Acklands-Grainger supports COS in quest for Canada’s Safest Employers

Canadian Occupational Safety (COS) magazine today announced it has partnered with Acklands-Grainger Inc., Canada’s largest distributor of industrial, safety and fastener products, to launch Canada’s Safest Employers Award, the first-ever nationwide search for outstanding employers making a difference in occupational health and safety.

“In seeking partners for this important initiative, we looked for organizations that share our common vision of upholding workplace safety and injury prevention,” said COS editor, Mari-Len De Guzman. “With its 120 year history of helping keep Canadian workers safe on the job, Acklands-Grainger shares this common goal and we look forward to working with them as we recognize some of Canada’s safest companies.”

As the title sponsor for Canada’s Safest Employers Award, Acklands-Grainger brings a demonstrated track record of service excellence to the Canadian safety and industrial market. Acklands-Grainger distributes more than 120,000 in-stock products from 170 branch locations across Canada, including a full range of products to help keep Canadian workers safe on the job. 

“We are always looking for ways to help spread the word about the importance of building a strong safety-oriented culture,” said Sean O’Brien, president of Acklands-Grainger. “Education and recognition is a great way to encourage Canadian business and we are thrilled to partner with COS to recognize deserving companies on their safety achievements." [Watch: O'Brien talks about the importance of recognizing safe companies]



Over 500,000 work-related injuries occur in Canada every year. Organizations that go the extra mile to help reduce these numbers deserve to be recognized. By shining the spotlight on outstanding companies for their health and safety achievements, Canada’s Safest Employers Award aims to create a standard of safety excellence among Canadian organizations and provide a venue for sharing best practices in occupational health and safety management.

In its inaugural year, Canada’s Safest Employers will award companies in the manufacturing industry, recognizing the sector’s unique health and safety challenges and honouring those companies that continue to overcome them.

Canada’s Safest Employers Award has received positive response from the Canadian health and safety community. A number of industry leaders across Canada are now part of the independent judging panel for Canada’s Safest Employers Award. They are: Linda Scott, Conference Board of Canada; Nancy Harwood, WorkSafeBC; Marjolaine Boivin, CSST (Quebec); Phil Germain, Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board; Peter Sturm, Canadian Society of Safety Engineering; Glyn Jones, University of New Brunswick; Ryan Conlin, SBH Management Lawyers; Alan Quilley, Safety Results Ltd. (Alberta); Dennis Ryan, Compass Health and Safety (Alberta); Norm Keith, Gowlings; Monica Mellor, DC Foods Inc. and 2009 Safety Leader of the Year Award winner.

Visit Canada’s Safest Employers’ website at www.safestemployers.com or e-mail [email protected] for complete information about the award and how to nominate a deserving company.

Canada’s Safest Employers Award is also sponsored by MSA (silver sponsor), Toyota Industrial Equipment, SBH Management Lawyers and Compass Health and Safety (bronze sponsors).