Press Release

March 2, 2009

Toronto, Ontario – March 2, 2009 – IAPA (Industrial Accident Prevention Association)’s Health & Safety Canada 2009 Conference and Trade Show, the largest event of its kind in Canada, will be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building, from April 20 – 22, 2009. Through its theme – Imagine. Innovate. Inspire. – IAPA’s 92nd annual event takes a dynamic, forward-thinking approach to health and safety challenges facing today’s evolving workplaces and explores the building blocks needed to achieve positive change.
 
Canada’s premier health and safety event will include three days of celebrated keynote speakers, leading-edge sessions, workshops, and professional development courses. Two trade shows and one feature area covering over 200,000 square feet and 500 exhibitors will run during the first two days of conference, April 20 – 21. In addition, two special forums will focus on two influentially diverse topics: the DNA of a winning culture and mental health in the workplace.

The Honourary Chair of Health & Safety Canada 2009 is the Honourable Michael Kirby, a leading advocate of mental health reform. Michael Kirby is the chair of the federal government’s Mental Health Commission of Canada, and is also the special ministerial advisor on mental health.  He served as a member of the Senate from 1984 to 2006, and was the longtime chairman of the standing senate committee on social affairs, science, and technology.  His work produced several key reports, including The Health State of Canadians – the Federal Role, and Canada’s first report on mental health, mental illness, and addiction, called Out of the Shadows at Last. Mr. Kirby was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2008.

Keynote Speakers
IAPA welcomes four high profile, renowned keynote speakers to Health & Safety Canada 2009, who will address conference delegates:

• Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Neuroanatomist and NY Times best-selling author of My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journal, and one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. She specializes in postmortem investigation of the human brain. In 1996, Taylor experienced a rare form of stroke and spent 10 years successfully rebuilding her brain from inside out. (Monday, April 20 – 8:00 a.m.)

• Tim Flannery is a scientist and author of the #1 international best-seller, The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate and What it Means for Life on Earth. Using politics, economics, activism, scientific discovery, and corporate leadership, Flannery’s keynote lays out how our actions are damaging the planet and offers a plethora of solutions that can combat this great, but not insurmountable challenge. (Tuesday, April 21 – 8:00 am.)
• Simon Jackson is Time Magazine’s Hero for the Planet and the founder of Spirit Bear Youth Coalition, one of the world’s first all youth-run organizations and the first one involved in developing the last intact habitat for North America’s rarest bear – the white Kermode or spirit bear, on British Columbia’s central coast.  Jackson will illustrate how he overcame roadblocks and skeptics to help make the spirit bear one of the world’s foremost environmental issues. His unique story is the focus of a recent made-for-TV movie, and soon-to-be-released major Hollywood film. (Wednesday, April 22 – 8:00 a.m.)

• Rick Mercer is Canada’s funniest satirist and host of the top-rated, award-winning CBC show, The Rick Mercer Report, which chronicles, satirizes, and ultimately celebrates all that is great and irreverent about this country. Mercer will draw on best moments from his show, taking conference delegates behind the scenes of some of his classic Canadian moments. (Wednesday, April 22 – 12:15 p.m.)

Forum on Mental Health – Monday, April 20, 2009 from 1:45 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Mental health is an emerging workplace health and safety issue, as mental illness often strikes people in their prime working years.  Mental health in the workplace will receive special attention at the Forum on Mental Health where a panel of high-profile mental health advocates will explore the issues of workplace stress and mental illness and outline how employers can help defuse the soaring economic and human costs associated with mental illness. The four pillars of the Canadian Armed Forces program, which was instrumental in breaking the stigma of mental illness as a character weakness, will be highlighted.
 
According to IAPA President and CEO Maureen Shaw, "Workplaces are not only affected by mental illness, they can cause mental health issues. Job demands and/or little control over the workplace can contribute to these issues – the more we learn about mental health at work, the more we recognize its role in promoting and conversely undermining, the safety, health, and productivity of our workplaces."

