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The 2024 Canada’s Safest Employers Awards showcased the country’s commitment to workplace health and safety, recognizing outstanding achievements across various sectors. Held in Toronto, this year’s ceremony celebrated the dedication of leaders, companies, and innovators who make safety an integral part of organizational culture and industry success. With awards spanning categories from CEO of the Year to Public Transportation and Mining, this event highlighted the importance of safety-driven leadership, employee engagement, and continuous improvement.
Leadership emerged as a key theme throughout the ceremony. Jody Young, CEO of Workplace Safety & Prevention Services, presented the coveted CEO of the Year award, bestowed upon Agnes Wietrzynski of QM Environmental. Young emphasized the importance of leaders who elevate safety to a core business priority: “A CEO who prioritizes safety as much as every other business priority makes a difference by engaging people at all levels of the organization. They create an open line of communication from the frontline up, cultivating a psychologically safe environment,” she said. This commitment to openness and proactive safety has allowed companies like QM Environmental to set high standards in the industry.
Meanwhile, Adelia Marchese of Wolseley Canada took home the Safety Leader of the Year award for her high-impact work in advancing safety standards across her organization. Recognizing her leadership, colleagues and industry leaders noted her influence in fostering a strong safety culture through active engagement and innovative safety solutions. Marchese’s dedication serves as a model, demonstrating the ripple effect one person can have on elevating health and safety across a workforce.
The Best Health and Safety Culture award recognized the Canadian organizations that have successfully fostered a collaborative and accountable culture around safety. Rod Cook, vice president at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, spoke passionately about the role of leadership and worker engagement in creating safe work environments: “Great health and safety culture really represents a strong internal responsibility system, one where leadership at the top and worker involvement align. This is how you create a truly safe workplace,” Cook explained.
That award went to the team at 4Refuel, with president and CEO Larry Rodo crediting their people-first approach. “We’ve always said, ‘Take care of the people, and they’ll take care of profits.’ Safety is our DNA.”
For Black & McDonald, winning their fourth consecutive award reflected not only a strong safety program but also an enduring team commitment. Anthony Di Gianni, corporate director of health, safety, and environment, spoke to the importance of equipping employees with the right tools, while crediting the workforce’s commitment to safety: “It’s not just what we’re doing; it’s our hardworking employees carrying out safety practices every day. Our culture, leadership team, and safety personnel all contribute to making us a safer organization,” he shared.
Yves Tremblay, president and CEO of Pronghorn Controls, emphasized the critical role of employee engagement in achieving safety milestones. Recognized with the MSA Safety Award for Canada’s Safest Oil and Gas Employer, Tremblay lauded his company’s progressive safety program, saying Pronghorn has focused on tracking leading indicators, such as hazard identifications and near-miss reports, to build a proactive culture.
“The road to zero harm is paved with leading indicators, so hazard IDs, near misses, peer discussions – all of these have driven injuries out of our business,” Tremblay explained. Reflecting on the value of the award, he likened it to the “Stanley Cup of safety performance,” underscoring its power to inspire and sustain momentum across the team.
The Canada’s Safest Employers Awards not only celebrated current achievements but also inspired future safety leaders and organizations to aim higher. By highlighting the benefits of safety culture, accountability, and innovation, this year’s honorees demonstrated that workplace safety is a multifaceted commitment requiring vision, dedication, and active participation from all levels of an organization.
As the ceremony concluded, attendees left with a renewed sense of purpose, understanding that the journey to a safer workplace is ongoing. By honoring the companies and individuals that champion safety, the 2024 Canada’s Safest Employers Awards encourage the broader business community to embrace health and safety as a core element of success and sustainability.
For the third consecutive year, Avetta is delighted to announce its continued partnership as the Event Sponsor for the prestigious Canada’s Safest Employers Awards. We are honored to stand alongside the event organizers, sponsors, and attendees in extending our heartfelt congratulations to all the outstanding leaders and professionals recognized across various categories this year. Your unwavering commitment to advancing exemplary health and safety standards in Canada and globally is building a better and safer world.
In addition to celebrating the exceptional accomplishments of safety leaders, Avetta is humbled to present the Avetta Award for Canada’s Safest Manufacturing Employer. This distinguished title recognizes the exceptional efforts of a remarkable group of manufacturers who tirelessly strive to create safe working environments for their employees. We appreciate the Canadian Occupational Safety Organization for providing a well-deserved platform to honour our Canadian safety heroes and professionals.
At Avetta, our mission is to make global supply chains safer and more sustainable by enabling trusted client-supplier partnerships. While we are known for our intuitive, highly customizable software, our purpose goes beyond technology. We are dedicated to fostering safer workplaces and enhancing safety outcomes through world-class, award-winning service. Organizations within our network consistently surpass industry benchmarks in safety and sustainability metrics. We take great pride in the positive social and economic impact that companies have achieved through our platform and services.
Together, we are poised to make an even greater impact on the lives of workers and employers around the world. Enjoy the event, and thank you for attending!
Birdo Richards III
Vice President
Avetta
Stage 1 – Nominations
The call for nominations was open to all occupational health and safety professionals, teams, companies, and organizations – including industry service providers – from across Canada.
Nominations were open from February 26, 2024, to April 19, 2024, 11:59 pm ET.
To submit a nomination, individuals went to the Nominate page of the website. Submissions were free of charge.
Stage 2 – Research
The Canada’s Safest Employers Awards team conducted research and drew on knowledge and information gained through Canadian Occupational Safety to verify and support nominations received.
If an individual was successfully shortlisted, they were invited to move to the next round and were required to complete a more detailed submission form and an employee perception survey, which they were required to send out to their employees. This survey had to meet a minimum threshold of respondents by a predetermined deadline.
Stage 3 – Excellence awardees
Once all nominations were considered and research was complete, excellence awardees were selected in each category and notified via e-mail or phone.
All submissions remained confidential unless otherwise marked and were not shared with any third parties other than the judges.
Excellence awardees were officially announced in August 2024 on the website, and promoted in Canadian Occupational Safety magazine and online channels. Promo packages designed to leverage their achievement across marketing and promotions were available for purchase.
Stage 4 – Judging
All submissions from the excellence awardees were forwarded to the independent judging panel comprising esteemed experts, thought leaders, and veterans in and around the occupational health and safety profession. The panel assessed and voted for their winners in each category according to the relevant category criteria.
Voting commenced in August 2024, and judgment was impartial, balanced, incisive, and fair. Any judge with a conflict of interest in a category recused themselves from judging that category.
Stage 5 – Winners
Using a simple points system to aggregate judges’ votes, the excellence awardee with the top score in a category was named the winner.
Winners were announced at the awards show on October 10, 2024, and on the website. They were also promoted in Canadian Occupational Safety. Promo packages designed to leverage their achievement across marketing and promotions were available for purchase.
