Occupational safety and health have made great strides over the past five decades. Since the signing of the OSH Act in 1970, standards and regulations have been put in place to improve conditions for workers across all industries. However, there is always more work to do to ensure everyone goes home in the same condition as when they arrived.

In 2020, 4,764 fatal occupational injuries occurred in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Furthermore, OSHA’s top 10 most cited violations relate to many of the same standards year after year. With all of this in mind, what more can safety professionals do — and what can we as a Society do — to improve workplace conditions?
We recently spoke with President Christine Sullivan, President-Elect Jim Thornton and Senior Vice President Pam Walaski for their perspective on the current state of occupational safety and health, the challenges facing safety professionals, what they’d like to see from OSHA, and how we can continue working together for a safer, stronger future in the coming year.

The Current State of Occupational Safety and Health

ASSP: What are your thoughts on the current state of occupational safety and health?

Sullivan: Since March 2020, workplace safety and awareness of workplace safety has changed significantly. Although workers still need to be kept safe from traditional hazards, COVID-19 has introduced significant new exposures.
In the past, safety professionals were primarily asked to prevent injuries and illnesses in their organizations, but now responsibilities are expanding to nontraditional items like wellness, mental health, and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). Currently, safety is at the forefront for many company executives, but we need to continue to push to be in the C-suite.

Thornton: Safety professionals have helped to reduce workplace injuries, illnesses, and fatality rates over the years. However, despite their dedicated efforts, injury, illness, and fatality rates have recently held steady. The COVID-19 recovery has created even more challenges: the loss of experienced workers, hiring of new workers, transition to remote work, changing of work schedules, and more.

Novel approaches to OSH management are warranted to further reduce injuries and illnesses. We must emphasize and research the human side of safety, including mental health and workplace stress. In my view, this is the new frontier for OSH programs and represents a monumental opportunity to make a difference.

Walaski: Hardly anyone would disagree that the pandemic created significant changes in the way organizations operate. From telecommuting to worker shortages to supply chain disruptions, these changes required and continue to require organizations to pivot quickly. This is especially true regarding how OSH needs are addressed.

However, I believe that a significant evolution of OSH practices has been going on for much longer and has provided a foundation for managing current changes. In the past five to seven years, we have seen an increased awareness of emerging approaches that focus on the role of the organization’s systems to effect change. More people have begun to appreciate how those systems create capacity and resilience to operate effectively under varying conditions.

Approaches like human and organizational performance (HOP) and Safety Differently focus on understanding human behavior in the context of the system, rather than the other way around. Aligning with these systems-based approaches are those which focus on the role of the OSH leader to create an environment that fosters creative problem-solving and a willingness to speak up without fear of reprisal or shame. 

The Challenges Facing Safety Professionals

ASSP: What are the greatest challenges facing safety professionals today?

Sullivan: Many safety professionals lack business skills such as effective communication, calculating the return on investment of safety, and demonstrating the impact they have on their organizations. Wellness, mental health, and ESG are emerging issues where safety professionals can have an impact. 

Thornton: I have had conversations with safety professionals who say they are having challenges adapting their OSH programs to adjust to new employees entering the workforce as well as senior workers leaving.
But the primary challenge for OSH professionals is to find time for continuing education while keeping their workplaces safe. As we enter our new normal following COVID, OSH professionals will be met with increasing responsibilities and challenges. We must recognize these challenges and find ways to help our members.

Walaski: One is the need to recruit more people to enter the profession. We know that the number of OSH professionals nearing retirement age is high and the number of those entering the profession doesn’t match. Recruitment can take place at the high school level, but finding ways to attract people already in the workforce will be a big part of any targeted endeavor.  
We also know that evolving workplaces require new and different approaches to OSH. For example, “blame the worker” approaches are being replaced in organizations that recognize incidents are opportunities to learn. These organizations understand that workers are acting and reacting as part of a system that needs to be understood for real change and improvement to occur.

How Our Community Can Help

ASSP: How can our Society help safety professionals address these challenges?

Sullivan: We need to be quicker and more nimble. For example, Total Worker Health® has been a topic for many years, but we are not there yet. How do we do this faster so we are not overshadowed by other organizations? Many safety professionals don’t understand ESG and how it ties to human capital and the impact they can have in their role. Education is key, but again we need to be nimble.

