excellence awardee: The BGIS Award for Safety Leader of the Year

Sebastian Ferraro

Green Infrastructure Partners Inc.

FEATURED EXCELLENCE AWARDEE

nearly 20 years of experience in construction, health and safety. He began his career in the western part of the United States where he worked for seven years with various general contractors as an environmental specialist. After this he moved to Canada and undertook a number of senior roles and was instrumental in reducing incident rates and creating a positive safety culture. Ferraro is highly qualified in his field, but he is ever ready to expand the stock of his knowledge and accreditation in the relevant fields of expertise. Some of his credentials in Health and Safety include occupational health and safety professional, construction safety specialist, national construction safety officer (NCSO), certified environmental scientist (CES), ISO45001 lead auditor and ISO14001 lead auditor. When the company he worked for was acquired by GIP his role expanded still more. Today Ferraro plays a major role in aiding the national director for HSEQ in building a HSE team of professionals with the scope of expertise to tackle a multitude of infrastructure projects ranging from shoring foundation installation to large-scale demolition. Related to this he has responsibilities in the recruitment and training of new members of the GIP HSE team. He provides mentorship in safety to both members of the HSE team and to the various operations teams he works with. In addition to which he is ISO45001 lead auditor for the company and has led GIP through accreditation and maintenance audits. In his capacity as senior director of HSE at GIP, Ferraro has been involved in multiple initiatives to raise the organisation’s safety culture. He has spearheaded two major initiatives for the company. In the first case he implemented a training strategy which identified the required training for all employees. This was a complex project that ranged from ensuring that all employees requiring legal training - such as WHMIS 2015 GHS, MOLTSD worker and supervisor awareness training, and working at heights - to working with the national director HSEQ and the various operations teams to identify trade-specific training that is required for each task. Priority was given to employees in higher-risk work. For Ferraro a good health and safety culture is a way of life. He uses his position to mentor and inspire members of his team and helps others develop a safety-first mindset. In particular, he encourages other to plan their work so that safety is built into its framework. He works closely with each member of the GIP team where his primary goal is encouraging others to improve their work.

Sebastian Ferraro is an industry leader who cares about his role and the people who work for him. He sees his role as helping his staff to reach the very highest of their abilities. He has built up an impressive body of work in the course of

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Green Infrastructure Partners

info@gipi.com

416-633-9670

949 Wilson Ave, North York, ON M3K 1G2

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excellence awardee: The BGIS Award for Safety Leader of the Year

Green Infrastructure Partners Inc.

Sebastian Ferraro

BLG Anne Merminod is an experienced litigator with distinguished expertise in class actions. As a partner at BLG's Montreal office, Anne focuses on defending class actions from certification (or authorization, in Quebec) through to the appellate level. Her deep understanding of class actions makes her highly sought after as a writer and speaker. She is listed among the Best Lawyers in Canada (Class Action Litigation), in Chambers (Class Action Defence) and in Benchmark Litigation’s “40 & Under Hot List,” which highlights top litigators in the U.S. and Canada. In 2022, she was recognized by Benchmark Canada as an emerging talent.

Caroline Briand is a partner in the litigation group at Langlois Lawyers' office in Montréal. She specializes in Indigenous law, constitutional law, administrative law as well as professional and disciplinary law. Her practice focuses on negotiation, consensus building with other stakeholders and land users, and capacity building. Since her beginnings, Caroline has worked in Indigenous and constitutional law and is passionate about the history and legal and social concerns of Indigenous peoples in Canada. She advises Indigenous governments, organizations, businesses and individuals, particularly in matters of Aboriginal and treaty rights, Aboriginal title, hunting, fishing and trapping rights, funding of public services and access to these by Indigenous communities and individuals, review and implementation of governance processes, as well as mining and other natural resource development. As part of her administrative law practice, she advises and represents professional orders and other regulatory bodies, particularly with respect to governance matters and judicial reviews. She also advises and supports organizations and institutions in matters of sexual violence and discrimination, particularly in the context of administrative investigations and is certified by the Barreau du Québec as a lawyer who conducts workplace psychological harassment investigations.

www.gipi.com

@green_infrastructurepartners

@GIP_social

Green Infrastructure Partners

info@gipi.com

416-633-9670

949 Wilson Ave, North York, ON M3K 1G2

Read on

Green Infrastructure Partners Inc.

EXCELLENCE AWARDEE: The BGIS Award for Safety Leader of the Year

Douglas Strong

I co-founded Shielded Insurance Brokers with my 2 business partners in 2016. Since Shielded’s inception we have grown from a team of 3 to over 50 staff and expanded to 2 locations. I work with my co-founders to implement strategy and leverage technology to supercharge the efficiency of an insurance brokerage. Streamlining internal procedures and identifying niche market spaces has yielded our company 100% growth rates in our earlier years as a smaller company, and 40% growth in our more recent years as a larger business. Seeing Shielded Insurance Brokers as a finalist in the Top Brokerage award in the last 3 years, alongside myself being nominated for Young Gun the last 2 years is a testament to the hard work we have put in. Alongside many of my peers whom have also been nominated for an array of accomplishments. It has been a challenging yet rewarding journey to grow a powerful brand in a competitive insurance space, navigating the everchanging landscape of insurers & underwriters and adapting to industry reform has been some of the challenges – however, seeing the progress of our 50 strong team makes it all worth it.