Nomination period closes April 21st
The nomination process for Canada’s Safest Employers Awards (CSEA) is now open. This is an opportunity to recognize a colleague or company demonstrating excellence in safety within a particular industry. The nomination period closes on April 21st, so now is the time to act.
There is set criteria unique to each category and explanations must be provided as to why the nominees deserve to be recognized in a particular category. There are 20 categories, so it is important to choose wisely, and select the most appropriate category for nomination.
How it works
The awards team conducts research, drawing on Canadian Occupational Safety for knowledge and data to verify and support information given during the nomination process. Then they create a shortlist of nominees who are invited to move into the next round. They are required to complete a more detailed submission form and send out an employee perception survey, which must be circulated among employees. There is a minimum threshold of respondents needed and it must be completed by a predetermined deadline.
Once the research phase is complete, potential awardees will be selected and notified. All submissions remain confidential and will not be shared with third parties other than the judges.
The independent judging panel is comprised of dozens of esteemed industry experts, thought leaders, and veterans of the occupational health and safety profession. The judges assess and vote for the winners in each category according to the relevant criteria. This voting process takes place in late summer and the judgement is impartial, balanced, incisive, and fair. If a judge has a conflict of interest in a category, they must recuse themselves from judging in that category.
A simple points system is used to aggregate the judges’ votes and the excellence awardee with the top score in a category is named the winner. Winners will be announced at the gala event which takes place Thursday October 19th at the Liberty Grand in Toronto.
Past winners & sponsors
Winners are extremely proud to receive the awards, and it puts a feather in the cap of their safety management programs. But it’s also a great opportunity for potential sponsors to be associated with excellence in safety.
Last year Avetta sponsored the Best Safety Industry Provider.
“Avetta started with a powerful vision: to make sure all workers get home from their jobs safely, every single day. As we've grown, we've not only stayed true to this vision — we've expanded it. Today, we provide the foundation for clients, suppliers, contractors, workers, and vendors to forge stronger relationships, ensuring every workplace is safe and sustainable. For this reason, we are honoured to be associated with the award for Best Safety Industry Provider.”
The Borger Group of Companies received the award for Canada’s Safest Construction Employer in 2022.
“This award is confirmation that we are on the right path but more importantly that safety is a source of pride for our whole team,” says the Borger Group of Companies. It says the top highlight over the past year has been integrating its in-house safety Vizzn Software. It identifies missing safety paperwork and compares active equipment and actual events to safety paperwork.
Other notable award winners in 2022 include The BGIS Award for Safety Leader of the Year which went to Lee-Anne Lyon-Bartley, executive vice president of health, safety, environment, and quality at Dexterra Group. Lyon-Bartley's colleagues created a short video describing her commitment to safety as "passionate", "unwavering", and "inspiring".
In an interview with Canadian Occupational Safety Lyon-Bartley says the award is an affirmation of her hard work. “Representation matters. And so, I also think that maybe, you know, I put in the work, and we also see that example, that, you know, it's possible.”
The highly coveted WSPS Award for CEO of the Year was given to Phil Verster with Metrolinx. Verster accepted the award on behalf of all Metrolinx employees, its contractors, and the teams it works with every day. "The work is far from done," says Verster, "we will continue our part to ensure that safety never stops in everything we do."
If you wish to nominate an individual or a company, fill out the forms here.
