2018 Round Table
April 26th, Terminal City Club, BC Safety Charter

BC Safety Charter Round Table 2018

The annual BC Safety Charter CEO Round Table will be on Thursday April 26th this year, bringing together leaders from a cross-section of BC industries focused on enhancing the Health & Safety culture at their organizations.

The format of this event will be similar to last years, incorporating networking opportunities, along with a dinner function. The 2018 BC Safety Charter Round Table is geared towards sharing, learning and networking with peers, with a focus on best-practices of Health and Safety programs at participating companies.

There will be a moderated and interactive panel, titled “Cannabis in the Workplace”, consisting of high profile professionals from different schools of thought who will inform attendees on what to expect from the upcoming changes in provincial and federal legislation.

This year’s key note speaker is Brian Anderson, Vice President Operations and Chief Operating Officer of BC Transit. He will share BC Transit’s journey to implementing an innovative Workplace Disability Prevention program, the values that made this culture changing journey possible as well as some key lessons learned. You will hear how close collaboration with leaders from all work groups made their “Stay Onboard” recovery at work program a success. You will also have the opportunity to discuss some of the challenges with a leader who was not only the sponsor but most importantly the active and visible champion of their safety and wellness programs.

This event is taking place at the Terminal City Club in downtown Vancouver. This year’s event is expected to sell out, so don’t miss out on this opportunity for your company, your company’s key Contractors or Supply Chain partners to learn and share with other high-level executives.

Keynote: Brian Anderson

Vice President, Operations and Chief Operating Officer (COO) – BC Transit

Brian joined BC Transit in 2010 as the Vice President, Business Development to ensure that people, processes and technology aligned with corporate business strategy. Assuming the role of VP, Operations in March 2014, he is responsible for strategic oversight of the expansion and deployment of services across the 130 communities served by BC Transit. Brian is committed to maintaining a culture of safety and operational excellence to ensure that employees, customers, transit partners and other stakeholders continue to enjoy best-in-class services.

Brian has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Victoria and is a Certified Management Accountant. Away from the office, he enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter or woodworking.

Panel Topic: Cannabis in the Workplace

Panelist: Dr. Perry Kendal

Provincial Health Officer

Born in the United Kingdom in 1943, Dr. Perry Kendall completed his undergraduate medical training at University College Hospital Medical School in 1968 and interned at the Seaman’s Hospital in Greenwich, before spending a year as Senior House Officer at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. In 1972, he moved to Toronto, Ontario and spent two years working in general practice and at Toronto’s Hassle Free Clinic.

In 1974, he moved to Vancouver and worked for the Vancouver Health Department’s Pine Free Clinic and East Health unit while acquiring a Master’s Degree in Health Care Planning and Epidemiology and a Fellowship in Community Medicine. In 1984, he returned to Ontario and was the Manager, Disease Control and Epidemiology Services with the Ontario Ministry of Health, until 1987. He then returned to BC as Medical Officer of Health for the Capital Regional District, in which capacity he opened one of Canada’s first needle exchange programs. In 1989 he took on the role of Medical Health Officer for the City of Toronto, a position he held for six years during which time he pioneered programs for AIDS/HIV and drug abuse prevention, established Harm Reduction as the official City policy for substance abuse and was involved in developing and promoting the City’s comprehensive tobacco control by-laws.

In 1993, Dr. Kendall spent a year on secondment to the Deputy Minister of Health as Special Advisor on Long Term Care and Population Health. In March 1995, he was appointed President and CEO of the Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario, one of six academic health science centres in Toronto and a WHO Collaborating Centre, a position he held until the Foundation’s amalgamation with three other hospitals to form the Addiction and Mental Health Services Corporation on January 23, 1998. In April 1998, he took on the position of Vice-President, Seniors’ Health, with the Capital Health Region in Victoria. May 3, 1999, Dr. Kendall was appointed to the position of Provincial Health Officer for the province of British Columbia. During his term as BC’s Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Kendall received a variety of awards and recognition. In particular he was awarded the Order of BC in June 2005, he received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award in June 2013 and the BC Premier’s Legacy Award in October 2015.

Panelist: Melanie Vipond

Labour Lawyer & Partner, Gall Legge Grant Zwack

Melanie Vipond focuses her practice on labour and employment law, human rights, privacy and administrative law. She advises both private and public sector employers on issues relating to unionization, collective agreement negotiation, disability and harassment, workers compensation as well as general employment law issues, including wrongful dismissals and employment contract negotiation. She provides training on those issues to the employer community. She has appeared before all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada, as well as the BC Labour Relations Board, arbitration boards, human rights tribunals, and other administrative tribunals.

Ms. Vipond is an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of British Columbia (UBC) and teaches in the areas of labour, employment, human rights and privacy law. She has also lectured as a guest speaker in those areas at Stanford Law School and UBC Law School, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars. Ms. Vipond completed her Master in the Science of Law at Stanford University in 2010 where she conducted empirical research on the B.C. first contract arbitration model and presented her findings across the United States. Her thesis, entitled “First Contract Arbitration: Evidence from British Columbia, Canada of the Significance of Mediator’s Non-Binding Recommendations”, was published in the Fall 2011 edition of the American Labor Law Journal and has been published into a book.

While attending law school, Ms. Vipond won the Ottawa University’s Hicks Morley Labour Law Advocacy Competition in addition to maintaining her involvement with the Community Legal Clinic, Women’s Legal Education Action Fund (LEAF) and the Common Law Student Society (CLSS). She was also admitted to the Golden Key International Honour Society in recognition of her academic achievement.

Ms. Vipond previously worked at two large national law firms and completed a secondment at a large international company as in-house counsel.

Panelist: Thomas Brocklehurst

Director of Prevention Practices and Quality, WorkSafeBC

Tom Brocklehurst is the Director of Prevention Practices and Quality at WorkSafeBC. Tom’s department provides a variety of services to WorkSafeBC’s Prevention Field Services, including technical and engineering services and legal and policy advice. Tom was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 2000, and he has been providing legal and policy advice in the area of occupational health and safety at WorkSafeBC for the past 15 years.

Emcee: Kathryn Gretsinger

EMCEE

Kathryn Gretsinger is a Vancouver journalist. She is the lead instructor at UBC’s Graduate School of Journalism. Her journalism focuses on social justice issues, civic affairs and health/public policy. She continues to train, coach and produce at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Kathryn has reported and hosted local and national programs at CBC for many years, producing award winning journalism.

Event Details

Thursday, April 26th, 2018
1pm – 9pm

Terminal City Club
837 W Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

If you would like to purchase a seat for an additional guest, please contact George Higgins.

Event Photos

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2018 Round Table