ASP Staff, Author at ASP Security Services

By Petra Nash, Executive Assistant

2020 marked the 20th anniversary for ASP Our celebration plans were muted due to the global pandemic and the impact it had on our business. But the strength of character so many of you showed in remaining on the front lines and continuing to provide the critical service our clients depend on, has been monumental. It proved to us that we are doing the right things and behaving in a way that demonstrated the true character of this business, which incorporated in 2000.

Last year, our CEO and President, Mr. Dean Lovric committed to “an ASP Day at Canada’s Wonderland (a full day at the park, exclusive use of rides in the evening, and a private inner), to commemorate our 20th and celebrate those who are most important to the success of the business ……… you, our front-line workers.

On September 18, 2021, ASP held our first ever Family Day event at Wonderland! We were fortunate to have great weather, and we were overjoyed seeing all our ASP employees walking around! Your dedication to ASP is appreciated and we want to thank you for making the day memorable.

ASP Head Office staff were able to spot ASP employees because of their ASP Security Services red t-shirts. If you were wearing your ASP red t-shirt you had a chance to be given a raffle ticket. Tickets were handed out by Head Office employees and were given to those employees who Please take a photo of your raffle ticket if it corresponds to any of the numbers below and send it to Petra Nash at pnash@seucrity-asp.com along with your phone number, email address as well as employee number. Someone from the head office will be in touch with you on your prize were spotted wearing their t-shirts. Below are the raffle ticket winners! Please ensure you speak with your family members to have them check their raffle ticket numbers as well.

We want to thank you once again for all the hard work you have done and hope you had an amazing day at Wonderland!

Please take a photo of your raffle ticket if it corresponds to any of the numbers below and send it to Petra Nash at pnash@security-asp.com along with your phone number, email address as well as employee number. Someone from the head office will be in touch with you on your prize.

By Sarah Northrup, Director - Human Resources

We are proud to have supported the Hillsdale & South Asian Bar Association’s (SABA) goal of raising $30,000 for the Help India Initiative.

A second wave of COVID-19 is wreaking havoc throughout the country. The current surge is overwhelming Indian healthcare infrastructure – patients are not able to access hospital beds and oxygen is in short supply. The loss of life is tragic and catastrophic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the lives of children and families in nearly every country across the globe. Though children make up a very small number of deaths from the coronavirus, the impact on their lives has been devastating.
We are very lucky to be living in Canada with easy access to healthcare and COVID-19 vaccines. ASP encourages all our teammates to take a moment to think about those who are less fortunate. If you wish to make a donation to UNICEF, here is the link. UNICEF has an outstanding track record of managing donations effectively and delivering live saving programs.

ASP also encourages everyone to get a vaccine so we can end this pandemic. If you would like more information on how to get a vaccine or have questions about the vaccines, the link is LINK REQUIRED

What UNICEF is Doing

UNICEF sent 5,000 oxygen concentrators to India in April and May 2021, and 25 medical oxygen generation plants for hospitals are underway. Globally, UNICEF’s Office of Innovation has been focused on oxygen therapy as a key component of its effort to save lives of children. As a result, UNICEF has procured 15,000 oxygen concentrators as part of its COVID-19 response, helping more than 90 countries across the world.

What is an Oxygen Concentrator?

An Oxygen Concentrator is a portable machine that creates oxygen by removing nitrogen from ambient air. In most cases, these portable devices are the best option for remote and/or low resource areas without oxygen plants or cylinder delivery networks. Costing approximately C$1,000 each and with minimal operational expenses, an oxygen concentrator has the potential to save many lives, as countries around the world struggle to flatten the curve.

How ASP’s Donation Helped

The following supplies have been identified as critical by UNICEF:

• Oxygen Concentrators: C$100,000 can provide approximately 100 portable machines and can be distributed across many states in India
• Oxygen Generation Plant: C$235,000 can provide enough oxygen for a 500-bed hospital for 20 years
• RT-PCR Machines: Each costing C$27,000, can speed up identification and treatment of COVID-19 infections. The machines last for 10 years, providing a legacy for testing for other deadly diseases such as TB, HIV, HPV, and streptococcus when COVID-19 declines

In May 2021, ASP donated $8,000 to UNICEF’s COVID Fundraising Efforts

By Noah Thompson, Senior Manager – Projects and Information Systems

Phishing attacks on companies and individuals have increased by 97% since 2016. These attacks can leave not only your email and computer accounts compromised but can affect your mobile devices as well and allow cyber criminals to access your personal information such as bank account details and credit card information.

