Paul Kells, O.Ont., M.S.M.
One life-altering event led Paul to found Safe Communities 
Canada in 1996. On November 19, 1994, Paul's 19 year old son Sean died of injuries suffered in an Ontario workplace explosion. Sean was on his third day of a part-time job, saving money for Christmas and to attend university the next year. Paul and his family were determined to do what they could to prevent any other family from enduring the heavy burden of injuries from “accidents” of all kinds.
In 2004, based on a model first developed by Safe Community volunteers in Peterborough, Ontario, Paul also created the Passport to Safety internet challenge, designed initially to equip young people with the minimum they need to know before going to work.
Thus far, over 250,000 young people have taken and passed this test across Canada and Australia. He is also co-founder of Threads of Life, a support organization for families of those who have been killed or severely disabled by workplace injuries.
The Safe Communities Canada model and Passport to Safety have now been adopted in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S.A.
In his professional life, Paul is a culture change expert, communication strategist, motivational speaker, and injury prevention champion. He instills inspiration, hope and positive attitudes toward personal and organizational change all over the world. Much of his focus has been on accelerating the speed of buy-in and attitudes among employees and external stakeholders in businesses, governments, and communities. Specific projects include corporate social responsibility and charitable alignments, corporate re-positioning, workplace health and safety culture change and in-province and state-wide wide education systems for key initiatives.
Decorated with Canada’s Meritorious Service Medal and the Order of Ontario for his inspiring work and personal mission, Paul is much in demand as a speaker around the world in Canada, the U.S., the EU, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. He now sits on the Governor General's Advisory Committee for M.S.M. nominations and awards.
Paul received the Ontario Award for Outstanding Achievement in Volunteerism and is a member of its Volunteer Hall of Fame. He sits on the Ontario Minister of Labour’s Action Group for Vulnerable Workers under age of 25, the Forum for Healthy and Safe Workplaces, is a Governor of the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada and served on the Executive Committee of the Premier's Advisory Council on Volunteerism. He has represented Canada twice at NAFTA conferences on child labour issues. Paul now resides with his wife, Blanche Diamond, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Telephone: 902-489-9929
