School is in Session

The League of Champions has been busy promoting health and safety within the construction industry and among college and university students. 

On March 15, we had the honour of interacting with over 200 students from the Marshall School of Skilled Trades & Apprenticeship at Mohawk College. Eleven Champions participated in the panel, including two Mohawk graduates. Mohawk’s Associate Dean, Angelo Cosco, welcomed the Champions with open arms. He made it clear that his goal was life-long learning and to have students focus on safety from the day they start.

Representing both the League and her alma mater, Cathy Eybel from Harris Rebar got the conversation going with her words, "Safety is not a switch. You can’t just turn it on and off.”

Rob Ellis, MySafeWork, challenged the future leaders to change the way business is conducted in Canada. "We all know the right to know, participate, and refuse unsafe work; but are we going to take ownership of that?”

Overall, it was an excellent event and we even made one of the students an honorary Champion! A special thank you to Bondfield Construction Company Limited, CBRE Ltd., EllisDon Corporation, GEN-PRO, Harris Rebar, Pomerleau Inc., and Stuart Olson Construction Limited for volunteering your time to support the next generation of construction industry leaders.

Based on feedback about the Mohawk College event, we were also invited to speak to 40-50 students at McMaster University on March 22.

Professor Frances Tuer of the Degroote School of Business even committed to putting questions from Rob Ellis’ presentation on the students’ final exam. What an excellent way to encourage future leaders to make health and safety top of mind.

We are looking forward to planning events in conjunction with McMaster University and MySafeWork in the future.

To book Rob Ellis as a speaker for your upcoming event, or for more information on how your company can become a Champion, contact Andrea George at andrea@theLOC.ca