Phishing is a technique that uses fraudulent websites and falsified emails to trick you into providing personal information like account usernames, account numbers, passwords, and credit card information. In recent years, phishing scams have become more frequent, more sophisticated, and more difficult to detect.

These Phishing attempts can come in the form of a fictional lottery win, a long-lost relative leaving you money or a large corporation requesting your information due to “account security”. The basics are simple, if you won a lottery, you didn’t play it’s a scam and a long lost relative probably doesn’t have your email address. Also, large corporations and banks will NEVER request your information via email.

To keep yourself safe, never click a link from an unknown sender, never send your account details over email or text and remember if its too good to be true, it probably is!

“Never click a link from an unknown sender”

By Darren Scott, Resource Planning Coordinator

Did you know there is an instruction video on how to use the inTime App? If you’re having difficulties or curious of the various functions available, follow this link for more information.

https://fast.wistia.net/embed/channel/6gne3j7rlf

By Darren Scott, Resource Planning Coordinator

During peak times of the day, you may be waiting on hold to speak with a Resource Planner. We are all busy in our day-to-day lives and this may cause some frustration. If you require immediate attention, you can alternatively contact your direct Supervisor or Manager. We also encourage you to email your requests and inquiries to scheduling@security-asp.com. This address is monitored from 05:00-00:00 every day and you can expect a reply within 12-24 hours depending on volume. Your questions and requests are important to us and we will do our best to respond as soon as possible.

By Laurel Woodhouse, Health and Safety Manager

What is a Joint Health and Safety Committee?

A joint health and safety committee ( JHSC) is a forum for bringing the internal responsibility system into practice.
The committee consists of labour and management representatives who meet on a regular basis to deal
with health and safety issues.

The advantage of a joint committee is that the in-depth practical knowledge
of specific tasks (labour) is brought together with the larger overview of company policies, and procedures
(management). Another significant benefit is the enhancement of cooperation among all parts of the work force toward solving health and safety problems. In smaller companies with fewer than a specified number of employees, a health and safety representative is generally required. Consult health and safety legislation applicable to your workplace for details.

Who is responsible for establishing a JHSC?
Employer

What does the JHSC do?

• Recognize workplace hazards
• Evaluate the hazards and risk that may cause incidents, injuries and illness
• Participate in development and implementation of programs to protect the employees’ safety and health
• Respond to employee complaints and suggestions concerning safety and health
• Ensure the maintenance and monitoring of injury and work hazards records
• Monitor and follow-up hazard reports and recommend action
• Set up an promote programs to improve employee training and education
• Participate in safety and health inquires and investigations, as appropriate (Not Workplace Violence and Harassment investigations – for confidentiality reasons)
• Consult with professional and technical experts
• Participate in resolving workplace refusals and work stoppages
• Make recommendation to management for incident prevention and safety program activities.
• Monitor effectiveness of safety programs and procedures

When are JHSC required, and how many people are on the committee?

Legislation Requirements for Health and Safety Committees

	When do I need one?	Size of Committee	Representation
Canada	Mandatory – 20 or more employees	At least 2	At least half to represent employees
British Columbia	Mandatory – when there are 20 or more employees or when “required by order”	Not less than 4	At least one half must be worker representatives
Alberta	Mandatory – 20 or more employees, or when ordered by Minister, or where a designated substance is in use (no minimum number of employees)	At least 2 (fewer than 50 employees); At least 4 (50 or more employees	At least half to represent employees
Quebec	20 or more employees and where required by CNESST*	At least 4	At least half to represent employees
New Brunswick	Mandatory – 20 or more employees	As agreed upon by employees and employer	Equal Representation
Nova Scotia	Mandatory – 20 or more employees	As agreed upon by employees and employer	At least half to represent employees

Who sit on our ASP SAFETY Committees?

• YYC –Management Matt Szajkowski, Tamara Juniper Employees Radowan Chowdhury, and Mohamad Miah
• YSB – Not required under 20 employees
• YYZ – Employees Yavar Qadri, Ethilda Donkor, Sayeed Khan, Management Noman Butt, Jason Zapata and Laurel Woodhouse
• RES /CIC–Will be holding an election in the near future
• Crossing Guards – in-active until September 2021
• K9 – Will be holding an election in the near future
• YOW – Closed
• Billy Bishop Airport – Closed

Something to keep in mind about safety committees.

