Mr. Neil Gavigan
Senior Consultant on Labour and Workplace Issues

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Mr. Gavigan is former Director General, Compliance & Regional Operations, at Labour Canada. While at Labour Canada, he was responsible for the delivery of OHS in the Federal jurisdiction and also employment equity programs. He is widely experienced in workplace issues, government-business-labour consultations and Parliamentary reviews. For example, at Labour Canada, he worked closely with Provincial/Territorial governments, business and organized labour. He also directed Professor Harry Arthurs' 2006 review of Federal Labour Standards. Recent assignments include a Labour-Management Symposium for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and research to aid Canada’s implementation of ILO recommendations on HIV/AIDS in the workplace.

Mr. Gavigan has worked with Dr. Harvey for over 25 years, most recently, on a review regarding the implementation of the Voluntary Standard on Psychologically Healthy Workplaces, in consultation with the Canadian Mental Health Commission. Other SPR projects include:

• Towards Psychologically Healthy Workplaces – Reformulating Employer Duties in OHS:  This project examines recent workplace violence and occupational injuries in Canada. The research examines issues of stress in the workplace as resulting from bullying, overtime and other working conditions. The research draws links between stress, overtime, fatigue and related factors and Canada's $51 billion costs for stress leave and other OHS losses.
• Review of the National Voluntary Standard on Psychologically Healthy Workplaces:  In response to release of this Standard in January 2013, this nation-wide assessment of the 'roll out' of the Standard and its impacts involved close consultations with Federal agencies, The Mental Health Commission of Canada, private industry, NGOs (such as Mental Health Works and Guarding Minds@Work), and organized labour. Several papers have been published in Canadian Government Executive and subsequent reports are planned for 2015.
• Evaluation of the Victim/Witness Assistance Program (V/WAP):  Utilizing a multi-method approach, this evaluation assessed the quality and effectiveness of this program, which provides assistance in court, to 300,000 Ontarians annually, mainly women who are victims of family violence. The evaluation identified success factors, and assessed future priorities. The project involved a web survey of 200 V/WAP staff, Crown Attorneys and 500+ agencies (community services, police, etc.), and identified important issues in the program, including worker burnout (for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, 2010-2011).

Mr. Gavigan has co-authored a number of articles with Dr. Harvey, one examining the role of public sector managers in OHS, published in Canadian Government Executive in April 2013. Other papers have examined psychologically healthy workplaces (appearing in Canadian Government Executive and HR-Update).