Helping people go home safely. Every shift. Every site. Every time.
In 2026, Ram was named to both of Canada's national young-leader lists in occupational safety.
Named to OHS Canada's Top 25 Under 40 at the OHS Canada Honours — the young professionals making their mark on Canadian workplace safety through dedication and strong work ethic.
OHS Canada Honours
Selected as one of Canada's top safety leaders under 35 in Canadian Occupational Safety magazine's 2026 Young Achievers report — 40 professionals chosen from national nominations.
See the 2026 report
Three countries. One mission. Born and raised in India, forged on the front lines in Qatar, and now home in Saskatchewan, Canada — the “Land of Living Skies.”
B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering — and a first job the same year, as a Safety Engineer.
M.Tech in Industrial Engineering, earned after hours while working full-time.
PhD at just 28, fusing material science with occupational safety — plus the NEBOSH Diploma (2019), every unit passed first try. Then, Doha.
Safety Officer on Doha roadworks with Traffic Tech Gulf — inspections, investigations, trust across cultures.
Permanent Resident. Earned the NCSO from SCSA in just two months (Aug–Oct 2024), and joined Tolko Industries (Meadow Lake OSB) as Safety & Asset Protection Advisor.
Months after landing, Ram joined the Saskatchewan Intercultural Association’s mentorship program — a newcomer learning how Canada works, and being helped to find his feet.
One year on, the circle turned: Ram mentored newcomers through the same Saskatchewan Intercultural Association program that had first welcomed him.
Cleared the CRSP® in August 2025 — the 8,819th certificant in the designation’s fifty-year legacy.
His engineering-control idea, executed with Tolko’s electrical team, became WCB Saskatchewan’s first manufacturing-sector safety share. The same year, he launched Maple & Mind.
Even while working in Qatar, Ram mentored engineering students at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Institute of Technology, Panvel, on beginning their careers in occupational safety — starting with his 2021 webinar, “Occupational Safety and Health Career Options in India and Abroad,” to some 100 students.
Creator of MAPLE — a practical incident investigation model (Moment · Actions · Protection · Lessons · Enhancement) built for remote sites and small crews.
Open MAPLECreator of MIND (Mental well-being · Insight · Nurture · Dignity) — a narrative-based assessment tool grounded in CSA Z1003, ISO 45003 and ILO best practice.
Open MIND“Ensuring that people go home safely every night… is a very rewarding and meaningful career.”
— Dr. Ram Kumar Barathan, in his NEBOSH case studyAsk an industrial engineer to explain a career, and he'll give you a framework. Every workplace — and every chapter of Ram's life — runs on six M's.
Where it started. How machines work, how they wear, and how they can hurt — or protect — the people around them.
How work is designed — process, method, system. Design the method well and safety follows; design it badly and no poster can save you.
What the world is made of. His PhD turned natural fibres into glass-fibre composites strong enough to silence a generator.
The one the other M's exist for. Noise, ergonomics, psychological safety — protecting the man inside the system.
Always Mother Nature. Sugarcane bagasse, eggshell, water hyacinth — nature was his first laboratory, and still sets the standard.
“A safer workplace, in a cost-effective way” — his own words. Resources are finite; good safety respects money, in plants and in portfolios alike.
The 6M is how Ram thinks. The 2M is what he built from it — MAPLE & MIND, two deliberately simple tools that put clear, structured answers in the hands of the people who need them most: frontline leaders and workers. No jargon. No logins. No waiting for an expert.
“If something is simple, it brings clarity. If people are clear, they will follow. Build trust and comfort, and unsafe acts disappear. Human error comes only from lapses in skill, knowledge and behaviour — and behaviour is the challenging one. That is why keeping things simple wins, every single time, in every process, wherever possible. Making it possible is the challenge. That is what I love. That is what brings me satisfaction — and the purpose of my life.”
Profiled by the institutions that certify safety professionals — in his own words.
Official NEBOSH case study on Ram's journey. Diploma completed in 2019, every unit passed at the first attempt. From 2019–21 at NIST Global — India's first NEBOSH Gold Learning Partner — he handled 500 NEBOSH Diploma students. In 2023, while with Traffic Tech Gulf in Qatar, he also contributed to the NEBOSH International General Certificate (IGC) syllabus.
Read the case studyA certificant feature by the Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals. Ram is one of just over 8,800 CRSP® certificants in the designation's 50-year history. “For me, the CRSP is not just about recognition — it is about responsibility.”
Read the featureRam's own project: free, privacy-by-design safety tools — MAPLE for incident investigation, MIND for psychological health & safety. Made in Saskatchewan, for the world.
Visit mapleandmind.caCertified to teach, but happier practising. His daily routine pairs yoga with bodyweight exercise — no gym, no gear — a simple practice that travels wherever his backpack does, keeping his mind sharp and his body ready.
His word for exploring Saskatchewan and beyond — 11 countries, 3 of the 7 Wonders of the World
A collector who believes time deserves good company — sharing the hobby on WatchCrunch
Underneath it all, two values guide his personal life: mindfulness and compassion.
For opportunities, collaboration, or a conversation about safer workplaces — find Ram where he already is.