• In most Canadian jurisdictions, the legally recognized communication channel on safety matters is between the worker and the supervisor. Workers are to report unsafe acts and conditions initially to their immediate supervisor. The supervisor is responsible for acting on such reports and for directing safe work procedures. Committee members should not interfere with this process, except under special circumstances, such as cases of imminent danger where immediate corrective action is necessary.
• It must be clearly understood by all concerned that the employer’s responsibility for safety is in no way diluted or diverted with the formation of a joint health and safety committee.
• Ensuring compliance with safety regulations and procedures is the supervisor’s job while the committee member’s role is more that of an observer and advisor.
• Effective two-way communication ensures that workers are aware of committee activities and gives them an opportunity to contribute ideas to the committee.
• UNIONIZED SETTINGS: Union support of its members on a joint health and safety committee can be evaluated by the way in which members are appointed, the amount of education provided on union health and safety policies, assisting the attendance of members to health and safety seminars, and help given in situations where a problem has occurred in making committee recommendations.

https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/hsprograms/hscommittees/measure.html

By Trisha Murray, Canine Division

The ASP Canine unit has undergone explosive gr owth (haha) in recent months. In response to new regulations set out by Transport Canada, the air cargo industry is preparing for new cargo screening standards, among those, canine explosive dog detection. ASP will be the provider of choice for what we hope will be many of the major cargo carriers in Canada.

FedEx
Our first major account in the area of cargo screening is FedEx. To prepare for EDD screening services at FedEx we have recently hired more than thirty new canine handlers. Our handlers will work at locations across Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to start.

Train, Train, Train
Recruiting and Management have been sourcing and hiring passionate and talented new handlers throughout the spring. Our trainers are running 8 week courses in both Toronto and Ottawa to prepare our new handlers and our new canines for certification with Transport Canada this summer. The certification is a requirement and will be renewed annually.

Fun Facts
A dog’s sense of smell is at least 40 times better than ours. They can hear roughly 4 times further than humans. They have 18 muscles controlling their ears! And if that weren’t talent enough, dogs can sniff and breathe at the same time.

Dog Joke of the Day
Why was the dog such a good storyteller?He knew how to paws for dramatic effect.

By Vince Bozzo, Senior Director of Operations

On December 21, 2020 ASP was awarded a new contract with FedEx Canada to provide Explosive Detection Dogs in Eastern Canada at nearly 20 FedEx locations in four provinces. Our team was so excited to start our relationship with FedEx, but we knew how much work it would be! Working closely with our ICTS family, we started to plan the necessary training and acquisition of our dogs, recruitment and hiring of 30 new ASP employees, planning for operation in four provinces and of course working for Transport Canada Certification by July 1, 2021!

We couldn’t have done it without the help of so many ASP employees. Our Canine division worked hard assisting our new handlers, our Trainers worked tirelessly with consultants to ensure all of our new handlers were ready for FedEx. And of course so many other departments like Finance, Human Resources, Security, Resource Planning and Administration all stepped up to help in any way they could assist. The ASP Family was amazing. I am so proud on Thursday June 10, 2021 our new Canine handlers officially graduated from our ASP Training program and are ready to commence their careers at our partners locations. Congratulations to all of our new ASP employees and Thank you to each and every one of our ASP and ICTS family for your help and guidance.

Congratulations!!!

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Robert (Bob) Watson. Bob had been with ASP since we were awarded the contract in 2018 but has been working at the airport for many years before that. Bob was a friendly, easy-going man who was known and loved by almost everyone at the airport, not just ASP. He will be missed by everyone here at YYC.

“Bob was a friendly, easy-going man who was known and loved by almost everyone at the airport”

By Matthew Szajkwoski, Operations Manager

I want to start with thanking the entire ASP team at YYC for doing a such a great job over the last quarter. The last year and a half has been difficult on everyone but thankfully we are reaching a point where vaccines are rolling out and restrictions are being eased. Although Covid-19 will likely be with us for a long-time, it is exciting to slowly return to a normal life. A life without restrictions and one where we can socialize and be with friends and family – and eventually start travelling again!

The ASP team at YYC has done a fantastic job during this pandemic and I fully expect this to continue in post-pandemic times. As travel restrictions start to ease, we should start to see an increase in flights and traffic at all airports, including YYC. This is where I expect this team to continue building on the progress we have made so far and make this team, and the operation, even better. If we succeeded during these tough times, there is no reason why we can’t thrive during the good times.

Over the last few months, we have seen changes to several procedures here at YYC (including SOC in our daily Terminal Patroller meeting, increasing supervisor and management post visits, having Terminal Patrollers assist posts during peak times, etc.). As a result, we have seen a positive trend in our overall performance and the client is very happy with our progress. This is the success we need to continue to build on. We have momentum in our favour right now, let’s use it to really stand out and show everyone what the ASP team at YYC in really capable of.

“The YYC has done a fantastic job during this pandemic”