Leadership Summit 2009 – Tuesday, April 21, 2009, 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
The fourth annual IAPA Leadership Summit 2009 will be held as a stand-alone event at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Imperial Room. Entitled the DNA of a Winning Culture, it serves to motivate attendees and help transform their workplace culture, enabling them to attract and retain their greatest asset – their employees, using imagination, innovation, and inspiration as the necessary building blocks to establishing and maintaining a winning culture.  Leadership Summit 2009 opens with a keynote address by Tim Sanders, Former Yahoo! Leadership Coach and best-selling author, who is on a mission to transform the workplace and society at large. Other speakers include:

• Adwoa K. Buahene, Co-founder and Managing Partner, n-gen People Performance – Four Generations – Four Approaches to Work: How to Get, Keep and Grow all Four Generations 
• Edgardo Pérez, CEO and President of Homewood Corporation, Homewood Health Centre Inc. – Investing in our Culture
• Joe Ricciuti, Client Solutions Leader, Canada, Watson Wyatt Worldwide – Quantifying and Strategizing Culture
• Sue Wuthrich, Director of Global Benefits, Google Inc. – Fortune Magazine’s #1 Best Place to Work Jantzi Research, Leading-edge social investment analysis – Who’s Looking and Why It Matters

Youth Health & Safety Forum  - Monday, April 20, 2009 and Tuesday, April 21, 2009
More than 2,000 high school students will participate in the conference’s annual Youth Health & Safety Forum, during the first two days of the Conference. The Forum features special presentations including a keynote speaker, a testimonial/personal message from a young, injured worker, information on workplace hazards, the law, rights and responsibilities, as well as presentations from the winning schools from the LINK (Learning Innovative New Knowledge) regional drama competitions. The keynote address will be given by Marc Shaw, an accomplished sailor who placed eleventh in the world after sailing the waters of Qingdao, China during the three-person Sonar event at the 2008 Paralympic Games. Marc lost part of his leg after a workplace explosion when he was 24. He is the son of IAPA President and CEO, Maureen Shaw.
 
LINK participants are grade 11 and 12 drama students from Ontario high schools who create and perform a 25-minute multi-media, original dramatic production featuring vital need-to-know messages about young worker health and safety, including rights and responsibilities, workplace hazards, and workplace violence.  For 2009, there will be two shows over Monday, April 20 and Tuesday, April 21. The full LINK program has the opportunity to engage more than 20,000 young people from across Ontario each year.

Health & Safety Canada 2009 Trade Show –  April 20 and 21, 2009 only
The Health & Safety Canada 2009 Trade Show welcomes more than 500 exhibitors showcasing new and innovative programs and services designed to increase health and safety in work environments of all industries.  The trade show’s Innovation Zone features a variety of interactive displays; and the Health & Wellness Pavilion, presented by Health Canada, will showcase exhibitors with the latest in ergonomics and healthy living. 

CANECT 2009 and MASC 2009 –  April 20 and 21, 2009 only
The Canadian Environmental Conference and Tradeshow (CANECT 2009) and the Machine Automation Safety Congress (MASC 2009) feature area will run concurrently with the trade show at Health & Safety Canada 2009.  The three shows combined will feature in excess of 500 exhibitors, offering delegates the complete realm of health, safety, environmental solutions, and machine automation solutions.

International Conference - Global Breakthroughs in Health and Safety Performance – April 22 and 23, 2009
Co-hosted by IAPA, ISSA (International Social Security Association), and CISS (Inter-American Conference on Social Security), this conference will explore perspectives in health and safety performance in countries as diverse as Canada, Brazil, and France. This event takes place immediately after Health & Safety Canada 2009 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, North Building.

IAPA is a not-for-profit, member-driven organization operating in Ontario since 1917. Representing approximately 50,000 member firms and more than 1.5 million Ontario workers, IAPA is Canada’s leader in workplace health, safety, and employee well-being.  IAPA is focused on providing industry-leading training, consulting, educational products, and informational services that meet our members’ needs and the needs of those in their communities. IAPA is also recognized as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Occupational Health and an International Labour Organization – CIS Collaborating Centre. IAPA is ISO 9001 certified, has been awarded the NQI PEP® Level 4 for Quality Certificate, and the Canada Awards for Excellence Gold Trophy Awards for both Quality and Healthy Workplace. For more information on IAPA’s programs, products, services, and awards programs, visit IAPA’s website at www.iapa.ca.

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For further media information:
Edye Rome, Edye Rome Communication Services, (416) 785-6213, edyerome@sympatico.ca or Helen Kampfmuller, (416) 694 – 5640, helen-kampfmuller@rogers.com or Vince Ciarlo, (416) 763-3783.