UNews - work site

Committee addresses campus safety concerns

trevor.kenney — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:30:34 +0000

They work under the auspices of the Joint Work Site Health and Safety Committee (JWSHSC), but to put it simply, they are your co-workers and they want more people to know about the purpose their committee serves.

The JWSHSC has existed for more than a decade, but the work they do is largely behind the scenes, something the group would like to see change. Their mandate describes a group of employer and employee representatives working together to identify and recommend solutions to health and safety problems at the work site. The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge is that work site, and because of its vast scope, it presents a variety of health and safety challenges.

"The committee serves as a very important communication link between workers and management," says Dan Berte, committee co-Chair and a Health and Safety Officer with Risk and Safety Services. "It's important that the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community has a representative body that is available to them to report issues of health and safety."

Its broad representation of all campus groups is a key benefit of the JWSHSC because it allows anyone an outlet to relay a health or safety concern.

"If any member of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community feels as though they need to bring up a safety issue, they can go directly to their representative on the JWSHSC," says committee co-Chair Mike Pinder, the operations co-ordinator with Sport and Recreation Services.

Committee representatives can be found on the JWSHSC website at www.uleth.ca/hum/riskandsafetyservices/jwhsc. As well, the committee's terms of reference, handbook and minutes from meetings over the past 10 years can also be accessed.

Both Berte and Pinder stress that as a community, we can help each other keep the campus a safe place to work by reporting accidents, incidents or near misses. Only then can action be taken to address hazardous or risky situations.

"We don't resolve the situation, rather we'll take concerns from the community, have a look at it and then make a recommendation for action," says Pinder.

"We really try to instill the message that there will be no repercussions when reporting a health and safety problem," adds Berte. "As we all are responsible for safety on Campus, it's important that these incidents be reported so that the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ can act on them and make this a safer environment."

This story first appeared in the November 2012 issue of the Legend. To view the full issue online, follow this link.

Unassuming academic

trevor.kenney — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 17:15:47 +0000

Reality for Chad Befus (BSc '08, MSc '10) came from looking into the eyes of his co-workers, on a frigid Arctic work site toward the end of another 16-hour day. He needed to go to school.

"In the Arctic, when you're out there working what seems like a never-ending day in minus-60 degree weather, you get that feeling you need to go do something else," says Befus, whose indirect route to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge included a work stint in the seismic trade after graduating from Calgary's William Aberhart High School.

"It was long hours and very hard work. There were guys working there, and they were very impressive people, who were 60 years old – I just didn't want to be them at 60."

So he looked south to the U of L and, taking the advice of friends who'd said he was always "good with computers", and threw himself into computer science with a determination steeled by his time in the workforce.

"My time away from school is what told me I needed to come to university and do my bachelor's degree," he says. "It also drove me to work so hard to complete it."

Alumnus Chad Befus had multiple opportunities to stay in the work world but he kept coming back to school.

A second work experience sent Befus back to school once more, this time to complete his master's degree. He says he doesn't need a third reality check, having already been accepted into a PhD program at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of London. The academic world is where Befus plans to stay.

"I was fortunate enough to do a co-op program with Shell Canada in my fourth year and it was an excellent experience," says Befus, who was offered a full-time job as a result.

"I likely could have spent the rest of my life there as a programmer, but I didn't find it especially challenging. It gave me yet another perspective and drove me back into university."

The U of L hooked Befus very early in his post-secondary career.

"One of my first classes was with Dr. Yllias Chali. He has such a spark of enthusiasm for his work that all the kids in his class are just drawn in by him," says Befus. "He is so exciting and interesting, and I give him a great deal of credit because that first class at university was so fun and so interesting, that appeal just stuck with me."

When seeking a graduate program, students are often advised to look beyond the confines of the school at which they earned their bachelor's degree. Befus, having built a rapport with his professors, respectfully ignored that counsel.

"For me, the idea of working for some stranger, not knowing what I'd be working on or what environment I'd be in, just didn't appeal to me," he says. "I wanted to come back and work for one of the professors that I did know, who would challenge me and give me enough leash to be able to go out and do the tasks."

