MINERVA 2009 E-NEWSLETTER
In this issue: |
Vol. 9/No. 1 Fall 2009
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Minerva is also proud to be involved in a number of awards programs that you will learn more about in this issue. These include:
An exciting new initiative is Minerva Canada’s outreach activities to healthcare educators in order to promote H&S education beyond business and engineering schools. These include participation in a Council of Ontario Universities’ work group, sponsorship of a research study on health and safety curriculum in Ontario nursing programs, and a national mail campaign to promote more H&S education in Canadian healthcare teaching institutions. I would like to thank Industrial Accident Prevention Association (IAPA) for its continued support and financial assistance. I am especially grateful to retired President Maureen Shaw for her many accomplishments and continued support, and I would also like to welcome Elizabeth Mills, IAPA’s new President and CEO. Minerva looks forward to continuing its strong alliance and partnership with IAPA. I wish to thank our many volunteers from industry, government, academia, and health and safety associations who make up our Board of Directors and Working Committee for their endless dedication and assistance. I am also grateful to our many sponsors whose continued support and financial assistance make our efforts at Minerva Canada possible. Tony Pasteris FEATURE HIGHLIGHT 2009 MINERVA SUMMER INSTITUTE EXPANDS ITS REACH
Chemical, mechanical and electrical engineering faculty, along with industry representatives from across Canada, exchanged ideas at this year’s Summer Institute. “If we create a health and safety management culture across all engineering disciplines, a safety ethic will be deeply instilled in students across Canada.” This was both the theme and challenge presented at the start of the 2009 Minerva Summer Institute. This year’s workshop, attended by more than 30 engineering professors and industry experts from across Canada, was unique in that it expanded beyond its focus on chemical engineering to encompass a range of disciplines, such as mechanical and electrical. Presented by Minerva Canada and its dedicated sponsors, this annual event introduces engineering and business faculty from universities across Canada to the vital concepts of health and safety management for integration into the curricula. The 2009 program focused on a number of key themes: safety, health and environment (SHE) management systems, safety engineering technology, ethics, engineering science, regulations, codes, standards, practices, and SHE teaching practices and research. “The new goal for 2009 and beyond is to reach out to faculty and students across engineering disciplines to ensure they understand the importance of SHE management in their curricula,” says Tony Pasteris, Chairman & President, Minerva Canada. “Creating a health and safety management culture will allow students to take the valuable information they have learned and be better prepared to deal with any occupational health and safety concerns they may face in the workplace.” A big difference in this 6th Annual Summer Institute was the inclusion of former engineering students sharing what they wished they had learned during their studies now that they are employed in industry. For example, Nerina Mariathis of Digital Specialty Chemicals, discussed the importance of knowing about fire regulations and codes and CSA requirements, which she was never exposed to at school and struggled with learning when first on the job. This insight into what is important on the job was valuable since “many professors have no knowledge of what a plant engineer does on a day to day basis,” explains Graeme Norval, Associate Chair and Undergraduate Coordinator, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, and lead organizer of the Summer Institute. According to him, big outcomes included a consensus among professors to form an information network to share resources, materials and best practices and to generate a set of common curriculum elements. “This makes it easier for everyone to agree to how and where to put safety elements into the curriculum.” Curriculum preferences Here are some of their ideas on elements of environmental, health, safety and risk management content that should be included for all engineering students across Canada
Some additional highlights of the 2009 workshop included:
Next Steps
2009 Participant Feedback “The presentations by some of the companies, such as Imperial Oil and General Motors, were very informative and eye opening. Most students take health and safety management for granted. More companies need to share their data and case studies with students across Canada to convince them of the importance of safety.” – Royann Jean Petrell, Ph.D, Associate Chemical & Biological Engineering Professor, University of British Columbia “The best thing about this event from my perspective was learning about free resources that university librarians, such as myself, can suggest to engineering students that use our libraries. We can develop an organized list of safety resources that can be available on site and that would not only be good for students, but for librarians as well.”– Michelle Barratta, Librarian, University of Toronto “I appreciated the opportunity to get an understanding of how industry sees the world. And, since many of my students want to do research into safety, which is a lot different than training for those in other areas of engineering, I would like to see more of the entrepreneurial side of how to teach engineering students who will be employed in smaller companies, I will definitely recommend the Minerva Summer Institute to my colleagues.”– Jason Foster, Professor in Systems Design, University of Waterloo Survey Shows Good Uptake Participants gave high marks to these elements of the 2008 workshop:
