WorkSafeNB 2025 Health & Safety Conference - Tim Petersen, President & CEO

Tim Petersen, WorkSafeNB President & CEO, joins us to discuss the 2025 Health & Safety Conference coming up October 8-10 at the Fredericton Convention Centre 

Transcript

Perley Brewer   0:34
 Welcome to today's podcast. My name is Pearly Brewer and I will be your host. Today's podcast guest is Tim Peterson, President and CEO of Worksafe and be welcome, Tim.
Petersen, Tim   0:45
 Well, thank you very much, Pearly. I appreciate appreciate being here and and the opportunity to speak a little bit about our upcoming health and Safety conference.
Perley Brewer   0:57
 Yeah, it seems almost your conference has been around for so long that it's almost the right of fall. And you know, as we hit September and we start to think about the conference and and what's going to take place at the conference. So a good place to start, maybe Tim is is if there are folks out there that maybe haven't attended your conference in the past?
 I wonder if you give us a little bit of the history about the conference.
Petersen, Tim   1:20
 Sure, I'd love to do that. Well, this will be the 42nd year for our conference, hard to believe, but we are we are over 4 decades now putting on putting on the conference, which I would say is is our flagship event of the year. And it's also really one of.
 It's one of the more important tools that we have to to help workplaces build better health and safety culture. As you know, Pearly education is is a really important tool when it comes to prevention.
 And our annual health and safety conference is is primary means of education for folks and and really the target audience is people who have a passion for health and safety, whether that's employers, workers.
 HR Professionals, Joint Health and Safety Committee members, first responders, really the Sky's the limit. We have a a, a really broad range of of topics and really engaging speakers. So, so.
 Annually at our conference, there's really something that I'm certain would appeal to that would appeal to everyone and I'm really proud of some of the keynote speakers that we've had in the past, the team.
 The team at Worksafe does a great job attracting really, really good engaging speakers. We've had Olympic athletes, we've had survivors, surviving spouses of workers who have been fatally injured. We've had astronauts.
 We've had mental health advocates. We've had a little bit of everything when it comes to keynote speakers, and we'll have some great ones again this year. I'm sure we'll talk about about later on. The other thing with our conference is and we always get really exceptional feedback about the networking.
 That happens at the conference because you do have a room of over 600 people who are very passionate about health and safety, very interested to share their experiences and very interested in learning from other people's experiences. So the networking opportunity.
 Is really is really exceptional. In addition to that, at our conference, we always have, we have a trade show and we have, I believe this year over 30 booths at the trade show and and that's really a showcase of you know the latest in health and safety.
 The equipment and resources that people can stop by and learn more about. We also have annually the presentation of our Safety Star awards important to recognize and honor leaders in workplace health and safety. And we do that.
 Annually, and as I mentioned before, it really is. This really is our flagship event. We're very proud of it and we've gotten exceptionally good feedback about about the speakers and the content of the conference over the over the past 40 years.
Perley Brewer   4:35
 Yeah. You talk about both the educational aspect of the conference as well as a networking and it's, you know from a networking perspective, it's almost like an old home week. You know everybody that's anybody in health and safety in the province is usually there and it's great opportunity to get caught up with with your fellow colleagues from around the province.
Petersen, Tim   4:54
 Yeah, it really is.
Perley Brewer   4:57
 So let's start, Tim, with opening night. Always nice to to get together socially, especially and and see some of those old friends. What's on the tap now for the opening night?
Petersen, Tim   5:09
 Yeah. So we are, I maybe just kind of run you briefly through the the three days. So the the conference runs from October the 8th to the 10th. So day one really it kicks off later on in the day registration opens up.
 4:00 on the eighth, the trade show will will be open then and throughout the conference and the 8th we have our our traditional welcoming reception that kicks off at 5:00 on the eighth. Again, great networking event. Always.
 Lots of familiar faces, purely as you said, really encouraged by the fact that we always see new new faces to new, whether that that may be people who are new to, to workplaces, because they're young workers, or they're newcomers to the.
 Or they're people who have just decided that they want to learn more about health and safety. So good mix of good mix of familiar faces and new faces. And then at that opening event, of course we'll have.
 We'll have some, some snacks and some entertainment for for folks that typically runs for about 3 hours and then we really get into opening things, opening the conference up the speaker portion on the morning of October the 9th.
 And our opening keynote speaker will be Romeo Delaire and Mr. Delaire will have a great, great message and sharing of experiences for us. And then following that, there'll be workshop sessions.
