Safety as the foundation for success
Every day at Concordia, students, faculty and staff step into classrooms, labs, offices and shared spaces ready to learn, teach and discover. All of this happens in environments that must be carefully managed to remain safe. That’s where Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) plays a vital role.
“Health and Safety is about creating the right conditions for people to do their best work,” says Pietro Gasparrini, director of EHS. “By embedding health and safety into everyday campus life, our team supports the university’s core mission of education and research in a very tangible way.”
Supporting well-being in all its forms
This year, EHS expanded its approach to workplace safety by placing a stronger emphasis on psychological health.
To support this work, the Psychological Safety in the Workplace Working Group was established, bringing together representatives from a wide range of administrative and academic units, as well as employee unions. The group reviewed mental health first aid training options and continues to explore different approaches for assessing psychosocial risk factors in the workplace.
“Safety isn’t only about physical spaces,” says Gasparrini. “It’s also about creating a workplace where people feel supported, respected and able to do their jobs with confidence. Psychological health is an important part of that conversation.”
Recognition for innovation & collaboration
Concordia’s commitment to workplace health and safety also received provincial recognition. For the second year in a row, a university project was named a regional finalist in the innovation category of the Grands Prix de la CNESST, Quebec’s workplace health and safety board.
The honour highlights work undertaken to secure a high-capacity testing frame in the Structures and Infrastructure Testing Laboratory in the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science. The project reduces the risk of accidents while supporting advanced engineering research.
“This award is a great example of what’s possible when safety and research collaborate,” says Gasparrini. “Our goal is always to work together and to find solutions that keep people safe while also enabling cutting-edge research to move forward.”
For Gasparrini, these efforts also model the kind of safety culture he hopes Concordia students will carry into their future careers.
“We’re not just supporting today’s work on campus,” he adds. “We’re also showing students what a strong, thoughtful safety culture looks like, to bring with them wherever they go next.”
Making safety part of everyday campus life
Throughout the 2024-25 academic year, EHS focused on practical, approachable tools that help make safety a natural part of daily operations across campus.
The team introduced new standardized signage for space closures and developed new workplace hazards signage, which allows EHS to clearly communicate hazards and safety requirements much faster.
Gasparrini explains that these tools help create consistency across campus.
“Clear communication goes a long way,” explains Gasparrini. “When expectations and risks are easy to understand and visible, people can make safer choices in their day-to-day work.”
EHS also expanded its educational reach with the launch of a new Environmental Health and Safety training module in Concordia’s learning management system. Designed to be flexible and manageable to complete, the introductory training makes essential safety knowledge more accessible to staff and faculty across the university.
“We know everyone’s workload is full,” says Gasparrini. “Our goal is to make safety training more efficient, more flexible and more relevant to the realities of the workplace, so it supports our community rather than feeling like an added burden.”
A supportive partner across the university
Throughout the year, EHS also continued its core work behind the scenes: conducting inspections, identifying risks, supporting compliance with federal and provincial legislation, and working closely with units across the broader university community.
“We’re here to support the community,” says Gasparrini. “Whether it’s answering a quick question, supporting a new lab set-up or advising on a renovation project, we’re here to help people find safe, workable solutions.”
Gasparrini stresses that the intention of this collaborative approach is not only to reduce institutional risk but also to strengthen a culture of shared responsibility for safety.
The end goal? To have health and safety embedded into the fabric of the institution to provide the stable foundation needed for everyone to conduct their research and daily operations with confidence, allowing our community to thrive.