Thornton: We must use our Advisory Group to identify emerging trends in the workplace so we can develop solid educational programs to help our members. We must deliver these programs in an efficient and effective manner.
We should also teach safety professionals how to implement specific training programs that are tailored to employee experience levels and cultural differences. Customized, targeted training could be a real gamechanger.

Walaski: OSH professionals join this profession by following a variety of paths. We know from our research than more than half of members enter our profession from other disciplines or with degrees other than those with occupational safety and health in their names.
The formation of the ASSP Foundation’s Educational Framework Task Force is a critical step in meeting professionals where they are, when they are ready.
 
Looking to the Future

ASSP: How do you see work changing, and how can safety professionals adapt to those changes? 

Sullivan: Artificial intelligence and data collection will play key roles. COVID pushed us into a remote work environment, and while currently this is focused on office workers, I see more robotics and AI allowing even those in manufacturing to work remotely.
Continuous learning and change will become important. I think you are going to see a need for people who are more like coaches and teachers as work changes, so those are skills safety professionals will need to learn.

Thornton: The workplace is constantly changing and always will. It is critical that OSH professionals stay ahead of trends in this dynamic environment and participate in networking and educational programs that help them effectively manage their programs and better protect workers.
With technological changes moving at the speed of light and the global economy in flux, the future of work is highly unpredictable. It is critical that the Society remain fully committed to monitoring the evolution of work and adapting our strategic plan.

Walaski: Professions and professionals are always evolving, changing, and adapting — and OSH is no different. I am confident that we will continue to learn and be open to new and different ways of leading our organizations. We have become so much more aware of our role as a partner and trusted advisor rather than a “doer.”
Our role as a safety cop or safety officer should be considered outdated, and our role as an engager who helps workers share their knowledge and expertise should be the norm. We should all acknowledge the dignity of work.
 
What OSHA Can Do

ASSP: What would you like to see from OSHA to help improve conditions for workers?

Sullivan: OSHA needs to reexamine the way it does standards. While standards are important for many organizations, the standards have no impact on where employee injuries are occurring. OSHA needs to use the data they are collecting from companies and do a better job using predictive analytics to focus their efforts on areas where they can make an impact.

Thornton: I think OSHA should require the recognition of qualified safety and health professionals for future regulations. Safety professionals will ensure requirements are properly followed and will be able to provide different control options for regulatory compliance. As a result, many more workers would have a safety professional looking out for their interests.
In addition, I think OSHA ought to consider more frequent use of the “negotiated rulemaking” method of developing OSH standards. Although the moniker carries a negative connotation, the concept is that the agency has the authority to bring affected stakeholders and technical experts together and develop “reasonable-yet-protective” OSH standards.

Walaski: Addressing emerging and changing hazards requires a process that is nimble, so relying on OSHA to promulgate regulations is unreasonable given that its process is part of the OSH Act and unlikely to be modified. However, the approaches and voluntary consensus standards that OSH professionals rely on are based on a model that includes all stakeholders and is revisited on a prescribed basis to be revised or reaffirmed.

I would like to see OSHA find a way to incorporate the required use of OSH professionals who use these standards into some of their activities. Perhaps local area directors who are negotiating with employers for the reduction of fines could require consultation as part of negotiations. In a way, this would expand the use of the consultation programs already in place.
 
 
 
 

Hi, Chris! We already know you are our chapter president, but can you please tell us a little about who you are?
 
Chris: I grew up in Oregon and graduated from Crater High School. I joined the Air Force after a short stint in logging. In 1982, I started my Air Force career in Security Forces protecting nuclear weapons and eventually took on a collateral duty roll in safety in 1993. I loved safety so much that I was able to formally cross train into the profession and graduated from safety school in 1996. 
 
I retired from the Air Force safety program in 2006 with my final assignment as the Occupational Safety Manager for Schriever AFB where we placed space payloads in orbit and operated space-based assets such as the GPS system, communications, reconnaissance, etc. After retiring, I was able to return to Southern Oregon as the regional safety manager for Knife River Corporation. I eventually moved to be the corporate safety manager for Swanson group and eventually landed where I am now as the regional safety manager for Boise Cascade Company.   
 
