NSTSA appoints new director

by Adam Ledlow

KENTVILLE, N.S. – After spending 30 years assisting injured workers and their families, Linda Corkum will be taking her occupational health and safety expertise to the trucking industry as the new executive director of the Nova Scotia Trucking Safety Association. Corkum took up the position Jan. 10 after former director Diane Isnor moved on from the association.

Corkum had previously worked at the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) of Nova Scotia and was involved with the formation of a new partnership between WCB and NSTSA in October, 2004. The pilot project was launched to combat the rising number of on-the-job injuries within member trucking companies and to educate all stakeholders in an effort to make roadways and workplaces safer.

“I guess the number one reason for taking this job is that I’m very passionate about occupational health and safety,” Corkum told Truck News. “I don’t want to see anyone go to work in the morning and not come home, because what the family and everyone else have to deal with is traumatic, especially if it could have been avoided in the first place. I took this job because I believe that we can make a difference.”

The NSTSA is currently working on a variety of safety programs, including a WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) ‘Train the trainer’ program, and a program that promotes proper lifting techniques. The association will also be on-hand at various East Coast trucking events, including the annual conferences of the Truckers Association of Nova Scotia and the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association, and will be presenting an award at the Atlantic Driving Championships.

“What we’re trying to do is make our members more aware that we exist, number one, and that we have a lot of programs in place for them, specifically in the trucking industry, to promote a safety standard so that they have fewer workplace injuries and lower insurance rates,” Corkum said.

She says the number one goal for the NSTSA to ensure member companies are in compliance with the Nova Scotia Occupational Health and Safety Act.

“We have the tools to get them there; the training and the education and the safety audits that they require.”

Corkum is a graduate of the Health and Safety Professional Certificate program at Ryerson University, the Occupational Health and Safety Auditing program at Dalhousie University, and a member of the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering.

For more information on the NSTSA call 888-329-9660 or visit www.nstsa.ca.


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