Press Releases

Shirley Hickman is the third recipient of the IAPA-CME Health & Safety Leadership Award, which recognizes outstanding individuals who have demonstrated a dedicated contribution to the innovation and advancement of health and safety in the workplace and/or community.

In 1996, Hickman lost her 21 year old son, Tim, to a workplace injury. After his death, her family struggled to find resources to navigate them through workplace investigations, inquests, and available support services. A much needed support system was missing to help them cope with what had happened.

In 2003, Hickman founded the Association for Workplace Tragedy Family Support – Threads of Life, a national charity that currently supports over 700 Canadian families living with the outcome of workplace fatality, life-altering injury or occupational disease. The Threads of Life organization is comprised of family members and friends who have been victim to workplace tragedies and come together to provide peer support and referral to help others cope during similar situations. If offers the only peer support program in the world to family members by trained Volunteer Family Guides (who have also experienced their own workplace tragedy).

Hickman, extremely active in the organization’s success, directly training and mentoring 24 Canadian Volunteer Family Guides for peer support roles, personally provides one-on-one peer support to families in need, and continuously raises the profile of occupational health and safety and the need for increased workplace safety through various events and initiatives. Hickman is a member of the provincial committee, “Youth Stakeholders”, with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, and provincial stakeholder organizations to promote education and resources to young people. She has also worked closely with journalists across Canada to prepare several articles on workplace health and safety.

“Shirley has provided a much needed service to Canadian families. Families of workplace tragedy now have a place to turn in their grief and have gained a support system from people who truly understand the pain and confusion surrounding these events,” says Maureen Shaw, IAPA President and CEO. “Awareness of occupational health and safety has grown due in large part to Shirley Hickman’s development of Threads of Life and her compassion for others in need. This compassion is raising the profile of workplace injuries and fatalities, putting a face to the statistics, forcing society to recognize that workplace safety is a very real concern and cannot be ignored.”

Past recipients of the IAPA-CME Health & Safety Leadership Award include Bill Wilkerson, co-founder and CEO of the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health and Duncan Hawthorne, Bruce Power President and CEO, who championed the CEO Health & Safety Leadership Charter, an alliance of business and government leaders from all regions and sectors dedicated to achieving a breakthrough in health and safety performance across Canada.

IAPA is a not-for-profit, member driven organization operating in Ontario since 1917. Representing approximately 50,000 member firms and more than 1.5 million Ontario workers, IAPA is one of Canada ’s leading workplace health and safety organizations. IAPA is ISO 9001 certified, has been awarded the National Quality Institute’s Progressive Excellence Program Level III for Quality Certificate, and was a recipient of a Bronze Level Quality Award at the 2006 Canada Awards for Excellence.  

Canada 's largest trade and industry association, CME promotes the continuous improvement of Canadian manufacturing and exporting through engagement of government at all levels. Its mandate is to promote the competitiveness of Canadian manufacturers and enable the success of Canadian goods and services exporters in markets around the world. Representing Canada 's largest business network, CME's membership is drawn from all sectors of Canada 's manufacturing and exporting community and from every province across the country. The association represents Canada 's leading global enterprises and more than 85% of CME's members are small- and medium-sized enterprises. Together, CME's membership accounts for an estimated 75% of total manufacturing production and 90% of Canada 's exports.  

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Contact:
Siân Gibson
Program Manager, Partnerships & Communications
Threads of Life Tel: 1-888-567-9490
email: sgibson@threadsoflife.ca
www.threadsoflife.ca