Working to Make the Aggregate Industry Safer

Matt McDonald - Occupational Health and Safety Manager

We spoke to Matt McDonald, occupational health and safety manager at James Dick Construction, about what drives his passion for safety and how he got into health and safety in the aggregate industry.

 

Q: How did you get into the aggregate industry?

I worked for Jim and Anne Dick in 1992 and 1993 as a university student. At the time, the Brechin quarry was looking for a labourer to work on the primary crusher. Since I was a farm kid and they knew me, I was asked if I wanted to try the job. Having my own grass-cutting and landscaping business at the time, it seemed like a good idea.

My job involved greasing the plant, maintenance, operating the skid steer, a lot of shovelling and occasionally running a loader. It was fun and I worked with great people. At the end of each season, I returned to school but looked back on my time at the quarry with fond memories and many laughs.

After graduation, I worked at a Greater Toronto Area hospital for about three years as a mental health therapist. I even did some graduate work in personality typing. The funny thing is, every day on my way to work I drove by the quarry wishing I was there instead of working in the field I specialized in at university. It’s the people in our industry that make it so great. They are salt-of-the-earth and good to the core.

Eventually, I listened to my inner voice and in 1996 traded a job in a clinical setting for my roots as a quarry worker. From there, my job evolved from plant labourer to almost every other aspect of the business, including mechanical assistant in the winter, shipping loader operator, the utility person that went everywhere and did everything, quality control and even some drilling and blasting.

The Surface Miner Program really took off for us around 2002, and I was asked to be James Dick Construction’s internal trainer. As the company grew, I became a health and safety specialist in 2006 and then the occupational health and safety manager in 2008.

Q: What’s made you want to stay in the industry over the years?

I enjoy helping each person go home safe and healthy at the end of each day and having fun at the same time with great people.

I’ve also been able to help others outside James Dick Construction. I have the privilege of being the surface mining and aggregate representative at the Mining Legislative Review Committee (MLRC) and have served on both the MLRC’s Conveyor Guarding Subcommittee and now the Guarding Subcommittee. In addition, I co-chair the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association’s technical advisory committee for aggregates.

I feel it’s important to get valuable information to those who need it so they can manage workplace hazards. Collaboration with other members at the provincial or industry level is rejuvenating and rewarding.

Q: What is the most challenging part of your role?

The most challenging part is helping people understand the risks and safeguards associated with hazards. Often, a hazard is not seen as the danger it is, and underestimating risk and the need for an appropriate safeguard can lead to serious injuries or worse. Nobody wants that, but insight is a funny thing — sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know, even if you think you did.

Q: What’s the most challenging part of your role?

I imagine the same thing most managers find challenging — getting the right people into the right roles and ensuring they are engaged, while maintaining cohesion within the team. There’s an important balance between keeping people challenged yet not overworked. Get all these things right and you have a powerful and productive team.

Q: What advice would you give to someone considering a career in the aggregate industry? Anything you’d change about your own career?

When it comes to safety, my best advice for someone considering a career in the aggregate industry, and for anyone in the industry, is to keep in mind Sesame Street’s simple rule: “Think of what is going to happen next.” If you’re unsure of something, ask. If it feels unsafe, it most likely is unsafe. Follow your gut. There is a safeguard for every hazard; it’s just a matter of thinking it through and looking before you leap.

Having said that, there is nothing I would change about my career path. All the different jobs I’ve done have helped me understand how to help people keep themselves safe and healthy in this industry.

My career in the aggregate industry has been fun and rewarding so far. Each day is a new adventure, and I look forward to seeing where it goes in the future.