Spotlight on CSSE Members
Ashley Mckie
Ashley Mckie’s recounting of how she began working in health and safety is, she says, unremarkable. “I think like many of us, I kind of stumbled into it. I was doing some special contracts for a forestry company. And their COR [certificate of recognition] audit came up and I was working on that and they said, ‘Hey you’re really good at this stuff. Why don’t we put you in some safety courses?’ So I took a bunch of safety classes and I really enjoyed safety and understanding how and why people do the things they do, and how to make that better. So I’m really glad I’m here. I love it.”
That turn toward working in safety came about 13 years ago, notes Ashley. She started off by working in the forestry sector, in sawmills. And then, 10 years ago, she began working at Leavitt Machinery, a materials-handling dealership, as a safety coordinator. A year later, she became the manager of the department.
Over the decade she has worked at Leavitt, Ashley gradually worked her way up to become the Director of Safety for Leavitt’s parent company, Venturis Capital Corporation, where she currently oversees a team of eight employees. It’s a role she’s passionate about. “I really enjoy the people part of it, and influencing hearts and minds, whether it’s safety people or people in the field or senior leadership or connecting people to make changes that they might not have come to on their own.”
Ashley’s dedication to safety led to her being named one of the Top Women in Safety for 2023.
Ashley became a CSSE member in 2014, after she’d moved from British Columbia to Alberta. “Joining gave me an opportunity to meet people in the area and see what people were doing there. And the educational opportunities were great as well. The CSSE has complimented the mentoring and coaching work I do, it really allows me to network with a lot of great people. And I can be helpful to others, because not everybody is in a situation where their organization has a team of safety people. There’s a lot of people who are out there on their own, and that can be kind of daunting.”
Once Ashley moved back to BC, she became more involved in the Fraser Valley Chapter, becoming its Chair in October 2022. She also participates at the national level of the CSSE—including task forces for two website rollouts, a communications review, and the terms of reference for the new structure of the organization.
Ashley is an enthusiastic supporter of the transitional process underway at the CSSE. “I think one of best outcomes we could have and what we’re striving for is consistency in member experience across Canada and internationally too. Part of what we’re doing is setting new standards, which will allow a lot of our amazing volunteers to focus on doing the volunteer activities they love, that provide member value, that provide for networking, connection, and just interaction between our membership, which is a huge benefit to the organization. And really, in the end, it will make us more resilient as an organization—and that’s incredibly important.”