Safety is at the center of everything PCL does and is one of the company’s guiding principles. PCL promotes and fosters a culture where people truly care about one another and where everyone shares the goal of zero incidents.

In PCL’s Toronto location, Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Supervisor Bella White is a passionate and dedicated safety expert whose proactive leadership fosters a strong safety culture on every job site she works on.

Let’s get to know White and how she’s making an impact at PCL — safety first.

White began her PCL journey in 2018 in an administrative role within the team building the Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital project. With her sights set on becoming an HSE professional, she seized every opportunity to absorb knowledge from the superintendents, project managers, trade partners and clients around her, as well as her peers.

It wasn't long before her inherent curiosity and drive propelled her forward, leading her to obtain her National Construction Safety Officer certification and ultimately transition into the role of HSE coordinator.

Now an HSE supervisor, White is responsible for leading the development, implementation and monitoring of HSE plans for multiple projects at any given time, working with project teams to ensure PCL’s industry-leading safe work practices are implemented in the field.

On any project White is a part of, she is dedicated to ensuring that safety remains the top priority for all. Her approach goes beyond mere enforcement of safety protocols; she focuses on fostering a strong safety culture built on trust and collaboration.

By building relationships with the workforce and being transparent about safety concerns, White creates an environment where everyone feels accountable for safety, striving to achieve PCL’s collective goal of zero incidents. Her adaptability in communication ensures that her safety message resonates with diverse audiences, contributing significantly to the success of the robust HSE program.

“Bella is passionate about what she does and is willing to lend that passion to others. With her contagious safety attitude, she instills a safety-first mindset in those around her,” says Natasha Mesnic, district HSE manager. “She has a unique way of putting people first, which enables workers to trust her judgment and willingly work with her to resolve any safety issues.”

White’s passion for sharing knowledge and teaching others shines through in her commitment to ensuring that every worker has the necessary training and resources to work safely. When reinforcing HSE protocols, she takes a solutions-first approach with a focus on strengthening the safety education of her peers and subtrades.

As part of PCL Toronto’s ongoing quest to prevent falling objects, White supported the introduction of tool tethering kits that were distributed across project sites. The educational kits comprised of various tool tethers were created to raise awareness and support the use of tethering on projects through demonstrating the various types of tethering systems available.

To further workers’ education, White organized a lunch and learn and provided an interactive training lesson with the kit to help educate our workforce on using the tethers. She continues to coach trade partners through the correct use of tethers to improve safe work practices.

Most recently, White was the lead safety professional on the fast-paced Rogers Centre Renovation – Phase 1 and Phase 2 projects, ensuring that safety remained top of mind for the project team.

With any project, increased schedule pressure carries the risk of potential incidents and lost time. To mitigate this, the project team implemented a campaign focused on acknowledging safe work behavior at the moment, when observing such things as taking the time to complete a thorough pre-job safety instruction session after a change in task, wearing all required personal protective equipment and having a safety-minded work set-up.

Working closely with the client, workers who were observed implementing safe work behavior were given Toronto Blue Jays swag as a token of appreciation. The campaign showcased the power of having peers demonstrate that safety can’t be compromised, even when the pressure is on.

With a quarter million hours worked without a lost-time injury, the first phase of the project achieved a zero total recordable incident rate and earned the Toronto office the 2023 Tom Erger Safety Award for outstanding safety achievements. It also went on to earn Engineering News-Record’s Global Best Projects Award of Merit in the Sports/Entertainment category and Toronto Construction Association’s Best of the Best Large Project Achievement Award, both of which evaluated the project’s safety achievement — a strong representation of PCL’s commitment to innovation, safety and teamwork.

The way White has shaped safety on the job site and across PCL has not gone unnoticed. She earned PCL Toronto’s 2023 District Impact Award. The internal award celebrates employees in non-operations functions who have made a difference within PCL Toronto while displaying outstanding performance and utmost commitment to PCL’s core values: honesty, integrity, respect, passion and the development of a dynamic culture where everyone can learn, teach, improve, innovate and add value.

White’s peers nominated her for the award based on her proactive safety leadership, dedication to education and her ability to create a strong safety culture on the job site.

“With commitment and passion for her work, White goes above and beyond to advance our culture of safety while delivering exceptional client service,” says Marc Pascoli, senior vice president and district manager. “She demonstrates the innate ability to inspire those around her to enhance their safety performance, while she seeks ways to continuously improve our safety program.”

Interested in a rewarding career in a dynamic industry? Explore career opportunities with PCL Construction by visiting our careers site. 

Bella accepting her Impact Award, alongside Marc Pascoli, Myke Badry and Monique Buckberger of PCL Toronto’s leadership team and President and CEO of PCL Dave Filipchuk