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COS Safety Manager of the Year |
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Written by Todd Phillips
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Thursday, 13 December 2007 |
A bright light for safety
High atop a catwalk, perched in an elaborate maze with hundreds of lights overlooking Stratford’s famous Festival Theatre stage, is Janet Sellery, the 2007 COS Safety Manager of the Year.
Sellery and our photographers went up into the rafters to help capture an image for our cover and also to help us reinforce an image that safety is a priority for a broad range of industries — and not just for the people working in factories, mines and on construction sites.
During the photo shoot Sellery was a real trooper, standing patiently and at times awkwardly on an inclined ramp for what seemed like an eternity as the photographers adjusted the lighting and the composition. But even in this unusual environment, with a makeup artist standing by ready to powder her nose, a media relations colleague and lighting technician in the wings, Sellery was still all business about safety. It’s really not surprising that her colleagues nominated her as COS Safety Manager of the Year because her passion for her profession clearly shines through.
“Can you see our fall protection and rescue gear in that cabinet behind
you?” she said, nodding between camera flashes. Then she’d easily move
into a conversation about the theatre's fall protection program and
ongoing training efforts. “And in that cupcake shaped area up there
behind you is our evacuation hatch,” she said, talking about procedures
in place to safely evacuate the lighting crew in the event of a fire.
Pick a topic and Janet is ready to talk safety. During my visit, she
proudly pointed out the visible evidence of an active safety program
throughout the theatre, from the bulletin boards to the signs pointing
out one hazard or another and the safety gear, like eyewash stations,
readily available if an accident happens. “I hope you noticed the MSDS
binders,” she said. Yes, I did. I also noticed the full range of safety
cautions and alerts on the visitor’s sign in sheet.
If Sellery seems like she’s just prepped for a pop quiz about the
theatre’s safety programs, it’s not surprising because she recently had
a five-hour spot inspection from one of the newly-minted inspectors
from the Ministry of Labour. You just never know when you might be held
to account.
Some readers might be wondering about the kinds of occupational health
and safety hazards that might exist in a theatre. Seems a safe enough
work environment, right? There’s more to the story than meets the eye,
as you’ll discover in our cover story.
The purpose of our visit with Janet was to celebrate her achievements
as a true pioneer in her industry. Over the years, she’s helped pave
the way for better health and safety standards, procedures and
awareness and not just at Stratford, but at theatres across Canada.
Colleagues describe her as “indefatigable” and people like Janet
Sellery need a break every so often to be recognized before tackling
their next challenges.
This year we had many excellent submissions to our awards, and our
judges struggled to narrow their choices. For those whose nominee
didn’t win this year, please submit your candidate again next year.
We’ll also be changing the name of the awards contest next year to the
COS Safety Leader of the Year Award, and those leaders don’t have to be
managers or CEOs, just someone showing leadership in safety.
I’m sure you’ll find many worthy candidates to nominate next year — and you can start by just looking in the mirror.
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