 Throughout the rest of the day that that will be on the Thursday, the the 9th of October and then we wrap up Friday. So we're we are back on Friday morning with a couple of more keynote speakers. We have Laura Duvernay TARDIS who will speak.
 Speak about his experiences following his Super Bowl champion experience and then moving out of that and back into healthcare during COVID and really pleased that we also have Tyler Smith who is one of the.
 Humboldt tragedy survivors with us and and his message promises to be very emotional and inspiring. And then on the Friday morning, we will also be presenting our Safety Star Awards.
 And following that, we have one more series of workshops and then and that'll that'll wrap things up. But certainly with the speakers and and the sessions we have lined up promises to be another great event this year.
Perley Brewer   8:05
 Do you want to talk to us a little bit, Tim, about the some of the sessions that you do have other than the keynotes, some of the speakers perhaps, and some of the topics?
Petersen, Tim   8:16
 Yeah, I might. Well, maybe we'll come back to the keynotes after certainly early from a from a work workshop session perspective. Yeah, broad range of topics as as we always do.
 From safety leadership to a session on AI, which is becoming of increasing interest, AI and health and safety and some practical sessions addressing really industry specific hazards, we have 30.
 Workshops addressing health and safety issues and trends. And as I mentioned before, I think it's probably something for for everyone, maybe a couple of sessions. I would highlight we have we have.
 Have a good mix of external speakers and we have some of our own Worksafe staff who have stepped up to lead some of the sessions. Our manager of investigations, Mike Seer will be doing 2 sessions that I'm sure will.
 Attractive lot of interest. One is on the duties of supervisors in the workplace and another that Mike will be presenting on is working around heavy equipment which is.
 It's one of those areas where unfortunately we see we see some pretty tragic events happening, so that that will be a very interesting and important session. We have Co presenters from from GFL, Environmental services and Trans Northern pipeline.
 Talking about their approach to reducing incidents in their workplaces and then we've got some subject matter experts that are going to be covering some really interesting sessions on ergonomics on early return to work.
 I mentioned AI. We're going to have a focus on and I'll talk a little bit more about this and and you'll you'll see this when I talk about the keynote speakers, a focus on psychological health and safety in the workplace.
 Which certainly is an issue that is at the forefront for for all of us here in New Brunswick, and I would say across the country.
Perley Brewer   10:40
 Yeah. Do you want to talk a little more about that aspect and and and what you might expect from especially well, I guess all three of your speakers, but especially two of them.
Petersen, Tim   10:51
 Yeah, the, the the theme, I I would say of that is is of the the keynote certainly around psychological health and and safety. So our opening, as I mentioned, Lieutenant General Romeo Delaire.
 Certainly, renowned humanitarian and a mental health advocate and general delaire is going to share his personal journey with with respect to PTSD and really.
 Shine a light on the importance of addressing mental health and reducing stigma, which is essential for creating certainly safer and and healthier workplaces. And it you know that notion of.
 Reducing the stigma associated with psychological injury is, is is critical, very critical, and maybe I'll talk a little bit more about that later on. But but psychological injury amongst our first responders is what comes to mind and.
 And unfortunately there is still is a stigma. Maybe we're we're reducing that a bit, but we're not where we need to be. And I'm certain that should the general's message will be impactful, the.
 Probably one of the more emotional sessions will be will be with Tyler Smith, who is a Humboldt Bronco cross survivor, and Tyler will be talking to us about resilience through.
 Trauma. And he'll do that through sharing his story of loss and healing, which you can imagine would have been would have been quite horrific and really focusing on how resilience and support systems.
Perley Brewer   12:39
 Thank you.
Petersen, Tim   12:46
 Play a vital role in in safety recovery and well-being, and then our closing keynote is is Doctor Tardif and he'll be discussing performing through balance and how the importance I guess of aligning values.
 Aligning your your your values with health and safety and well-being and strengthening performance and workplace safety and and his experience coming out of the NFL and to to really dedicate himself to working in health.
 Care industry, through the challenges of COVID.
Perley Brewer   13:28
 From a point of view of your trade show, do you have any indication you know the types of folks that will be attending your trade show this year, Tim?
Petersen, Tim   13:39
 Abroad, definitely a broad range. You know, we are the the boosts are very popular. We're sold out. We're we're sold out again this year. We've even tried to make makes a couple of extra spaces for folks who were.
 A bit late registering, we've been able to do that which is which is good. We're going to have 3131 booths up and running this year. I think that'll be that'll be a record for us. As I said, a broad broad range of things. You know specialized vendors with.
 With, you know, different kind of cutting edge health and safety solutions be that you know, PPE or other types of equipment or resources, certainly you you'll find the latest and greatest.
