David Hanson
Southern Oregon Chapter President
 
 
I want to make sure you know about a FREE opportunity that is being offered to our membership. ASSP members Jon Sowers and Jim Nusser are offering the leadership training series classes to our chapter. This class begins on January 6th at 1:00 pm and occurs every other Wednesday for seven classes. This is a great opportunity. There is a limited seating. Normally a class like this would cost hundreds of dollars.
 
If you are an ASSP member, please consider serving on our executive committee. There are two vacancies on the committee, and we are already looking for volunteers to serve on our executive committee for the 2021-2022 term. We need help filling executive committee positions. Our chapter depends on these volunteer positions in order to provide the quality services to our Southern Oregon community. When you join the executive committee, you will join ten other local safety professionals that are amazing to work with.
 
It probably goes without saying, but the COVID-19 pandemic has not made anyone’s job easier, which is just one more reason I am so grateful for the outstanding service that your executive committee members provide. If you get a chance, please thank them for all they do to help our chapter.
 
Don’t forget that Safety Committee University content is still available on our website. You are welcome use this free online content to support your safety committee operations and hear from local safety leaders.
 
On January 5th, we have Matt Kaiser joining us for our chapter meeting to discuss the new OR-OSHA COVID-19 rule. While this may seem late, the timing may actually be good for those of us that have questions following implementation of the required elements.
 
I look forward to 2021 being a good year for our chapter, and I want to thank all of you that participated in the survey we sent out last month. Your input helps your executive committee provide the best programs possible.
 
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
 
Sincerely,
 
David Hanson
President, ASSP – Southern Oregon Chapter
Senior Safety Management Consultant, SAIF Corporation
 
David has an expertise building dynamic safety teams and developing high-performing safety cultures. He spent 18 years at Timber Products Company as a Supervisor and Safety Coordinator and facilitated continued certification into Oregon OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP).

​Safety Committee University was a success! Thanks to all who helped us put this great training together for our region. From our dedicated conference planning team, the many presenters and contributors, our wonderful sponsors, and especially the many people and groups that attended online, thank you for helping to make this training series a success.
 
On October 21st, we rolled out an exciting series of trainings for safety committee members. This training was designed to help safety committees sharpen their skills, learn what is required of them under Oregon OSHA, and to take their committee to a whole new level. We heard some great feedback. We got to meet most of the Timber Products Medford Hardwoods safety committee who met safely together on the day of the roll-out to attend all five modules and even join us for the live welcome session. The really cool part is this training was not limited to our region. We met several people from the Coos Bay area that were attending.
 
The best news of all is that this training will continue to be available throughout the year. Feel free to have your committee members take advantage of the Safety Committee University from the comfort of their own computer in a self-paced manner. All five modules are recorded and available at no charge at www.SafetyCommitteeUniversity.com.
 
In case you missed any of this great content, it’s not too late!

• Craig Hamelund’s inspirational and touching keynote presentation.
• Patti McGuire’s super informational Safety Committee 101. Learn the safety committee requirements in a simple to understand way.
• David Hanson’s version of CSI for safety in his skilled presentation on Effective Incident Analysis.
• Chris Lawrence’s 25+ years of experience taught to you in this dynamic Hazard Identification training.
• Lastly, one of my favorite modules, a collection of safety committee success stories with the powerful conclusion by Tim Hart of Duro-Last Roofing, one of the safest companies in the nation.

 
Our plan is to continue to grow this resource with added trainings, best practices, and stories when they become available, so if you’ve already enjoyed the training and are looking for more, check back. If you have something to share with other safety committees, please reach out to us on the “contact us” page at www.SafetyCommitteeUniversity.com.
 
Michael Hill
ASSP Southern Oregon Chapter Conference Planning Chair

​Who is responsible for safety at your organization? The answers to this question are windows into how safety happens at your organization. This reminds me of a story.
 
I remember years ago helping to get my safety committee members signed up for the annual Southern Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Conference. This was a big deal. We depended on this conference to boost our safety committee members’ knowledge about their role in many different safety topics. New safety committee members always went to the safety committee track to make sure they had the required safety committee training. Seasoned safety committee members often chose other topics that they were working on that could help them make our department better. Part of this process included applying for safety committee awards and safety program awards. Would we finally get the coveted “Randall Lundberg” award for outstanding safety and health program this year? Would we be in the running for the exclusive “Best of the Best” for safety committees? Did we work hard enough to earn these awards in the last 14 months? We were enrolling our safety committee members to attend the best safety conference in Southern Oregon when we noticed a new question on the application. It read, “Who is responsible for safety at your company?” Aha! We knew the answer to this question. Our department had attended enough of these conferences to know what the correct answer to this question was. We knew that there was only one correct answer you could ever give to that question. This was a foundational safety principle and clearly the conference organizers were trying to test our safety culture IQ with this clever question. We all patted ourselves on the back as we answered the question correctly with a “me” or a “everyone,” convinced we had passed the test. In hindsight, the lesson was clear: The Southern Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Conference had effectively shaped the way that our safety committee understood safety and our role to keep everyone safe.
 
It has been a constant refrain for the last few months—the conference will not happen this year. It still hurts to say it, and it hurts as I type it now. I do find comfort in this fact: our chapter is still committed to safety committees. This event will be available as free recorded content for you and your safety committees. This material can help support your safety committee in its important role.
 
Years later I had a chance to speak to a couple veteran conference planning committee members. I asked them why we don’t ask the safety culture question on the enrollment process anymore. They admitted that they weren’t sure what I was talking about as they glanced at each other with puzzled expressions. I explained to them the question, “Who is responsible for safety at your company?” When they realized what I was referring to, they said, “Oh, we just wanted to know who to send the attendee schedules to.” 
 
Let our free Safety Committee University continue our long tradition of helping safety committee members to understand their important role in workplaces across our region and beyond.
 
David Hanson
​President, ASSP – Southern Oregon Chapter
Senior Safety Management Consultant, SAIF Corporation

​Subject: Would you or a coworker benefit from added leadership training? 
 
Would you or a coworker benefit from added leadership training?  
     
The aims of this program are to help supervisors develop and enhance leadership skills. Participants will discuss a variety of topics including:  
 

• Leadership fundamentals, including leadership styles and what makes an effective leader 
• Employee involvement and work styles 
• Communication and having difficult conversations 
• Accountability 
• Total Worker Health  

• Human and Organizational Performance 
• Unconscious bias, diversity, and inclusion 

   
Class Size: 10 Participants
 
Format:  The sessions will include group discussion, where participants will learn from each other as well as from instructors.  
   
Details: The seven-meeting series will occur remotely, via a Zoom meeting,starting Wednesday, Januray 6th at 1:00 pm, for one hour every other week.  
 
Expectations for Participants:  Participants should make every effort to attend all sessions and understand that they will not graduate if they have two absences. Participants will be expected to create a Leadership Action Plan. They will share this plan and their progress with the instructors. Participants will be expected to spend about one hour to one and a half hours doing “outside of class” tasks for each session. This may include reviewing handouts, viewing recorded webinars, and/or watching specific presentations on YouTube. Participants will be expected to meet with a member of their firm’s upper management team to discuss what they are learning and applying.  
   
Expectation for the Organization:  The organization will be expected to have a member of the upper management team serve as a mentor for the participant. The mentor will meet with the participant to discuss what they are learning, applying, and Leadership Action Plan progress. 
 
To sign up for the next available training or with questions contact: Jon Sowers jonsow@saif.com or Jim Nusser jimnus@saif.com.
 
We look forward to hearing from you.