b'MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENTMAJOR STRIDESD ear SIAC members and supporters, We hope you all enjoyed a busy summer season. BY RICK MCKINLAY Firstly, the SIAC (Ontario) Board of Directors would like to extend its sincerest congratulations to Ontarios new Minister of Labour, The Honourable Monte McNaughton, on his recent appointment. We look forward to engaging with Minister McNaughton and continuing to foster strong relationships with our partners in government to ensure that our members have a voice on regulatory and legislative issues affecting the scaffold and access industry. To learn more about changes in government and SIACs advocacy, see Jim Wilkinsons Government Relations column on page 10. As one of my mandates as SIACs Ontario Chapter President, I am proud to have achieved major strides in developing partnerships across Canada and strengthening ties with the Scaffold and Access Industry Association (SAIA). Ontario has fostered a network of leaders across Canada who now meet regularly to discuss pan-Canadian issues facing our industry, advocacy approaches and partnerships, and technical concerns. This increased connectivity will allow Ontario and other regional and provincial groups in the industry to share best practices and learn from one another about how to best serve our members. As part of these efforts, we are pleased to offer the other Chapters regular space in our Access Canada magazine going forward, which you can find on pages 22 and 23. In this edition of Access Canada we are also pleased to learn about the legal implications of social media in the workplace from Catherine Willson on page 12, standardizing the level of safety in the industry by Park Derochie on page 18, and safety developments on page 24.Over the summer we continued to update members on our monthly email newsletters about several topics of interest, including the Ministry of Labour (MOL)s workplace inspection initiative on suspended accessequipment, which focuses on equipment and training compliancewith Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA) standards, as well as other areas of interest to our sector. To keep up with industry updates, subscribe to SIACs monthly newsletter by visiting siac-ontario.com. I enjoyed seeing many of you at the SAIA Annual Convention at the Sheraton New Orleans from September 23-26, 2019, and was grateful for the opportunity for Ontario members to meet and collaborate with members from across Canada. SIAC-Ontario will also be hosting its next General Meeting in Toronto on November 12, 2019. Please look out for additional information in our upcoming emails and on our website, or at any time feel free to contact info@siac-ontario.com for the latest registration details. Thank you for your continued support and engagement, and I wish you a safe and successful fall construction season.Sincerely,Rick McKinlay, President, SIAC Ontario Chapter8THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE SCAFFOLD INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF CANADA'