I enjoyed my Air Force safety career because of the variety of opportunities; I was able to be involved in occupational safety, weapons systems safety, flight safety, space operations safety, and systems safety. Nevertheless, I love being a safety manager here in Southern Oregon, and the safety community peers I get to associate with.
 
How long have you been a member of the ASSP?
 
I have participated in ASSP since 1996 in the Alaska Chapter, I but started my first membership in 2001 in what was then called the international chapter since I had moved overseas. 
 
What do you think is the biggest benefit to membership?
 
Being tied to a community of people in all levels of the safety profession. I firmly believe that my maturity in the safety career field is because of being a member and getting to associate with my peers. I have been mentored by them, and I have mentored some of them. They keep me going! 
 
Do you have any upcoming travel plans?
 
We will do our annual camping trip to Oregon’s Wallowa Lake in July, and then my youngest daughter’s graduation trip to Maui in September.
 
Can you share an item on your bucket list?
 
Since I have traveled to so many places around the world, I want to do something simple and quiet like build a cabin in Ketchikan, Alaska.
 
Is there anything you wish more people understood about your role in safety or safety in general?
 
I wish more people understood that safety is not something you buy in a program. It takes work & effort. A safety person needs to be well rounded. They have to learn laws to comply with, but then work to build a culture that is beyond compliance. It is an art and science to make safety happen. The effort includes being an advocate for the employee and the company at the same time; it requires sales capabilities to convinces ideas and programs; it takes planting seeds and allowing others to take credit for the growth in the safety effort.
 
This one is for fun J:
What would your personal warning label say?
 
Warning: This person loves his family and freedom and knows how to defend them both! Oh, and coffee builds relationships with this person.
 
Thank you, Chris!
 
Check back next month for our continued Member Spotlight series!
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Help Share Awareness for Preventing Scald Injuries During National Burn Awareness Week
 
National Burn Awareness Week is February 5-11, 2023.
 
 
National Burn Awareness Week is a window of opportunity for organizations to mobilize burn, fire, and life safety educators to unite in sharing a common burn awareness and prevention message in our communities. (American Burn Association, 2023)
OSH Professionals can participate in this national awareness campaign in various ways:

• Review your fire prevention plan
• Evaluate burn hazards at your establishments
• Hold a safety toolbox talk regarding burn hazards in your workplace
• Have a first-aid refresher class for treating burns
• Invite an educator to your facility or host a class
• Share your participation on social media

 
Visit: https://ameriburn.org/advocacy-and-prevention/burn-awareness-week/ to find ways you can participate and share graphics on your social media.
Remember: “Hot Liquids Burn Like Fire!”
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In January’s Southern Oregon Chapter of the ASSP monthly meeting at Black Bear Diner, we were blessed to hear a presentation from David Hanson, a Senior Safety Consultant with SAIF Corporation. He presented on how to retrain our brain to make conscious decisions that influence safety, time, money, and resources in our organizations. There was a crowd of local safety professionals on hand to participate in this great opportunity to learn and network.
  
Seeing the group made me reflect on past meetings. Prior to COVID-19, we were having excellent meetings routinely, and there were many long-time attendees whose presence assured valuable networking among the local safety community. It was that small town feel where everyone knew each other, and all were willing to ask questions and share ideas. In the meetings since returning from the pandemic, we are again having excellent learning opportunities and starting to see familiar faces. We are seeing relationships build again. This is so important for our safety community. Each person brings a perspective, brings a level of knowledge, and even brings a level of desired learning. We are a group of people who can share experiences and learn from each other. But, what’s more, we are able to continue to build professional relationships and long-term friendships.
 
As I have said before, if you are not regularly attending these monthly meetings at the Black Bear Diner on the first Tuesday of the month, you are really missing out on an opportunity to share what you bring to the table and to learn from what others bring. These meetings give us a chance to meet people who have different perspectives and a variety of experiences. You are missing an opportunity build friendships with outstanding members of our safety community.
 
In all my years of being in safety, becoming an active member of this group is one of the things I cherish most. When I retire down the road, these relationships will be what I will hold onto. I think all routine attendees will convey a similar perspective. We are a community. I hope to see you there in future meetings—I can’t wait to hear your perspective at improving and sustaining safety! It just feels like it’s a place where safety people belong.
 
Chris Lawrence