Join a technical tour and diversity your conference experience! Due to the popularity of the tours, participation is limited to professional registrants; one tour per person. Shuttles depart from and return to the Toronto Convention Centre at approximately the times listed. CM points are awarded equal to 0.5 per half-day tour. Tickets are $45 per tour in advance; $50 on site.

On all tours…

Valid photo identification is required. Food and beverages are prohibited. Briefcases, backpacks and totes are discouraged. Appropriate attire including slacks (no shorts or skirts) and flat, closed sturdy walking shoes are a must! See individual tours for additional requirements.

Monday, June 1

TT-01 Going Green – Inside and Out
1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., Limit 30

The Toronto Botanical Garden, redeveloped in 2005, offers four acres of contemporary display gardens and a LEED® Silver Certified building designed to educate and inspire urban dwellers, while demonstrating eco-friendly gardening practices and plant selections. Leaving the garden, travel to Enwave’s Deep Lake Water Cooling project, the largest of its kind in the world. Cold water from the bottom of Lake Ontario is used not only as a source of potable water for the City of Toronto, but also to air condition over 60 of Toronto’s largest buildings. Enwave’s purpose built John Street Pumping Station houses the deep lake water cooling infrastructure that transfers heat from downtown buildings into the city’s drinking water supply. This clean, green source of environmentally friendly cooling reduces up to 90% of our customers’ electrical demand for air conditioning and eliminates almost 80,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.

 

TT-02 Construction Trades Training Centre
1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., Limit 30

Funding through the Ontario Ministry of Training in conjunction with the construction industry and the unions has resulted in the opening of new skills development and apprenticeship training centers in Ontario including The Ontario Sheet Metal Workers Training Centre and the Operating Engineers Training Institute of Ontario. These state-of-the-art facilities are designed to educate and train the next generation of skilled construction trades people while simultaneously educating and training the existing work force. These sites incorporate occupational health and disease awareness as part of their curriculum as they strive to insure today's and tomorrow's workers are healthy and safe.

This tour complements RT 245 on Wednesday, June 3, 1:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m.

Construction grade safety shoes or boots required.

 

Tuesday, June 2

TT-03 Toronto Hydro Electric System Limited
9:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m., Limit 30

Toronto Hydro Corporation consists of Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited and Toronto Hydro Energy Services Inc. (including Toronto Hydro Street Lighting). Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited is the largest municipal electric distribution utility in Canada with more than 697,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers across the Greater Toronto Area.

This tour highlights the safety, hygiene, and ergonomic issues workers face and explains current EHS initiatives. Toronto Hydro runs its own apprentice training school for Certified Power Lines Persons using its own overhead and underground practical training areas. The plant has its own rubber glove testing lab and performs in-house meter and transformer testing. Toronto Hydro is hoping to help safety and industrial hygiene professionals in other industries better understand the hazards that hydro workers face on a daily basis.

Safety shoes or boots required; facility will provide hard hats, safety glasses and vests.

 

TT-04: Sanofi Pasteur Limited
1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., Limit: 50

Tickets not available for purchase on site.

Sanofi Pasteur Limited is Canada's largest and only full-scale vaccine company conducting research, development, manufacturing, filling, packaging and distribution from its Toronto site. The company has been at the forefront of public health innovation in Canada for 90 years and now, as part of Sanofi Pasteur, provides nearly 2 billion doses of vaccines a year, immunizing more than 500 million people around the world. Participants will learn about vaccine manufacturing, biosafety, and related issues.

Company policy prohibits employees of generic pharmaceutical manufacturers participating in the tour.

 

Wednesday, June 3

TT-05 IBM Toronto Software Lab
9:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m., Limit: 40

Tickets not available for purchase on site.

The IBM Toronto Software Lab is the largest software development facility in Canada and the third largest research lab within the IBM Software Group, worldwide. Since the lab's inception in 1967, it has experienced tremendous growth in numbers and purpose and has become one of the driving forces in developing IBM's e-business on demand software.

The facility is environmentally conscious and has been recognized by the Wildlife Habitat Council for the preservation of its park-like setting and by Natural Resources Canada for its energy efficient design aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The building was recently certified by BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association) as a “Go Green Plus” facility and was awarded BOMA’s “Earth Award” in 2008.

 

TT-06 Toronto Transit Commission
9:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m., Limit 50

Toronto Transit Commission’s historic Hillcrest Complex is home to two major maintenance facilities, the D.W. Harvey Shop and the W.E.P. Duncan Shop where highly skilled employees maintain and repair the TTC’s fleet of buses and streetcars.

Touring the D.W. Harvey Shop, participants will see the processes associated with streetcar overhauling including, machining, sheet metal and welding, wood milling and upholstery, electrical and motor repair and paint and body repair. In the W.E.P. Duncan Shop, participants will see processes associated with bus overhauling including mechanical systems, engine, transmission, brake, and tire repair. This facility is also responsible for maintaining TTC’s non-revenue fleet.

Safety shoes or boots required.