​Special thanks to Jon Sowers, our chapter member from the Roseburg area, who graciously stepped in to serve as the nominations and elections committee chair and did such a phenomenal job by recruiting new nominees and by filling the election slate.
 
According to our bylaws (https://www.soassp.org/uploads/2/5/8/5/25852043/southern_oregon_assp_bylaws_signed.pdf), we need to post the election slate of officers at least 30 days before our election which is to be held the first meeting in May. This is being posted on our website and sent to all members to fulfill those requirements.
 
Please carefully look over the slate of nominees and we invite you to consider supporting it and be ready to vote at our May meeting. This notice is to also serve to allow anyone who would like to be added to the slate to do so by following the steps of our bylaws as described below.
 
Chapter members may submit a signed petition nominating an individual for elective office. The petition will require 7 signatures to be valid.  The petition shall be accompanied by a written acceptance by the nominee(s) and shall be submitted to the Chairperson of the Nominations & Elections Committee 15 days in advance of the election. 
 
Thank you for your membership in our chapter and we look forward to our new Executive Committee members to be voted into office in May and to begin their service on July 1st, 2022.
 
Michael Hill
ASSP Southern Oregon Chapter
Conference Chair

​Very little rain this winter and early snow melts on Mount McLaughlin herald a potentially disastrous summer for Southern Oregon. I put together some tips to help you start now, so that when things do get bad this summer, you will be more prepared to stay safe.
 
Things to do:

• Continuously monitor emergency service conversations on scanners so you know about problems early.
• Inventory your valuables. An easy way to do this is to walk through your home and scan your belongings. When you turn in damages to your insurance company, you can specify makes and models of valuable items and be compensated at an appropriate level.
• Stock your vehicles with water, inexpensive tools, bed rolls, tents, phone chargers, shoes and N95 dust masks.
• Have 72-hour kits ready to go. Include rain gear, clothing, easy to prepare food and extra cash. Consider a roll of coins so you can access goods in vending machines in areas that have been evacuated.
• Look for flammables on your property and clean them up and keep them away from your home.
• Maintain your landscaping around your home and keep vegetation short.
• Consider landscaping materials that are less flammable such as rock or concrete.
• Back-up your digital documents onto a USB drive or two and keep these in your 72-hour kit.
• Coordinate evacuation points with family so that if you are separated you have a couple places you can meet.
• Never let your gas tanks go below ¾ of a tank. Fill your tank.

 
 
Things to get:

• Consider having a trailer or truck bed outfitted with gear for when you need to evacuate the area.
• Radio scanner so that you can monitor emergency disaster services effectively and know about problem areas to avoid.
• Have radios or satellite communication options for when cell service collapses.
• Get fire resistant document carriers and keep them in an area where you can access them quickly, preferably near your 72-hour kits.
• N95’s or R95’s particulate masks
• Work gloves
• Bed rolls and tents
• Fire extinguishers
• Water
• First aid kits and emergency blankets
• Hand sanitizer

 
This is not a complete list, but hopefully it gets you thinking about ways you can prepare for disaster in 2022.
 
David Hanson, CSP
President, ASSP – Southern Oregon Chapter
Senior Safety Management Consultant, SAIF Corporation

The history of the safety profession is no stranger to innovators. From the Heinrich’s pyramid to the Five Principles of Human Performance, we are constantly looking for newer and better ways to think about the daunting task of keeping people safe at work. I’ve never been one to dismiss a new safety philosophy because it helps me to think about the topic in a different way. There is a tendency to re-imagine the older approaches as being archaic and the newer approaches as being more innovative. C.S. Lewis used to call this sort of approach, “chronological snobbery.” We should remember that when each approach is placed in its proper perspective, there is always something we can learn. 
 
This brings me to the ideas proposed by American engineer, W. Edwards Deming. When I first learned about his approaches to statistical process control, I was more interested in using the techniques to measure and maintain quality products. His landmark book Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position was the most important under-noticed book of the early eighties. As my career began to steer toward safety, Deming’s messages resonated in my attempt to manage safety as well. As it turns out, Deming’s approaches could easily be applied to the management of any measurable attribute, especially safety.
 
Dan Peterson, in his famous ASSP book on Techniques of Safety Management, a Systems Approach, draws a parallel between Deming’s “Obligations of Management” and translates these into some familiar safety concepts:

• concentrating on long-range, permanent solutions rather than short-term reductions in incident rates
• all injuries are unacceptable
• injuries are a function of the system at work; reduce fear in an organization by encouraging employees to point out problems that need solving
• design safety into our projects to prevent injuries long term
• eliminate incentives that inhibit actual injury reduction and examine work for accident traps

 
Closer investigation reveals that recent safety management innovations resonantly echo Deming’s Total Quality Management principles. What can he still teach us about keeping people safe on the job? I think it’s time for another fresh look at the management concepts that Deming taught us years ago.
​

​David Hanson, CSP
President, ASSP – Southern Oregon Chapter
Senior Safety Management Consultant, SAIF Corporation