Tom Mackay has over 35 years of health and safety experience in industrial and construction workplaces, both union and non-union. He also has regulatory experience as an inspector and regional program coordinator with the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development. Over his career in both management and consultant roles, he developed a passionate, down to earth, and practical approach to health and safety.

His career started when he was elected to a local Joint Health and Safety Committee, which lit a flame of passion and advocacy for health and safety matters. He eventually represented members provincially at the Ontario Federation of Labour advocating for regulatory changes and participating in joint projects. He has worked on initiatives with the Institute for Work and Health (IWH), Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW), The Worker Health and Safety Centre (WHSC), and the WSIB Research Advisory Council (RAC). Through these partnerships, he gained experience researching and developing solutions for important issues such as ergonomics, occupational disease, occupational exposure level changes, workplace injuries and workplace training.

In 2005, he accepted a position with the Ministry of Labour as a Health and Safety Inspector and then as acting Regional Program Coordinator, gaining a diverse experience across a wide scope of health and safety initiatives, conditions, regulatory and compliance issues. In 2010, he was elected to the provincial Ministry Employee Relations Committee (MERC) representing MLTSD employees in labour relations issues including occupational disease and working conditions. In 2010, the MERC participated and presented in the Expert Advisory Panel on occupational health and safety in Ontario chaired by Tony Dean.

In 2015, Tom accepted a position of Director of Health, Safety and Environment for a high voltage construction company involved with construction of transmission lines and substations as well as manufacturing, assembly plants, engineering, services and commissioning of high voltage equipment and apparatus. While in this position, he developed and implemented a health and safety program that met the requirements of the Certificate of Recognition.

In 2017, Tom established a consulting firm, Select Safety Solutions, to share his knowledge and valuable experience with companies across Ontario. In addition, he accepted a contract with the IHSA as an approved external COR™ auditor, reviewing safety programs to determine whether they met program requirements. In the audit role, he also offers solutions in the form of corrective actions and suggestions of opportunities for improvement.

In his current role of Director of Health and Safety for the ECAO, Tom chairs the ECAO/IBEW Labour Management Health and Safety Committee and represents the Electrical Contractors Association of Ontario on the Construction Section 21 Committee. He also sits on the Council of Ontario Construction Association’s health, safety and WSIB committee, and the WSIB Chair’s Construction Industry Advisory Committee. Tom is involved with initiatives to share health and safety information and materials, promote safe work initiatives and training, and making suggestions for legislative changes to ensure ECAO members and workers are safe. In addition, he leads the development of timely safety bulletins and provides program information and guidance to ECAO members on behalf of ECAO as an approved provider of the WSIB Health and Safety Excellence Program.

Tom holds the designations of Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP) and National Construction Safety Officer (NCSO).