Many years ago I started my career as a corporate trainer and I was able to work for some great companies and was given the opportunity to grow as a facilitator and then as an instructional designer and I loved it. I always thought that my career path would include training in some capacity or another. In 2005 I landed at Markel Insurance Company of Canada (now Northbridge Insurance) and since then I’ve spent the last 15+ years working with the transportation industry in a variety of roles which have all included some component of training.
At this point I can’t imagine working in any other industry. Commercial transportation is a huge industry but at the same time its part of a much smaller community. Whether you’re a small, medium or large company, a truck driving training school, an industry association or an industry supplier at the end of the day they all work together. How many industries can say that? When I attend Fleet Safety Council (FSC) meetings across the Province it’s obvious that the members leave their competition at the door, you can see everyone in the room sharing ideas and talking best practices regardless of which company or sector of the industry they work for. They are there to support each other and all road users across the Province. It’s incredible.
A good friend once told me that when you land the right job for you it’s like going home. Well I can honestly say that I’m home. On March 2nd of this year I started my new role as Coordinator, Research and Stakeholder & Public Relations (Transportation) with the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA). I have been a big fan of the IHSA for many years through my involvement with the FSC Chapters and Annual Conference and now I’m part of the team and ready to make a difference.
With this new role I am now in a position where I can work to support and help the industry that has given me so much over the years. IHSA’s mission is to be Ontario’s trusted health and safety resource for effective sector-specific engagement, education, products and services. Over the years I have promoted many of the great resources available to the industry from IHSA. These include things like the IHSA’s Road Safety Solutions which include some awesome no-cost on-demand e-learning courses on Distracted Driving and Preventing Work-Related Motor Vehicle Incidents or additional free resources in the Distracted Driving Tool Kit and Road Safety Solutions Tool Kit. These are just a few of the resources available from IHSA.
Perfect – time for me to get started. One thing I didn’t expect however, was to start with the IHSA the week before a global pandemic was announced. Rather than start with the traditionally on-boarding and training I immediately jumped into action and was asked to support our transportation members by creating some guidance documents to help employers and employees through these challenging times. Here we are three months later and in partnership with the Ministry of Labour, Training Skills and Development, Ministry of Transportation and other Heath and Safety Associations across the province there are now over 60 technical sector guidance documents, posters and videos to support all sectors through COVID-19. I am proud to say that working with my new team I was actually able to work on many of these for the transportation sector.
It’s only been 3-months, who knows what other exciting things I will be involved in moving forward but one thing is for sure. I am now home and in a position where I can truly help and support the community of Commercial Transportation that has given me so much over the years. I am really looking forward to seeing what I get to work on next and look forward to sharing them with you through this blog.