 And a lot of the booths are interactive and I know that the folks that I have an opportunity to stop by most of the booths throughout the course of of the three days and and like the other attendees at the conference, these are folks who are very passionate about health and safety and have some really interest.
 Interesting interesting resources to share with folks. And then I I I would like to point out one booth in particular which will be back this year as threads of life and I would encourage folks to stop by the threads of life booth.
 Threads of light for those of you who don't know, is an organization that supports, you know, severely injured workers and families of fatally injured workers. It's really yes, it it it really is a a support system for those folks and.
 Peer support and and really helping each other through the challenges when when serious injuries occur and and the impacts of those injuries. Probably in my opinion no more important organization.
 Than threads of life. So I would stop by if you have the opportunity and give them a shout out and a thanks for all the important work that they do.
Perley Brewer   16:03
 So for folks that aren't familiar, Tim, the location of your conference of course is, is Fredericton. Do you want to talk a little bit about the facilities that are available from a point of view of everything from accommodation to to conference sessions themselves?
Petersen, Tim   16:19
 Sure. So we're at the we're at the Fredericton Convention Centre and all of the all of the events will take place, right, right in the convention centre, the.
 Advantage I guess of the well, a, the Fredericton Convention Centre is the only facility that's large enough to accommodate the crowd. We we expect to be upwards of 700 attendees for the health and Safety Conference and that's effectively sold out.
 And and at the capacity of the of the convention centre, it's really it's located downtown Fredericton. It's in a really convenient location. There's a there's a Hilton gardening attached to the Fredericton Convention Centre, so.
 If you're, if you're early enough, you can get a spot right there and then of course right across the street is is the crown. So lots of lots of and lots of restaurants in, in the surrounding area. So it's it's really convenient. But as I said, it's the only facility.
 That's large enough to accommodate us. So. So we're back back at the Fredericton Convention Centre.
Perley Brewer   17:38
 So from a point of view of registration, if someone's listening today and they want to register, what's the easiest way for someone to register for your conference?
Petersen, Tim   17:47
 The absolute best way to register is going to worksafenb.ca and it's front and centre as soon as you get on our landing page you will see the the link to the health and Safety Conference and that would be your absolute best way of.
 Of signing up and when you go in, you have an opportunity before you register to look at the program and all the details around the keynote speakers and the sessions and you can make a you know, determination if there's enough content there of value to you before you actually register.
 So I'd encourage folks to go to worksafenb.ca and check it out.
Perley Brewer   18:30
 So was there any early bird registration associated with your conference team? Sometimes I know there is sometimes arisen.
Petersen, Tim   18:38
 I'm going to say as of August 27th, probably not. But you know what? You've stumped me on that one. So we'll have to fall. I'll have to follow up on that. But I would believe that the early bird, if there was one, would have closed by now.
Perley Brewer   18:43
 Mm-hmm.
 Yeah.
 OK. Well, look, Tim, it it's always nice to talk to you. It's always nice to discuss the health and safety Conference again, it's it's undoubtedly the sort of the premier health and safety event here in our province and.
 Great job, it seems this year. I know I've gone through the program a couple times. You've got such a good range of speakers, keynote and and and individual sessions, so good variety in English and French, and I think really whether you're JHSC member or health and safety professional, there's.
 There's something there for everyone.
Petersen, Tim   19:31
 I believe there is pearly and just on that note, we do offer a mix of sessions in both English and French and along with simultaneous interpretation for some of the sessions. And you'll be folks to be able to see that when they.
 When they go in to register, you'll be able to see each session description and and the language in which it's offered and whether or not we have simultaneous interpretation offered. So I I encourage folks like there's.
 There's something of value for everyone. The the speakers are exceptionally engaging and and the networking opportunities in, in my opinion, are unprecedented, so you won't be.
 You won't be disappointed if you decide to register and join us in Fredericton and I want to thank you Pearly for the opportunity to come on and talk about the conference. So it's a really, this is a really important means to get the message out about the, about the value of the conference and.
 I'm quite certain that we'll sell out again this year, which is, which is great, great accomplishment.
Perley Brewer   20:46
 Well, Tim, thank you very much for taking the time from your busy schedule. I know you have a lot on the go and again, just a quick reminder to everyone go to the work safe NB website, very easy to Google and you can get access to all the information on the conference.
 Nice synopsis in the program as well as all kinds of other information about how to register. Thank you very much, Tim. We appreciate you taking your time today with us for our listeners. Stay safe, we will see you again next week.
 Oh, the health and safety conference.