We have tentatively arranged several tours of local companies and organizations involved in safety critical operations …

Three dimensional chess? That's one way to describe what happens at the Vancouver Area Control Centre where air traffic controllers provide expeditious and safe air navigation service to several thousand flights every day.

Try your hand at laparoscopic surgery during a tour of the Centre of Excellence for Surgical Education and Innovation – a research and teaching facility at the forefront of efforts to combine technology and education in medical service, including system safety education in the health care sector. This will be especially interesting to conference participants involved in the use of high fidelity simulation techniques for safety education and testing. Tours of this facility are scheduled on Wednesday August 27th at 6:00-8:00 pm (departing from North Tower lobby of the hotel at 5:20pm) and again on Friday August 29th at 1:00-3:00 pm (departing from the North Tower lobby at 12:20pm).

Think you're busy trying to keep all the balls in the air? Well, see how busy things can really get by joining us for a tour of TRIUMF, Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics, where 1000 trillion particles are accelerated each second to 3/4 the speed of light resulting in one of the most intense proton beams in the world. A tour of this facility is scheduled on Wednesday August 27th at 7pm (departing from North Tower lobby of the hotel at 6pm).

"Hey, who's driving this train?" The new Canada Line is a new fully automated driverless light rail line that will link Vancouver International Airport with downtown Vancouver. Approximately one year before it's first departure in 2009, conference participants will have an opportunity to see new trains, tracks, tunnels and elevated guideways and possibly even the control room. The tour begins with a presentation showing photos of the various stages of construction. Following this presentation, participants will have an opportunity to tour the construction site. Bring a pair of work boots if you would like to take part in this site visit. This tour is scheduled on the first afternoon of the conference week, Monday August 25, 1:00pm until approximately 4:30pm.