Commerce Court Campus 60 Commerce Crescent
North Bay, ON Canada
9:00 AM: Welcome and Safety Shares
Chris Drenth, Eastern Safety Meeting Chair
Chris Drenth, Engineering Director for Performance Tooling at Boart Longyear, is our Eastern Safety Chair with over 30 years of experience in mineral exploration drill rod and wireline tooling safety and productivity. He is an inventor named in more than 30 patents and has received numerous awards for his technical expertise and innovation.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisdrenth/
9:30 AM: Road Safety and Impairment
Kyler Brouwer, Ontario Provincial Police
Acting Sergeant Kyler Brouwer is the Regional Media Coordinator for the Ontario Provincial Police’s North East Region and also serves as the Community Engagement Officer with the North Bay OPP. Over his 12-year career, he has held many roles, including frontline policing, Scenes of Crime Officer, Technical Traffic Collision Investigator, detective, and platoon supervisor. His investigative work has taken him along the James Bay coast and through major cases across northeastern Ontario.
In recent years, Acting Sergeant Brouwer has focused on road safety, impaired driving prevention, and community engagement. He has delivered countless safety presentations to schools, seniors, and community groups, while also coordinating regional media outreach to ensure public safety messages are accessible and impactful. He is dedicated to fostering safe and healthy communities through enforcement and education.
10:45 AM: Leg Laceration from Metal Banding
Chris Drenth, Boart Longyear
Chris with speak to an incident involving the metal strapping used to secure bundles of drill rods: a common packaging method across the drilling industry. These straps are held under heavy tension, and when cut, the sudden release of stored energy can cause the sharp, severed ends to snap outward with force. This poses a serious risk of injury to operators who are unaware or unprotected, particularly if they are not using a designated safety-cutter.
11:15 AM: WSN Updates
Steve Gore, Workplace Safety North
WSN is a not-for-profit health and safety association funded by the provincial government to provide approved health and safety training and services to the mining and forest products industries. A trusted safety advisor, WSN and its legacy organizations have been helping make workplaces safer since 1915.
As part of WSN, Ontario Mine Rescue (OMR) provides training to mine rescue team members throughout the province to continuously improve the skills and knowledge of mine rescue techniques and procedures. Since its creation in 1929, OMR has established a reputation for excellence in emergency response.
Headquartered in northern Ontario, Workplace Safety North knows the day-to-day realities of Ontario’s resource industries. By including companies in research, risk assessments and root cause analyses, WSN builds and sustains close working relationships that ensure services and information stay relevant.
A proud partner in Ontario’s occupational health and safety system, WSN is recognized by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board as a designated training and service provider.
11:45 AM: MIHR Updates
Dana, MiHR
The Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) is an independent, non-profit organization that leads collaboration among mining and exploration companies, organized labour, contractors, educational institutions, industry associations and Indigenous groups to identify and address the human resource and labour market challenges facing the Canadian minerals and metals sector
1:30 PM: Mental Wellness and Recovery
Tina Olivero, Guardians of Recovery Foundation
Tina Olivero is the founder of GuardiansOfRecovery.foundation, a movement transforming the way communities and organizations approach mental health and addiction recovery.
After a 33-year career as a publisher in the energy industry, Tina made a life-changing pivot following the tragic loss of her 20-year-old son, Ben, to a fentanyl overdose—an all-too-common reality affecting over 53,000 Canadians. This personal tragedy ignited her mission to save lives and drive systemic change.
Today, Tina is a passionate advocate for drug-free workplaces, emphasizing their critical role in safety, corporate culture, and sustainable profitability. As a national speaker and thought leader, she challenges organizations to move beyond surface-level wellness programs and create workplaces where mental wellness is a priority, safety stems from sobriety, accountability and transparency are non-negotiable, and resilience is the ultimate competitive advantage in an ever-changing world.
2:30 PM: CDDA Wrap-up
Canadian Diamond Drilling Association