This past March, Minerva National Board members Tony Pasteris, Claudio Girolami, and Peter Strum, along with then IAPA President and CEO Maureen Shaw sat down with engineering professors and students at the University of Toronto for the first ever Mini Institute. The intent was to demonstrate to other engineering disciplines the importance of incorporating health and safety into their curricula and to encourage students and faculty members to attend the 2009 Summer Institute. This event not only opened the door to the Summer Institute, but also triggered attendance at the event. The next Mini Institute is planned for the fall of 2009 at Queen’s University. A joint event between Queen’s engineering and business schools, it will be hosted by mining engineering professor and Minerva board member Vic Pakalnis and business professor and past Summer institute attendee Annette Bergeron. Universities interested in hosting future Mini Institutes should contact Tony Pasteris at minerva@safetymanagementeducation.com. LATEST NEWS
Doyle’s personal experience in working with hydraulic excavators inspired him to take on this design project. Hydraulic excavators are widely used in construction, mining and logging operations due to their long reach and maneuverability. While working in summer jobs for a construction company, he became aware of the poor visibility of the equipment and witnessed two excavators roll over in the canyon. He decided to research hydraulic excavators in the workplace and found that a total of 346 deaths were associated with excavators between 1992 and 2000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This finding prompted him to begin thinking about a design that could help prevent injuries and accidents in the workplace.
Doyle and Hermanns are extremely pleased and honoured to receive recognition on their design. “I feel this competition was beneficial in raising awareness about operators’ restricted line of sight, and perhaps companies will feel obliged to improve the design and safety of the machines,” says Doyle. If manufacturing companies take interest, Doyle and Hermanns plan on pursuing a patent. In 2010, the James Ham Safe Design Award will be available to students of engineering schools across Canada. Official entry forms and complete details for the award are available at www.safetymanagementeducation.com///////. Health & Safety a Standalone Focus of Business Student Safety Award For the first time in eight years, the Queen’s University Inter-Collegiate Business Competition (ICBC) will introduce a new competition – a Human Resources (HR) event – sponsored by Minerva Canada. Hosted annually by the Queen’s School of Business, the ICBC is the pinnacle of undergraduate business case competitions in Canada that has garnered entries from top business schools across North America and Asia. The University of Calgary won top prize in the 2009 ICBC Business Ethics competition, analyzing a case study sponsored by Minerva. Beginning in 1978 with only three events, today’s ICBC has eight distinct competitive events which include: Accounting, Business Policy, Debate, Ethics, Finance, Marketing, Management of Information Systems, and newly added this year, HR. This new addition will link business ethics with occupational health and safety and will raise awareness for managing H&S within business schools in Canada and abroad. Minerva will be assisting the organizational committee and will be a platinum sponsor of the 2010 ICBC, with a donation of $7,500, giving it a higher profile. Committee Member Deborah Zinni, Assistant Professor, Brock University, will write two H&S case studies for the competition. “The events have not seen a change for eight years, so an HR event will be an exciting addition to ICBC’s rich history,” says Kayleigh Roberts, Co-Chairperson, ICBC 2010. “We look forward to working closely with Minerva through the cases, judging, and participation at the Final Round.” ICBC is made up of two basic rounds: the Inter-University Round (IU Round) and the Final Round. Schools select a competitive team to enter each event in the IU Round, where students enter a written submission in response to a business case. Queen’s School of Business faculty mark these written submissions and choose six teams to then qualify for the Final Round. At the Final Round, competitors are given five and a half hours to develop a solution to a written case and develop a 15-minute presentation. The competitors then present their solution to a panel of judges, some of whom will be Minerva Board and Committee members. For more information, visit www.icbconline.ca. 2008 Robert W. Campbell Award Winners Honoured
