Spotlight on CSSE Members
Tim Bell
It was a chance trip to visit his father that prompted Tim Bell to move from England to Canada in 2015. "My father was a pilot in the air force and he retired to Corpus Christi in Texas and had friends in Niagara that he was going to see. So I came up with him. And I thought, Niagara is an absolutely wonderful part of the world to live in.”
Tim had a 30-year career in the oil business in the United Kingdom before moving to St. Catharine’s. His first job, though, was as a boat builder. “After that, I went into engineering, did a mechanical fitter’s apprenticeship, and then went to university in Coventry and did a technologist apprenticeship with Massey Ferguson. Then I did a year-long postgraduate certificate in physics, and taught physics at high school. And then I got in my Volkswagen camper and went up to Aberdeen and got a job on the oil platforms with the British National Oil Company. I was a well completions manager.”
Tim left the oil industry in 1996 and became a health and safety consultant with a company called Lumier, which installed LED lights in hospitals and other organizations. After moving to St. Catharine’s, he volunteered with Workplace Safety and Prevention Services, in Mississauga, and as a mentor and trainer for high school co-op programs. He also volunteered on the board of directors of the Canadian Henley Rowing Corporation for three years, during which time he completed his coursework and exams to become a Certified Health and Safety Consultant.
In 2019, Tim created a website, healthandsafetyplanning.com, that outlines the importance of promoting health and safety planning as an essential skill for supervisors and managers.
Tim joined the CSSE’s Hamilton Chapter in 2015 and has been an active member ever since. “I went to a lot of the meetings and worked my way up. And that brought me into contact with many local health and safety managers, which was very refreshing. Because it’s quite a lonely existence being a safety officer, you know, and it’s nice to be able to help or talk to other people as well. And then when you get onto the national level, it’s almost like you mentor each other. It’s like having a family.”
Tim is enthusiastic about the changes underway at the CSSE. “We should be asking ourselves what we can do now that we haven’t done before, or new initiatives we can undertake. Like, how do we promote more to directors and boards? How do we promote ourselves as a credible professional organization to support our members?” He also believes that now is the time for the CSSE to stretch its wings. “I think the new CSSE can broaden its horizons into sporting organizations, municipalities, boards of directors across organizations, and more, and pass our experience and membership through. It’s a big, big leap, but I think the potential is tremendous.”
Tim became a Canadian citizen on September 14, 2023.