The Challenge
A construction company that had secured major federal infrastructure contracts spanning multiple provinces faced a compliance imperative: establishing a National Safety Director position to ensure consistent safety standards across all project sites while navigating the varying provincial workplace safety regulations from coast to coast. The role required expertise across multiple dimensions: deep knowledge of occupational health and safety regulations in all provinces where the company operated including Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta; experience with federal construction safety requirements specific to infrastructure projects; proven track record of implementing safety management systems across large, geographically dispersed operations; and the leadership presence to influence both site supervisors resistant to safety protocols and executive leadership on safety investment decisions. The challenge was compounded by the construction industry’s fragmented safety culture, where each project site often developed its own practices, and by the genuine differences in provincial regulations that made standardization complex. The company needed someone who could drive safety improvement while respecting legitimate regional differences and maintaining project schedule performance.
The Solution
Lock Search Group executed a national search leveraging our offices in all major construction markets across Canada. Our strategy recognized that candidates with true national scope were rare in the construction safety field, so we prioritized adaptability and learning capability alongside existing provincial experience. We targeted four candidate pools: safety directors from national general contractors who had managed multi-provincial operations; provincial safety regulators transitioning to private sector roles who possessed comprehensive regulatory knowledge; safety consultants with construction specialization who were seeking operating positions; and safety leaders from other heavy industries such as oil and gas or mining who had experience with large-scale, geographically dispersed operations. Our assessment approach evaluated candidates across regulatory knowledge in each operating province, systems implementation experience, and leadership capability including ability to influence skeptical operational personnel. We developed province-specific regulatory knowledge assessments and conducted reference checks with particular attention to candidates’ ability to balance safety imperatives with project performance requirements. Given the national scope of the role, we required candidates to demonstrate either existing experience in multiple provinces or clear evidence of capability to rapidly learn new provincial regulatory environments.
The Outcome
The national search identified 34 candidates with relevant safety leadership backgrounds. Through rigorous assessment including provincial regulatory evaluations and leadership capability interviews, we presented five finalists to the executive team. The successful placement was a former National Safety Manager from a major general contractor who had previously implemented a unified safety management system across eight provinces following that company’s expansion through acquisition. Her experience integrating disparate regional safety cultures into a coherent national program directly addressed the client’s core challenge. Critically, she had maintained positive relationships with provincial regulators in each jurisdiction through her previous role, providing the company with an enhanced ability to navigate regulatory interactions. Within her first year, she conducted safety culture assessments at all active project sites, implemented a standardized safety management system with provincial-specific modules addressing regulatory variations, achieved a 40% reduction in recordable incident rates, and successfully completed three federal infrastructure project safety audits with zero significant findings. The placement demonstrated Lock Search Group’s ability to leverage our national presence for roles requiring true coast-to-coast expertise.