Sharon Armstrong has been a fixture at the Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (OSSGA) for more than a decade, having served as vice president of industry and stakeholder relations from 2015 to 2025. Armstrong took over late last year as OSSGA executive director. P&Q caught up with her in January at the OSSGA Operations, Health & Safety Seminar in Toronto.
What were the driving topics for members this year ahead of the OSSGA Operations, Health & Safety Seminar?
Armstrong: Interestingly, it’s AI. Everybody’s talking about it everywhere. We didn’t realize how much of a focus it would be here, but it was interwoven into nearly all of our education sessions.
How is AI showing up in the OSSGA program?
Armstrong: Our first technical session was on specification tracking – for example, belt-cut sampling, where you can use imaging instead. The idea is you don’t have to shut down production. You can do it continuously – in real time – without losing time to cut production and then reset. It’s more accurate than the old-fashioned sampling we used to do, and it’s all AI-driven.
It’s been very interesting to see how many other speakers are talking about integrating AI even though we didn’t ask them to. That’s just where we are – and that’s how everybody is thinking right now. They’re aiming to make things smarter.
Ours is an industry that has operated very much the same way for many years, so it’s nice to see innovation taking place right now. That tracks through safety, as well.
In talking with folks from the Ministry of Labour, [Immigration, Training & Skills Development], we asked whether they’re using AI to analyze inspectors’ notes to see whether there are trends in health and safety issues. If you can identify trends, that can help with better practices and prevention.
Beyond AI, what else did OSSGA emphasize at this year’s meeting?
Armstrong: Another thing we did differently this year is we asked the ministry to come with statistics – critical incidents, fatalities and so on. From a health and safety perspective, we really wanted to dive deeper into the numbers and get a better understanding of what’s happening on the ground.
It was interesting that critical incidents have gone up quite significantly since 2020. The ministry talked about how some definitions of what counts as ‘critical’ have changed.
Trips and falls got attention – which sounds simple, but those cause broken ankles and broken wrists and other injuries. A lot of those incidents are preventable, but because we become complacent, we don’t see what’s literally right in front of us. Evaluating protocols to prevent slips, trips and falls needs to be an ongoing process.
What message do you most want members to take back to their operations?
Armstrong: If you see something, say something. That’s incredibly important.
In workplaces, we sometimes get complacent. We all have examples – at work, in everyday life, even at home – where we see something that should be fixed, but we accept it as normal.
In workplaces like our industry’s, there are unfortunately fatalities from time to time. We need to do absolutely everything we can to make sure people get home safely at the end of the day. That’s the goal. People should be able to go home, be with their families and enjoy their work – but be safe.
Related: P&Q Profile: Rohr LLC’s Jochen Rohr
