Abstract

A significant risk to health and safety on any project comes from pressure to start work before all safety systems are in place. This safety share reviews NASA's Apollo 1 tragedy where three astronauts lost their lives. One of the contributing factors to the incident was "go fever".

Biography of the presenter

Roy Slack is a professional engineer with over 35 years experience in mine construction, design, and development, on projects throughout North America and around the world. Roy is a graduate of Queen’s University in Kingston, with a degree in Mining Engineering. In 1998 he started Cementation’s operations in North America as President based in North Bay, Ontario. Cementation is a mine contracting and engineering firm that provides design-build and construction management services to the mining sector. The company has been recognized as a North Bay and a Northern Ontario business of the year and a number of times as one of Canada’s top 100 employers. In 2019 the company was recognized as the Gold Winner of Safest Employer in Canada in the natural resources sector. In 2008 Roy was awarded the Engineer’s Medal for Entrepreneurship by the Professional Engineers of Ontario and in 2009 he was given the Metal Mining Society Award by the Canadian Institute of Mining (CIM). In 2012 he was named a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International. In 2017 Nipissing University bestowed upon him an Honorary Doctorate. Roy served as President of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Petroleum (CIM) 2019-2020. In June 2020 he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Torex Gold Resources. Roy has been active in numerous safety initiatives over the years including a past board member of OMCSA, MASHA and of the WSN Mining Advisory committee. In 2013 Roy was appointed to the Province of Ontario’s first Prevention Council to advise the government on workplace safety, where he served for 4 years.