Presenter Biographies

Presenter Biographies Aversa, Terri Terri Aversa is a Health and Safety Officer at the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU). Prior to coming to OPSEU on staff, Terri worked in the OPSEU membership as a correctional officer in three institutions. As part of OPSEU s Health and Safety Unit, Terri provides support to OPSEU s 130 000 members and to staff, developing and evaluating existing health and safety materials and tools for OPSEU members. Terri participates in various research initiative projects in occupational health and safety, and represents OPSEU in leading a multi-union working committee to prevent and address psychosocial hazards at work. Terri has a Specialist Degree in Employment Relations from University of Toronto and is currently pursuing a Master s Degree in McMaster s Work and Society Program. Chenier, Andréane Andréane Chenier is a National Health and Safety Representative with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). She provides advice to members on a wide range of occupational health and safety hazards affecting public sector workers. She sits on numerous national and provincial committees. Andréane participated in the research, writing and publication of the Mental Injury Tools for Ontario workers. Prior to her work as health and safety specialist, Andréane spent 10 years as a researcher in health sciences, is a published author and has presented her research at provincial, national and international conferences. She holds a Biochemistry degree and a Masters in Immunology from the University of Ottawa and is in the final stages of a doctorate in biomolecular sciences from Laurentian University. She is also active in her community. Chezzi, David J David Chezzi is a CUPE National WSIB Representative specializing in WSIB services full-time since 2008. Prior to joining the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) staff in 2005, David advocated for injured workers for fifteen years at the local and provincial levels. David is a licensed Paralegal with the Law Society of Upper Canada. David sits on the Provincial Board of Directors of the Occupational Health Clinic for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) and is the Treasurer of the Board and is the current Labour Advisory Committee Chair (LAC) for the Sudbury OHCOW clinic. David sits on the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) Workers Compensation Committee and is also a member of the WSIB Chair s Labour Injured Worker s Advisory Committee (LIWAC) and on the WSIB Best Practices Steering Committee. David is the staff advisor to CUPE Ontario s Injured Worker s Advocacy Committee (IWAC). David is a fully trained and qualified Occupational Disability Response Team (ODRT) instructor with the Ontario Federation of Labour. October 10, 2012 Biographies Page 1

Closs, John Part-time professor in Labour Studies at Laurentian University, certified general carpenter and active member of local community groups related to labour, education, community services and occupational health and safety; retired in 2011 from Cambrian College where he was a Professor in the School of Skills Training and served as President of Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 655, which represented the academic employees at the College. Farquhar, Alec Alec Farquhar is Director of the Office of the Worker Adviser (OWA - Ontario Ministry of Labour). The OWA advises and represents nonunionized workers in their dealings with the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and Appeals Tribunal. The OWA has extensive involvement with workers suffering from psycho-social hazards. Alec came to the OWA from the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers where he was Managing Director, and before that from the Ministry of Labour where he was the Director of the Occupational Health and Safety Branch (OHSB). He led the OHSB through an organizational review and restructuring to better equip it for an agenda of multiple initiatives. Alec has extensive experience in both workers' compensation and occupational health and safety. From 1992 to 2005 he was previously the Director of the OWA- leading that organization through several strategic reviews, improving service delivery and focusing resources on the clients most requiring service. Alec has a long history of working with vulnerable worker communities including immigrant workers women and young workers. He has had extensive experience in legal clinics, community organizing and supporting injured workers in taking collective action. He is fluent in Italian and French which has helped him connect directly with the francophone and Italian-Canadian communities. A graduate of Princeton University, Alec also has an L.L.B. from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Hall, Alan, University of Windsor Alan Hall is currently the Director of the Labour Studies Program at the University of Windsor. He teaches courses on labour law, work and social change, corporate crime, labour unions, and labour markets. Dr. Hall s main areas of research are occupational health and safety politics, the policing of labour and social protest, and legal reforms in labour and environmental law. He has coauthored a book on the Policing of Public Order and has published extensively on occupational health and safety and sustainable agriculture. He is also the co-founder of the Windsor Workers Action Centre and the current chair of its Board of Directors. He also serves on several union and worker-related committees and boards including the October 10, 2012 Biographies Page 2

