BIS Safety Summit
Workforce in Transition
Work is changing fast as experienced employees retire and a new generation enters the workforce, creating new gaps in experience, expectations, communication styles, and accountability.
This exclusive half-day Safety Summit is built for safety professionals, safety leaders, and operational managers dealing with these realities. We are excited to bring together a focused speaker sessions and an interactive industry panel to explore how organizations can transfer critical knowledge, adapt leadership approaches, and maintain strong safety culture during periods of workforce transition.
This summit will highlight the reality of what is breaking, what is working, and what needs to change.
Meet The Speakers
Jeff Mulligan
Jeff Mulligan is the Chief Operating Officer of ASTEC Safety Inc., a longtime safety training and solutions company in Western Canada. With a career that spans senior roles in finance, banking, consulting and public service before safety, Jeff brings a unique blend of strategic leadership and real-world perspective to this space. He helped lead a turnaround of ASTEC Safety from financial difficulty to stable growth by embedding strong culture, operational discipline and inclusive leadership principles into everyday practice. Jeff also co-founded Utility Safety Partners and frequently speaks on how safety leadership and damage prevention should be treated as strategic priorities, not just compliance checkboxes.
LinkedIn | See more of Astec Safety
Rick Sikora
Rick Sikora is the President and CEO of Cranemasters Hoisting + Rigging Training, a respected provider of specialized crane and rigging training across North America. With more than three decades of hands-on trade experience as a Red Seal welder, electrician, millwright and overhead crane technician, Rick has built a training organization grounded in practical competency and industry standards. He plays an active role on technical committees and has developed free industry resources to help broaden access to high-quality rigging safety guidance. Rick’s focus on measurable skills, manufacturer-specification literacy and ongoing mentorship has influenced how many companies think about lifting operations and safety culture. LinkedIn | See more of CranemastersTyler Foley
Tyler Foley is the Managing Director and founder of Total Buy In Safety Consulting, a Calgary-based firm dedicated to helping organizations strengthen safety performance through engagement, communication and practical systems. He brings a diverse professional background that includes work in film and theatre as a stunt performer, technical training in geomatics engineering, and more than a decade of hands-on experience in occupational health and safety certifications and consulting work. Tyler’s work focuses on aligning safety culture with overall corporate culture, coaching leaders and teams to communicate why safety matters and to build real commitment at every level of the organization. He is also a published author and speaker whose varied career influences how he helps clients think about risk, behavior and human factors in safety management.
LinkedIn | See more of Total Buy-In
Meet The Panellists
Shilo Neveu
Shilo Neveu is EVP, Health, Safety & Environment with the Valard Group of Companies. A former labour and employment lawyer specializing in occupational health and safety, Shilo brings a rare legal lens to practical, field-ready safety leadership. His career spans private legal practice, senior and frontline OHS roles, regulatory collaboration across Canada and the U.S., and a decade teaching at the University of Alberta. Known for his energy, clarity, and ability to translate risk into action, Shilo’s passion for safety is unmistakable, it’s even infectious!
Adam Thornton
With 30 years of Occupational Health and Safety experience across multiple industries, Adam Thornton is a Health and Safety Manager with a track record of helping teams reduce workplace injuries to below industry standards. His background includes Chemical Operations, followed by the last 16 years in the Oil and Gas sector. Adam specializes in hazard identification and mitigation, cultural safety, safety training, frontline supervision, and developing high-performing safety teams.
Frederique Douglas
Frederique Douglas is an HSE Compliance Manager with 20 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, specializing in regulatory compliance, risk management, and governance, while providing strategic leadership to drive continuous improvement in HSE performance across global operations.
LinkedIn | See more of Lufkin Industries
Grant LeDrew
Grant LeDrew is the Corporate Director of Health, Safety & Environment for the Valard Group of Companies, a Quanta Services organization, bringing over a decade of safety leadership across some of North America’s largest transmission and utility construction projects. He has led HSE execution on billion-dollar projects, including the largest transmission project in Canadian history, overseeing safety programs across hundreds of workers in complex, high-risk environments. Today, Grant drives HSE strategy and performance across Valard’s national operations, with a focus on high-consequence hazard management, contractor oversight, and building safety culture that holds up in the field, not just on paper.
What This Session Will Cover
- The safety risks created by retiring workers and lost institutional knowledge
- How generational differences affect communication, engagement, and accountability
- Why traditional training approaches can often fail newer workers
- What experienced leaders can do differently to connect with a changing workforce
- How to build safety systems that support learning, not just compliance
- Where organizations are underestimating the impact of workforce transition
Date: Tuesday, May 26th, 2026
Heure: Doors open at 11:30 AM. Lunch served at 12:00 PM. Event ends at 4 PM.
Lieu: Chateau Louis Hotel, 11727 Kingsway NW, Edmonton, AB T5G 3A1
Cost: $295 regular price. Early bird pricing: $180 (Available until four weeks prior to the event)
Thank You to Our Sponsor
