NORTH BAY, ON – Workplace Safety North’s (WSN) inaugural Workplace Excellence Awards take place in North Bay today. As the occupational health and safety expert for forestry, mining, paper, printing, and converting sectors, the province-wide awards recognize the commitment of companies to the prevention of workplace illness and injury.

WSN celebrates life this evening by acknowledging two first ever President’s Award winners for their superior efforts in occupational health and safety. WSN President Candys Ballanger-Michaud will present two awards during tonight’s annual general meeting and awards dinner. The recipients are being honoured for their contribution to building safe and healthy workplaces in Ontario.

Earlier this year, 20 companies received a Workplace Excellence Award, recognizing workplace excellence in health and safety.

• * Alex MacIntyre & Associates, Kirkland Lake, ON
• * AuRico Gold Young – Davidson Mine, Matachewan, ON
• * Barrick Williams Mine, Marathon, ON
• * Black Hawk Drilling Ltd., ON contract via Smithers, BC
• * Boart Longyear, Haileybury and North Bay, ON
• * Cementation Canada Inc., North Bay, ON
• * DMC Mining Services, Richmond Hill, ON
• * Domtar, Dryden Mill, Dryden, ON
• * Goldcorp Red Lake Gold Mines, Balmertown, Red Lake, ON
• * Imerys Talc Canada Inc., Timmins, ON
• * J.S. Redpath Ltd., North Bay, ON
• * Kidd Operations: A Glencore Company, Timmins, ON
• * Kirkland Lake Gold Inc., Kirkland Lake, ON
• * Kruger Inc. Brampton Division, Brampton, ON
• * SCR Mines Technology Inc., Sudbury, ON
• * Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations: A Glencore Company, Sudbury, ON
• * Technica Mining, Sudbury, ON
• * Tembec – Kapuskasing Operations, Kapuskasing, ON 
• * The Central Group, Mississauga, ON
• * Tonolli Canada Ltd., Mississauga, ON

 Of those 20 companies, the top performer in each of WSN’s core sectors qualified for a President’s Award – WSN’s highest honour. The President’s Award is tangible proof of commitment to continuous improvement in occupational health and safety.

•  Kidd Operations: A Glencore Company
•  Kruger Inc. Packaging, Brampton Division

“Everyone’s really proud of the win,” says Tom Semadeni, General Manager at Timmins-based mine Kidd Operations, Glencore. “It’s really icing on the cake because earlier this year we won the John T. Ryan award for the best safety performance for a Canadian metal mine. So it’s further reinforcement that we’re on the right track here.”

“I think it’s great to promote success,” adds Semadeni. “A lot of times businesses have a tendency to notice and follow up on things that are going badly or wrong, but you need to recognize success. We need to do that internally for our own business but also out in the public…. Just having an award like this demonstrates to the public that there’s a good commitment to improving.”