Befus' research interest is in music information retrieval, essentially applying computers to music. As a computer scientist his work is on the systemic side of the equation, how to make computers more accurately represent music. It's not a one-discipline problem however, and Befus says his exposure to the artistic and psychological components have given him a more complete approach.

"I know people who have gone to other universities who stick to their respective areas, and they become very good in those areas. Here you're forced to take different disciplines as an undergraduate, things such as psychology courses, social science courses, art courses, and that's what I find really interesting. I like to go out of my box," he says.

He credits that interdisciplinary approach for enhancing his critical thinking skills.

"If you've got a breadth of knowledge, you can come at a solution from a direction that nobody else will," Befus says. "Somebody coming from a background in music might approach the same problem differently than someone from computer science or psychology. The U of L has helped me see that interdisciplinary areas of research are much more interesting."

It also contributed to his finding a PhD opportunity with Dr. Geraint Wiggins at Goldsmiths' College at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of London.

"From what I've read of his work, his department is very connected with the other aspects of this field, you'll see all three areas represented," says Befus. "I have experience with that and it's what interests me."

He admits the experience will once again take him out of his comfort zone. London is a long way from the U of L and his hometown of Calgary, and even further from his time in the Arctic.

"Back then I wanted to work on cars or something like that, being a doctor seemed out of this world to me because you had to be a brain to do that," he laughs.

"I've never done anything quite like this. It's going a little bit further than I'm used to, so it should be interesting."

GET THE FACTS

· Befus has an older brother currently pursuing his master's in earth sciences at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary.

· His mother was born in Lethbridge and has a nursing degree from the U of C, while his father has a bachelor's degree from the U of C and a law degree from ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Victoria.

· Befus met his PhD supervisor after earning the right to present a paper at the International Computer Music Conference in New York.

· He earned his studentship at ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of London after winning one of three spots from among 80 applicants.

· He describes the practical applications of his research by saying, "The idea is we can do things like search or classify music better, simply because we can get a more accurate representation of music itself at a workable level."

Unassuming academic

trevor.kenney — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 19:16:09 +0000

Reality for Chad Befus (BSc '08, MSc '10) came from looking into the eyes of his co-workers, on a frigid Arctic work site toward the end of another 16-hour day. He needed to go to school.

"It was long hours and very hard work. There were guys working there, and they were very impressive people, who were 60 years old – I just didn't want to be them at 60."

"My time away from school is what told me I needed to come to university and do my bachelor's degree," he says. "It also drove me to work so hard to complete it."

"I was fortunate enough to do a co-op program with Shell Canada in my fourth year and it was an excellent experience," says Befus, who was offered a full-time job as a result.

"I likely could have spent the rest of my life there as a programmer, but I didn't find it especially challenging. It gave me yet another perspective and drove me back into university."

The U of L hooked Befus very early in his post-secondary career.

"One of my first classes was with Dr. Yllias Chali. He has such a spark of
enthusiasm for his work that all the kids in his class are just drawn in by him," says Befus. "He is so exciting and interesting, and I give him a great deal of credit because that first class at university was so fun and so interesting, that appeal just stuck with me."

He credits that interdisciplinary approach for enhancing his critical thinking skills.

It also contributed to his finding a PhD opportunity with Dr. Geraint Wiggins at Goldsmiths' College at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of London.

He admits the experience will once again take him out of his comfort zone. London is a long way from the U of L and his hometown of Calgary, and even further from his time in the Arctic.

"Back then I wanted to work on cars or something like that, being a doctor seemed out of this world to me because you had to be a brain to do that," he laughs.

"I've never done anything quite like this. It's going a little bit further than I'm used to, so it should be interesting."

GET THE FACTS

• Befus has an older brother currently pursuing his master's in earth sciences at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary.

• His mother was born in Lethbridge and has a nursing degree from the U of C, while his father has a bachelor's degree from the U of C and a law degree from ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Victoria.

• Befus met his PhD supervisor after earning the right to present a paper at the International Computer Music Conference in New York.

• He earned his studentship at ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of London after winning one of three spots from among 80 applicants.

• He describes the practical applications of his research by saying, "The idea is we can do things like search or classify music better, simply because we can get a more accurate representation of music itself at a workable level."

UNews - work site

Committee addresses campus safety concerns

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Unassuming academic

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Unassuming academic

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