CCOHS Announces Recipients of Dick Martin Scholarship Award
HAMILTON, ON (May 1, 2006) - The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) announced the three winners of this year's Dick Martin Scholarship Award during Safety and Health Week. CCOHS makes this annual, national award available to post-secondary students enrolled in occupational health and safety programmes in Canada, to foster interest in the field of workplace health and safety.
For 2005, CCOHS awarded a $1000 scholarship to N. Dierker, Grande Prairie, Alberta, H. Sbihi, Vancouver, BC, and N. McKenna, Calgary, Alberta. Each of the recipients shares a common interest in making a difference that will help prevent workplace injuries and illnesses and help people be healthy and safe at work.
N. Dierker hails from Grande Prairie, Alberta. She recently completed her Occupational Health & Safety Certificate at the University of Alberta. Currently on maternity leave due to the recent birth of her second child, Dierker is employed by an oilfield trucking and rentals company. She also runs a small company that offers first aid courses and safety program development, and occupational health and safety training.
When an opportunity at work arose to teach first aid to the employees, Dierker took the appropriate training and achieved her instructor's certificate. She went on to take her Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) training to gain a broader base of knowledge. While on maternity leave her employer offered her the opportunity to return as the Safety Coordinator, which she eagerly accepted. She started preparing herself for her new endeavour, taking the Transportation Safety Director (TSD) Certificate program offered via correspondence through Red Deer College, as well as the internal auditor training program. She started her OH&S certificate through British Columbia Institute of Technology and later transferred to the University of Alberta. She has found that some things cannot be learned from a book, but rather only from life experience. Dierker would also like to achieve her Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP) designation and hopes to instil the importance of health and safety in her children, as they grow older to become our future workforce.
H. Sbihi, a young mother of 2 boys living in Vancouver, calls Morocco home. She completed her engineering studies in Montreal, graduating in 2000 in Industrial Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique. At that time, her interest was already leaning toward workers and the workplace with her final project involving an ergonomic study of workers at a large company based in Montreal. She went on to complete a Masters in Paris, France, and worked in management consulting where most of her work focused on collective insurance companies. It was here she had the opportunity to see how joint boards have a major impact on workers health and health plans.
When she moved back to Canada, she found out about the School of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene at UBC, and felt it was a natural progression - given her genuine interest and work experience - to apply for the Masters program. She has just completed her first year and is hoping to focus on her thesis work, which examines the issue of noise and cardiovascular disease.
Her inspiration for this line of work comes from different sources: a Canadian audiologist who tried to break some paradigms; the guidance and support of her supervisor; and her interest in workers' health, especially in issues that are not given the weight she felt they deserved.
N. McKenna is originally from Victoria, B.C. but has called Calgary home for the last four years. After graduating from high school, she worked at various jobs, most of which would be considered non-traditional. She has been employed as an engraver, a heavy equipment operator in mining and road construction, an equity hiring program coordinator, a construction dispatcher and a compensation claims administrator. Currently, McKenna works as a safety coordinator in the manufacturing industry. After dealing with the aftermath of workplace injuries, McKenna concluded that the best form of claims management is prevention. McKenna made the decision to return to school and is currently enrolled in the University of Alberta's Occupational Health and Safety Certification program.
Now, halfway through the program, McKenna intends to complete her certification and gain her designation as a Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP). She learned about the Dick Martin Scholarship Award through the University of Alberta's OHS online registration process and intends to use the award to assist her with the costs of her education.
According to McKenna, construction, manufacturing and mining are areas of the labour force in Canada that generate a large number of workplace injuries - injuries that she believes, for the most part, to be avoidable through education (both worker and employer) and well-managed safety systems. It is to this end that McKenna continues her education and aims her career.
In the spring of 2002, CCOHS' Council of Governors established an occupational health and safety scholarship fund in the memory of Dick Martin, a tireless pioneer of workplace health and safety in Canada. As part of the evaluation criteria for the award, applicants submitted essays related to their aspirations in occupational health and safety and were judged on their knowledge of the subject matter, understanding the principles and values of Dick Martin, and understanding the role of CCOHS.
More information on the Dick Martin Scholarship Award and this year's recipients can be found on the CCOHS website.
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