Leo Gerard

By: Nick Liard

Close to a million dollars will help the Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health(CROSH) at Laurentian University create a Mobile Laboratory.

The lab will be a 32 foot custom built trailer which can provide occupational safety and health research in pretty much any community with road access.

It will be used to research a number of areas like air quality, fatigue management and mental health.

For International President of the United Steelworkers, Leo Gerard it is a dream come true, having invisioned the idea 10 years ago

The funding comes from two Ontario Ministry of Labour grants totalling 992 thousand dollars.

CROSH also received close to 200 thousand dollars to build a Workplace Simulator.

The simulator will allow researchers to replicate the environment and conditions of almost any Northern Ontario workplace.

CROSH Research Chair, Tammy Eger says with it will allow them to better analyze dangers in the workplace like heat stroke.