A Day in the Life of a Workplace Safety Advocate

“Wisdom is the art of living in rhythm with your soul, your life and the divine.”

– John O’Donohue, Anam Cara; A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Over the past two months, my life has changed…

Mind you, so have I.

I had to. If I didn’t shift my mindset, attitude & daily habits, I would not be able to keep up with all that is unfolding. Almost overnight, my workload has increased exponentially, doors of opportunity are opening at lightening speed, and the creative insights just keep on coming. I feel as if I’m plugged into the Universe…a human conduit with a ponytail!

And yet, oddly enough, I’m not feeling particularly overwhelmed. I just show up each day and do what needs to be done to the best of my ability, then turn off my laptop & phone and have some fun and/or rest.

Why…it’s almost as if everything I’ve experienced & learned over the past twenty-five years has been preparing me for this phase of my life.

Of course it has…that’s probably exactly what’s happened!

“Everything that occurs teaches and prepares you for the next stage of life.”

– Zig Ziglar

To give you an example of what this new stage of my life looks like, I’ll share with you a play-by-play of a recent day, that was rather action-packed and not for the faint of heart.

Or rather, not conducive for a heart that has not yet healed.

I dare say my heart has healed…otherwise, I doubt I could’ve handled the emotional demands of this particular day (and still wake up again the next day to meet that day’s experiences & challenges).

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I was back in Calgary in late Feb/early March for the filming of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund’s “Complacent” sizzle reel/promo video (for the “Complacent” documentary TV series, which will explore why 1000 Canadian workers die every year as a result of their job and thousands more suffer from life-altering injuries or occupational illness & disease).

All ten days in Calgary were incredible. But one day in particular stood out…not just because it was pretty wild, but also because if someone had told me 25 years ago – back when I was a devastated young widow just trying to survive the day – that I would actually be able to do this sort of stuff, I would never have believed them!

Here’s what Monday March 2nd, 2026 looked like for me:

5:00am: wake up, have coffee, feed cats (I was staying at my niece, Mellie’s, house) & think about what I will say in presentation #1.

5:30am: drive to Calgary Police Service District 6 office (the District John was working in when he died) & meet Deputy Chief Cliff O’Brien (JPMF Board Chair) in parking lot to discuss presentation #1.

6:00am: Along with Cliff, say a few words of thanks & encouragement to the parade room full of police officers (before their shift begins), then give the District 6 John Petropoulos Leadership Award to the 2025 District 6 winner.

7:00am: drive to location of first film shoot of the day: Crescent Heights lookout.

8:00am: walk back & forth (in the freezing cold) along the sidewalk on Crescent Heights lookout, having a heart-to-heart conversation (which is being filmed) with Emily Gofton…about grief.

Full circle moment…

8:30am: it is when Emily is talking to Jack (the director) for the first part of her interview that it suddenly occurs to me we are pretty much standing in the exact same location John had been standing – thirty years earlier -when the above photo was taken of him…back when he was in police recruit class in 1996. Little did we know he would be dead within four years…because of a missing safety railing.

9:30am: head to Emily’s apartment to film the rest of her interview.

11:30am: once the crew are ready to roll (to film Emily’s interview in her living room), I head into her bedroom to listen to the audio & watch the interview on a monitor.

11:30am: listen to Emily tell Jack about what happened the day her boyfriend, Liam Johnson, was killed when the trench he was working in collapsed…how when she first heard of the trench collapse, she raced to the jobsite and waited there with police and firefighters – who were unable to get to Liam because the site was too unsafe even for rescue workers.

11:35am: listen to Emily tell Jack how horrific it was to know that Liam may still be alive beneath all that earth…but there was nothing anyone could do.

11:40am: listen to Emily tell Jack how kind the police were to her…and how distressed the firefighters were because they weren’t able to get to Liam in time.

11:50am: listen to Emily explain to Jack about the Westray Law and how it relates to Liam’s case.

11:55am: listen to Emily tell Jack about her workplace safety advocacy efforts with the “Justice for Liam” public awareness campaign.