Windsor-Essex Labour Council and the Windsor Occupational Health Information Service. Johnson, Nancy Nancy Johnson is the Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) s second Occupational Health & Safety/Workers' Compensation Specialist. Before coming to ONA, the Laurentian University graduate spent 20 years working in various investigative positions with the Ontario government, including five years as a health and safety inspector with the MOL and a secondment with the Ontario Human Rights Commission. While with the government, she was active in various local and provincial roles within OPSEU, including a two-year stint as the Union co-chair of a Ministry province-wide employee relations/joint health and safety committee. Nancy has worked for ONA since 1998 and spent nine years as a servicing Labour Relations Officer and lead for WSIB and Occupational Health and Safety in the North; following that, she spent two years exclusively handling member appeals as part of ONA's WSIB Pilot Project. Nancy has represented ONA at various government and other tables, most recently sitting on Ontario s Pandemic Flu Plan Steering Committee. Kilcline, Brendan Brendan Kilcline is currently working as a Health and Safety Officer at the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), supporting 130,000 members in very diverse occupations. When not working in OPSEU s Health and Safety Unit, Brendan works and has worked for the last 23 years in the clinical laboratories of a teaching hospital. Brendan serves as a worker activist in Occupational Health and Safety in his union local and as a member of OPSEU s Hospital Professionals Division Executive. Hospitals have literally thousands of work processes involving every conceivable hazard- chemical, biological, radiological, physical, psychosocial etc. says Brendan. SARS highlighted widespread problems in the health and safety culture of these very complex workplaces, the importance of fixing it, and that it is worker activism that drives change. LaCoste, Rachelle Rachelle LaCoste is a clinician with the Sudbury Child and Family Centre since 1990. She has worked in residential settings, psychiatric settings and in community clinics. She currently works in a Francophone Day Treatment program. Rachelle has been actively involved with the Union for the last 11 years on her Local Executive Committee (LEC) and has served as Health and Safety representative, local president and chief steward of OPSEU Local 666. At a provincial level, Rachelle has served as member at large and currently as vice-chair of the Child Treatment executive. Rachelle has always strived to work in a healthy environment and promote well-being on a personal and professional level. Mancuso, Pam Pam Mancuso is a registered nurse and stroke coordinator for Sault Area Hospital (SAH), ONA Local 46. For 18 years she was worker co-chair of October 10, 2012 Biographies Page 3

the multi-site joint health and safety committee. She s also health and safety and human rights lead for her union local and is a Workers Health and Safety Centre (WHSC) qualified instructor. She is one of the original members of ONA s Region 1 occupational health and safety activist network which has met quarterly by teleconference since 2001. Pam has been one of ONA s leading health and safety activists, driving progress in her workplace and mentoring network members and others in their struggles to gain health and safety ground in all ONA workplaces Naqvi, Syed Syed Naqvi, Ph.D. CCPE, CRSP, CHFP has a PhD with specialization in Ergonomics/Human Factors Engineering and Occupational Health and Safety. He is a Canadian Certified Professional Ergonomist and a Canadian Registered Safety Professional. He is also a Certified Human Factors Professional and is an Australian Certified Practicing Ergonomist. Syed is a member of the Association of Canadian Ergonomists, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia, and Institute of Industrial Engineers. Syed has over 20 years of international experience in Ergonomics consulting, teaching, and research in three continents. He has numerous publications in Professional Journals, Magazines and Conferences. At Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) for the last 12 years, Syed has worked as Ergonomist for all sectors with unionized and Non- Unionized workplaces to address their Ergonomics and OHS concerns. Syed has been an Adjunct Faculty member with University of Waterloo and a Researcher with Centre of Research Expertise for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders (CREMSD) for the last several years, as a result of this collaboration, Syed has lead or had been part of numerous very successful WSIB and CREMSD funded Research Projects which resulted in usable tools for Workers and Joint Health and Safety Committees. Syed has also conducted numerous workshops for number of diverse community groups and organizations in GTA. Oudyk, John John Oudyk is an Occupational Hygienist with the Hamilton Clinic of the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers Inc. in Hamilton. John graduated from Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo in 1983 and from the McMaster University Health Research Methods Program in 2005. He has an appointment as an Assistant Professor (part-time) in the Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department. He is a certified both with the Canadian Registration Board for Occupational Hygienists and the American Board of Industrial Hygiene. Sadoway, Tricia Tricia Sadoway is a Labour Relations Officer with the Ontario Nurses Association and serves on the ONA WSIB Team as Worker October 10, 2012 Biographies Page 4

Representative for ONA members WSIB appeals. She also acts as a Health and Safety Primary contact for ONA staff and members of the East District Service Team. Tricia is a long time union activist starting in the early 80 s with an education and political campaign for the Pacific Reforestation Worker s Association on safe handling and labeling of forestry products. Tricia has been an active member in CUPE, CAW, CEP and now SEIU. She holds a BA in Criminology from Simon Fraser University and a Masters Degree in Sociology from Carleton University. When she started at ONA in 1995 she was Coordinator of the Labour Studies Institute through Algonquin College, Labour Sociology Instructor for the Labour College of Canada, and working on her doctoral thesis in the Sociology of Law at Carleton University. Tricia is the Worker Representative for the ONA mental stress case currently before the WSIAT on the Charter challenge to WSIA subsections 13(4) and (5). Yachnin, Maryth Maryth Yachnin is a Staff Lawyer at the Industrial Accident Victims Group of Ontario (IAVGO), a community legal aid clinic specializing in advocacy on behalf of injured workers. Maryth has a B.A. (Hons.), J.D., from University of Toronto and was called to the bar in 2005. She has practised in workers' compensation law at two legal clinics, as well as at a litigation firm specializing in union-side labour law, administrative law and civil litigation. She served as Staff Lawyer at the Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario from 2007-2008. Maryth has published articles in the Canadian Labour & Employment Law Journal and the IAVGO Reporting Service, and has spoken at Lancaster House and other public legal education seminars. She currently serves as editor of the IAVGO Reporting Service and the IAVGO Reporting Service Newsletter and is Co-supervisor of the Advocates for Injured Workers student legal clinic. October 10, 2012 Biographies Page 5