President Clive Thurston has recently undergone heart surgery to repair some clogged arteries. Surgery was successful and he is at home resting comfortably. Staff expect him to be back in the office by approximately mid-July. If you would like to send Clive your email well-wishes, please send them to mary@ogca.ca and we will make sure he gets them. For more information, please contact the OGCA office.

The OGCA will continue to operate as per normal, with assistance from the Executive Committee and Board of Directors as required.

The League of Champions is pleased to announce its newest member:

• Lafarge Canada
• Peak Engineering & Construction Ltd.

CBRE, in partnership with IO Realty, launched the first of five safety presentations to their Regional District Offices across Ontario. On June 8^th in Guelph, Rob Ellis of MySafeWork delivered his personal story to over 150 CBRE senior management employees. The message resonated with CBRE’s mission to change the way their company leaders think and feel about workplace health and safety.

James Lawrence, Senior Alliance Director at CBRE, and Sean Wiley, Divisional EVP, Realty Operations & Asset Management at Infrastructure Ontario, announced new patrons into the League of Champions. James proudly wore the jersey while encouraging everyone in the room to look out for one another and asked everyone to make a commitment by signing their family name to the jersey on display.

CBRE will continue demonstrating its leadership with 2 sessions in Toronto, Sudbury and Kingston this month.

Be sure to like us on Facebook, re-tweet us on Twitter, or watch our new channel on YouTube.

For more information on how you can become a member of the League of Champions or how you can get involved, please contact Lyndsy Miceli at the OGCA Office (lyndsy@ogca.ca).

Are you a small business owner who invests in workplace health and safety?

We're investing in small businesses that believe workplace health and safety is a priority. The Small Business Health and Safety Leadership Award recognizes the accomplishments of businesses with less than 50 workers that foster healthy and safe workplaces. The three awards are Gold, Silver and Bronze awarding $5000, $3000 and $2000 respectively to the selected winners. The WSIB is looking for nominees who are committed to building an effective health and safety program within their workplace and are able to demonstrate the steps they are taking to keep their workers healthy and safe.

Click here for more information.

With the outstanding attendance and positive feedback received at this year’s Leadership Day, hosted by OGCA and IHSA, it has been announced that the 2018 Leadership Day will be moved to a bigger venue.

Mark your calendars for February 23, 2018 at the Verdi Banquet Hall in Mississauga, Ontario.

Leadership Day aims to improve Health and Safety in the construction industry. For those who were unable to attend this year’s safety event, click here to view video, courtesy of IHSA.

Recapping from last week’s newsletter:

Rob Ellis, founder and president of MySafeWork, visited Kenaidan's head office on May 30th for a special presentation of the $2,400 that their staff and crew donated during Kenaidan’s safety week activities and events. These events included fire safety awareness, fall protection demonstrations, safety equipment reviews. The money was raised through raffles, dunk tanks and general donations.

Rob thanked Kenaidan for the contribution to his organization, and said it will be used to help MySafeWork spread health & safety awareness around the world to our vulnerable youth!

Construction wrapped on Innisfree House in 2015 but the relationship between the hospice and local builder Gateman-Milloy Inc. continues. The construction firm just announced a $50,000 donation to Innisfree House over the next five years. 

"We enjoy many long-term relationships that start with ideas, develop through construction and extend through on-going maintenance and other support," said Michael Milloy, President, Gateman-Milloy, on presenting the symbolic cheque to Kim Robinson, Executive Director of Innisfree and Lisaard Houses.

Click here to read the press release. 

Turner’s office in Toronto recently joined forces with the not-for-profit organization Toronto Youth Development, building 30 bicycles for a group of boys who participate in their programming. And, the next day, the Turner staff got to present the bikes in person.

"Toronto Youth Development works to empower at-risk kids through education, sports, and overall mentorship" said Kris Barnard, vice president and general manager, who addressed the group of 30 boys, aged 4-13, at the Bike Donor Presentation the day after the build, "I spoke to them about becoming active citizens and leaders in their communities, and then we got to the good stuff," he laughed, "They each went and found the bike with their name, a brand-new helmet, and a Turner t-shirt, and took them out for a spin. It was amazing to witness the sheer joy amongst the kids because for all of these kids this was the first bike they could ever call their own; and the parents all expressed their deepest gratitude to Turner for making such a positive impact on their children’s lives."

In addition to bringing the pure joy of bicycle locomotion to a large group of kids, the event attracted significant and wide-spread community support, and some local media coverage.

Check it out by clicking here 

Ontario is modernizing provincial construction laws to address key issues and improve efficiency and competitiveness for construction businesses.

Attorney General Yasir Naqvi introduced legislation today that would, if passed, modernize the lien and holdback process, introduce needed rules to ensure Ontario construction workers get paid, on time, for the work they do, and make the dispute resolution process faster and simpler.

Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn introduced the "Fair Workplace, Better Jobs Act, 2017" which will require difficult changes for many employers. This includes: 

• Raising Ontario’s minimum wage to $14 an hour on Jan 1, 2018, and $15 on January 1, 2019.
• Expanding personal emergency leave to a minimum of at least two paid days per year.
• Mandating at least 3 weeks of vacation time after five years.
• Requiring that employees be paid for three hours of work if their shift is cancelled within 48 hours of its scheduled time.

OGCA will provide the government with a full response to this legislation.

Click here to access the entire list of changes.

It is well recognized that exposure to mould growth in buildings can result in adverse health effects. Authorities at all levels require assessment and remediation of potential mould growth, as well as appropriate precautions to protect remediation workers and building occupants. Recent outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease have reminded us all of the need to control this risk in building water systems.

This course provides comprehensive information for building managers, health and safety staff, contractors, and insurance professionals to meet their responsibilities for controlling the risks related to mould and Legionella contamination. Click the link below to register.

Hazards and Control of Mould & Legionella in Buildings in Ontario

If you know ping pong players or companies that like cool, unique employee benefits please see below. Mike Kessell of the Cleveland Clinic has asked us to pass on the following information:

This year, we are in Toronto for what we hope will be one of the largest turnouts for an AGM and Conference. With minimal travel for all of our members, Toronto will be the most easily accessible location for this year's AGM.

We anticipate a lot of first timers to this conference as we have tried to make it easy to get to, and have kept the costs down to a minimum. Registration forms are now available on the OGCA website at www.ogca.ca and click on Store / Events.