12:15pm: after Emily finishes talking to Jack, I take off my headset, drag myself off the bed and stagger into the living room to thank Emily for sharing her heart & soul with us. I am in awe of her courage, strength, wisdom & commitment to ensuring that Liam did not die in vain.

Hmm…

If Emily’s journey sounds a little like someone else’s journey (mine and that of many other people who have lost a loved one in a preventable workplace tragedy & find themselves becoming workplace safety advocates because they don’t want these horrific deaths to keep happening…and yet they still do, in alarming numbers), you’d be right.

In fact, that’s one of the questions the “Complacent” documentary series will be asking:

Why is it that when a worker dies as a result of a preventable incident, it is the loved ones left behind who end up devoting a chunk of their lives to raising awareness about the importance of worker safety? 

1:00pm: have another filmed conversation with Emily, as we play a game of chess (oddly enough, two pawns were missing from Liam’s chess set…perhaps a metaphor of sorts for our two workers, who were taken out of the game of life far too soon).

2:15pm: as the film crew packs up, I say goodbye to Emily then go for lunch & a walk on my own – to rest, decompress and process the first half of the day.

3:00pm: send Sarah Hourihan (who does the social media for the JPMF & PGP) film shoot photos to share on social media.

3:30pm: drive to Calgary Police Service District 1 office & meet Cliff in the parking lot to discuss presentation #2.

4:00pm: along with Cliff, I again say a few words of thanks & encouragement to another parade room full of police officers (before their shift begins), then give the District 1 John Petropoulos Leadership Award to the 2025 District 1 winner.

4:45pm: drive to Queen’s Park Cemetery for my first interview. Jack, Sam & I have decided ahead of time that I will kneel at John’s grave when talking to Jack.

 

5:00pm: my interview with Jack begins. As the sun begins to set, the temperature is dropping fast and I cannot help but think how uncomfortably perfect this feels to be telling Jack about the day John died…while kneeling at his frozen grave 25 years later.

5:15pm: I hear myself telling Jack what it was like when I first saw John in the ER that morning of September 29th, 2000. Although I’ve told this part of the story hundreds of times over the past quarter century (unfortunately, that’s part of the job description of a workplace safety advocate…and if you think that might get a little exhausting after awhile, you’d be right), today is different.

5:17pm: Perhaps it’s because of the location (John’s frozen remains literally buried beneath me), or perhaps because I know this footage is for an important series that will likely be seen by millions of people…or perhaps it’s because despite spending the past twenty-five years of my life raising awareness about workplace safety, 25,000 Canadian workers – such as Liam Johnston – have still died, I allow myself to feel just a fragment of what I felt on the morning of September 29th, 2000.

Believe me, this is not an emotional place I visit often. If I did, I could not do the work I do. But I do the work I do…so that other people don’t have to ever experience what I – or Emily Gofton, Rebecca & Caitlin Orr, Julie Hamilton and thousands more – had to.

5:45pm: my interview finishes up, partly because Jack can tell today has been a tough one for me…and partly because we are all freezing.

6:15pm: as the crew is loading all the equipment back into the truck, I head back to my car…and drive to Peter’s Drive-In for a burger! I usually have a Peter’s burger while visiting John’s grave but today, of course, was different.

6:45pm: drive home to Mellie’s. Over a cup of tea with a cat on my lap, I tell her all about my day. After which, she gives me a stern look and our conversation goes a little like this:

MELLIE: Wow! Are you okay?

ME: Yup. I’m tired…but in a good way.

MELLIE: Are you sure?

ME: Absolutely. We are doing work that matters. And you know me…I learned a long time ago about the importance of looking after myself, so that I don’t burn out.

 

Related blogs by Maryanne

Complacent Sizzle Reel Film Shoot in Calgary a Success!

The Gravity of Graveyard Wisdom

Maryanne Pope is the author of “A Widow’s Awakening.” She also writes screenplays, playscripts & blogs. Maryanne is the CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Co-Founder of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. To receive her blog, “Weekly Words of Wisdom,” please subscribe here. And be sure to visit our PinkGazelleCards Etsy shop.