Reviewing The Foundation of Mining Safety
Workplace Safety North (WSN) hosted the 27th annual Mining Health and Safety Conference from April 30 to May 1 in Sudbury. Themed ‘The Foundation of Mining Safety’, the conference focused on the essentials of health and safety, while emphasizing the importance of legal requirements, risk management, and workplace culture, ensuring safe and healthy work environments.
Mike Parent, President and CEO of WSN, provides insights into the state of the mining industry.
The conference kicked off with a presentation from Mike Parent, WSN President and CEO, on the current state of the industry. Later, a series of technical sessions addressing numerous topics – including the role of culture and leadership; advances and challenges in risk management; and emergency response to battery fires, among other themes – were presented throughout the two-day event.
Derek Daly, Former World Class Formula One and Indy 500 Driver shares safety initiatives for high performance work environments.
Opening keynote, Derek Daly, shared his extraordinary journey from the iron ore mines to racing legend and safety advocate. While sharing personal stories and powerful insights, he emphasized the importance of balancing speed with safety, and turning everyday risk into intelligence, performance-driven decisions.
Gus Minor, Sofvie Inc., and Chris Bamberger, Technica Mining, represented Brivia in a discussion on safety culture and leadership.
Steve Wrixon receives the Innovation Award from the OMCSA for the efforts Cementation put into tugger safety improvements.
Jake Hughes, representing the Ontario Mine Contractors Safety Association (OMCSA), provided Steve Wrixon (on behalf of Cementation) with the association’s innovation award. Additional awards reflecting health and safety culture excellence were provided by WSN to Lakeshore Gold, Technica Mining, Di-Corp, and ORIX.
WSN staff, from left to right: George Mondoux, Dennis Griem, Tricia Valentim, Sam Barbuto, Paige Jones, Brianna Brohm, Robert Marin, Stephanie Riutta, Ron St. Jean, Cindy Schiewek, Chris Heino, Philip Dirige, Patrick Vaillancourt, Mike Parent
A word of thanks is due to all conference sponsors, exhibitors, presenters, staff, and volunteers who contributed their time toward making this year’s Mining Health and Safety Conference a complete success. We look forward to hosting another conference in 2026!
To learn more about this annual event, visit the Mining Health and Safety Conference webpage
Related
2025 Mining Health and Safety Conference program and proceedings – WSN