Congratulations to the 2008 Robert W. Campbell Award Category 1 winner Fluor Hanford, a contractor to the U.S. Department of Energy managing environmental remediation activities at its Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State. Category 1 is awarded to companies with more than 1,000 employees. The company employs 3,600 people engaged in dismantling former nuclear-processing facilities, cleaning up contaminated groundwater, retrieving and processing radioactive and chemical waste, and maintaining the site’s infrastructure. Its partnership with unions and approach to EHS protect and strengthen economic, environmental, and community vitality. Congratulations also to 2008 Robert W. Campbell Award Category 2 winner Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC). Category 2 is awarded to companies with up to 1,000 employees. A joint venture petrochemical and fertilizer company equally owned by the governments of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait, GPIC began production in 1985 and currently employs 522 people and up to 300 contractor personnel. The company’s dedicated staff makes it their personal crusade to nurture a robust EHS culture in their homes, society, and region as well as at work. The award is given annually to companies that successfully integrate health, safety, and environmental management. An international panel of independent reviewers, including Minerva, examined each application in a rigorous assessment process. Minerva Canada is one of 22 global partners of this award. For more information about the Award, visit www.campbellaward.org. Minerva Featured in Publications An article about Minerva Canada appeared in the September 2008 issue of U.S.-based Prevention through Design (PtD) in Motion, a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) newsletter that helps foster communication among practitioners, researchers, and others about the tools and actions related to prevention through design. In the article, President Tony Pasteris discusses how Minerva Canada is promoting comprehensive and unparalleled health and safety education in academia to engineering students across Canada through its case studies, awards, and annual Summer Institute. To read the full article, visit www.cdc.gov The Fall 2009 issue of the Canadian Chemical Producers’ Association (CCPA)’s Catalyst Journal features an article about Minerva Canada by Tony Pasteris, with a focus on its Summer Institute. To read the full article, visit www.nxtbook.com In 2009, Minerva continued to develop a heightened awareness for more health and safety education in Ontario healthcare teaching institutions. It sponsored a research study on H&S curricula through a survey to determine the level of H&S training student nurses receive, as well as to identify best practices and barriers to more extensive training. Conducted by graduate student Shayna Frawley of Queen’s University in 2008, a total of 37 Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) and Practical Nursing (PN) programs in Ontario responded. The study found that student health care workers are at an increased risk of occupational injury, and for most schools, H&S topics are ‘threaded in’ where possible and when time permits. The training that is provided is often general and introductory in nature, rather than specific and detailed. Ultimately, the survey found that Ontario nursing students need more extensive H&S training to be better prepared for the serious occupational risks they face—first as students, and then as nurses. REGIONAL REPORT
Minerva Manitoba contact: Judy Fraser, judy.fraser@gov.mb.ca
Minerva Alberta contacts: Susan Devins, sdevins@ucalgary.ca and Carol Eamer, ceamer@telusplanet.net MEET OUR 2009 MINERVA NATIONAL BOARD President & Chair: A.E. (TONY) PASTERIS Secretary/Treasurer: RENZO DALLA VIA Meeting Coordinator: SHERRIE JOHNSTON PAUL BATES DR. PAUL GALLINA CLAUDIO GIROLAMI LEN HONG NINA MANKOVITZ DR. DOUG MCCUTCHEON TRACEY MILL ART NORDHOLM VIC PAKALNIS MARCEL E. POULIOT DR. MARC. A. ROSEN DR. DOUGLAS RUTH FRANK SAUNDERS PETER STURM A very special thanks to retiring Board member Claudio Girolami, [centre], shown here accepting a plaque in recognition of his years of outstanding service to Minerva. With Claudio are[l-r] Marc Rosen, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Minerva Chairman & President Tony Pasteris, Sherrie Johnston, IAPA, and Len Hong, Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety A heartfelt thank you as well to recently-retired Board member Paul Amyotte, Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, for his contributions to Minerva over the years. To find out more about Minerva, please contact your nearest regional representative: WEST SUSAN DEVINS CAROL EAMER CENTRAL DR. PAUL GALLINA EAST Minerva Canada’s key industry sponsors include a growing list of organizations committed to principles that combine efficiency and productivity within an effective Safety, Health and Environmental Management (SHE) culture. It is with deep gratitude that we acknowledge our sponsors: BASF
To access case studies and other resources, visit www.safetymanagementeducation.com///////. Professors should contact Dave Meston, Co-Chair of the Minerva Working Committee, at dmeston@ilap.com for password to instructor notes.
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