Kerry Heid Receives CSA Award of Merit

NETA World StaffFall 2019 NETA News, NETA News, Trending News

Former NETA President Kerry Heid was honored with the prestigious Award of Merit from the Canadian Standards Association at CSA’s 100th anniversary awards ceremony and gala on June 18, 2019, in Ottawa, Ontario.

Kerry was nominated by his peers and was strongly supported by members of the CSA Z462, Workplace Electrical Safety and CSA Z463, Maintenance of Electrical Systems technical committees. Heid currently chairs the Z463 Technical Committee and has been NETA’s representative to CSA since 2006.

The award was presented “in recognition of inspirational leadership, collaborative guidance, and relentless advocacy of the use of safety standards in the area of electrical hazard control.”

Kerry was honored for “leading the charge to ensure principles of equipment maintenance were made an integral part of the CSA Group’s Z462, Workplace Electrical Safety. He went on to gather industry support for a new standard on maintenance of electrical equipment, guided the development of the first CSA guideline on this subject, and spearheaded the effort to convert it into a National Standard of Canada. Despite conflicting views, the enormous challenge of changing a guideline into a standard, and the tight time-lines involved, Mr. Heid kept the work on track, and the standard was published on time. Thanks to his contributions as Technical Committee Chair, Z463 now parallels the basic requirements for equipment maintenance in the Canadian Electrical Code (CE Code) and connects those requirements with standards related to all industrial and commercial machinery and equipment.”

“What a huge surprise and an even bigger honor to receive national recognition,” Kerry says. “In the past 15 years, we established the Z462 (safety) and Z463 (maintenance) standards, and they have become world-class documents. At the end of the day, all we want is for everyone to come home safely.”

Kerry is President and CEO of Shermco Industries Canada. Since graduating as an Electrical Engineering Technologist, Kerry has spent 31 years in the electrical testing and engineering business. He served on NETA’s board of directors from 2003 to 2013 (as President from 2006–2008), is a NETA Level IV Certified Technician, won NETA’s Outstanding Achievement Award in 2010, and continues to serve on various committees.

Kerry Heid and wife Pamela