The refinery where I worked was originally built in 1929 but not much of the original facility is left beyond some of the storage tanks (yes they last that long in dry climates). Much of the existing plant dates from the 50’s/60’s so asbestos and lead paint are common hazards. Lead paint seems innocuous until you need to grind or weld. There are established testing and management programs for both asbestos and lead paint.

Favourite niche? Quarrying. Quarries Regs was where I first got bitten by the Health & Safety bug!

Working in the petro-chem industry but heavy civil is a close second!

My favorite niche is ergonomics, but more specifically customized job descriptions. I spent 16 years involved in Functional Capacity Evaluations for Return To Work and Post-offer Pre-Employment testing.

Too often, we would see individuals for a return to work and know that even if they hadn't been hurt, they did not really have the physical capacity to perform the job without either an eventual injury to themselves or injuries to co-workers.

Solid, defensible job descriptions allow for good pre-employment testing to help make sure that new hires have at least the physical abilities to meet the essential minimum physical and postural demands of the position and in a return to work issue can be used to identify modified duty during the process or identify accommodations.

Onsite analysis for writing the job descriptions is the interesting part - it takes me to different types of work environments and I get to learn the how and the why of how people do their jobs. And I get to share the safety lessons learned at different sites as well as the lessons learned from all of those return to work tests that I helped perform over the years. It is a win-win for me.

My thing was Safety in a large Hose plant. Now I'm in a chemical plant. Here I dont ever think Ill be a head of safety. So much to learn.