Sylvia Maruak, Founder, MinBody Works
Sonia Funk, Founder, The Whole Avocado, Registered Nutritional Therapist
Stress happens in the body. That means that the emotional, mental and physical impact of stress, also happen in the body. Safely navigating recovery and moving from surviving to thriving, requires hope, and a map. Sylvia and Sonia call this map, and its navigation, "SurTHRIVal of the Fittest."

You are worried about your people. Even some of those that were thriving before, no longer are. The chain reaction of events ignited by 2020, is impacting our lives and our bodies right now. The damage is surfacing as increased struggles with mental health, fatigue, brain fog, unexplained symptoms, and illness. If we do not intervene, this dangerous chain of events will reach a point of no return. The safety implications and the financial nightmare that this will create is not hard to imagine. Intervention just became the new prevention. In this presentation you will be given:

• A unique and valuable understanding of how stress effects the mind AND body.
• A series of exercises designed to create a profound awareness of what it feels like to be in charge of your own wellbeing.
• The "SurTHRIVal of the Fittest" map, accompanied by expert insights, tools and strategies for successful navigation.

Psychologically Safe Leadership - Keeping the Mental Health of Workers In Check

Kristy Cork, Health & Safety Consultant, Mental Health, Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS)
There is no question that the global pandemic has left many feeling stressed, anxious, isolated and lonely. For those who are experiencing these emotions for the first time, trying to perform at a high level while working through these feelings can be stressful in itself. Productivity is declining, employee engagement and retention is diminishing, and coping with a dispersed workplace is effecting moral. Employers today have a difficult task of protecting the psychological safety of not only their employees but for themselves too while ensuring business performance and productivity continues to flourish. What strategies can be put into practice that can help employers better support their teams during difficult times? This session will aim to deal with the reality the pandemic has had on the mental health of workers and provide an outlook of what employers can expect in the months ahead. Attendees will learn useful tips and solutions in managing anxiety and building resiliency to help assist their workers, and themselves, during these difficult times.

Anthony McLean

Leadership, Mental Health + Inclusivity Advocate

Diversity: The Secret Power Behind High Performing Teams

Anthony McLean delivers a lively and compelling message on the power of diversity and inclusion at work. The studies are clear: diverse teams are two times more likely to meet financial targets, three times more likely to be high performing, and six times more likely to be innovative. Now is not the time to tolerate diversity, now is the time to seek out diversity. McLean also challenges participants to think critically about unconscious biases. The top talent we want to recruit and retain in our organizations will come from every conceivable background in the world. Are we open-minded enough to recognize talent when it looks different from us in age, race, ability, gender identity, or cultural expression?