​ We are pleased to announce that this years Southern Oregon Safety Conference is scheduled as an online event and has an amazing lineup of nationally and internationally recognized presenters.
 
Starting our event, Corrie Pitzer, CEO of Safe Map International, will facilitate our Professional Development Workshop entitled, Deep Safe Leadership. Deep Safe Leadership is focused on leadership in the high-risk environment and translating those skills to leading when we cant promise a safe environment.
 
Opening keynote presentation will be delivered by Anil Mathur, former CEO of Alaska Tanker Co. and outgoing Public Director at ASSP. When Mathur took over the leadership of ATC, they were experiencing a time-loss injury every month and as they built up the safety systems and knowledge, they went over a dozen years with only one time-loss injury. Mathur stresses the importance of building trust with employees and teaching mindfulness.
 
Second day keynote will be delivered by Amy Harper, PhD, Senior Director of workplace training and consulting at the National Safety Council. Dr. Harper has worked in the field for more than 20 years as a consultant, trainer, strategist and marketer.
 
Our conference will also include our popular Safety Committee University and its five-session series as well as a special presentation by Bob Edwards on the value of Learning Teams. We have other terrific topics and presenters in various safety and leadership topics.
 
To wrap up our event, our very own Craig Hamelund will emcee our closing session and awards ceremony where we will present 5 different awards to well-deserved businesses and leaders.
 
To learn more about our event, download a flyer or award applications and watch for registration materials, visit our page at: www.soassp.org/conference
 
Sincerely,
Michael Hill, CSP
Conference Planning Chair

​On a recent family vacation, I drove south on I-5 and saw low lake levels and dry terrain all the way from Southern Oregon to central California. Then, this morning, I read that the Oregon Department of Forestry Southwest Oregon division announced that fire season will officially start Wednesday, May 12, 2021. The eastern valleys surrounding San Francisco were already in a Red Flag Warning this past weekend. Unfortunately, a drier than average winter, and ongoing drought has left us prime for another tough fire season. Because of this, it is a good time for us to prepare our homes, and our workplace, and review our wildfire emergency plans.
 
FEMA recommends the following protections for your home: Regularly clean roof and gutters; inspect chimneys twice a year; install a smoke alarm on each level of your home, especially near the bedrooms, and make sure you test the batteries monthly, and change at least annually; have an ABC fire extinguisher on hand and train every family member how to use it (PASS method); keep household tools like a rake, axe, chain saw, bucket and shovel on hand; have a ladder that can reach the roof. Create a 30-foot safety zone around your home by raking leaves, limbs and twigs and clearing flammable vegetation (remember to clean under structures like decks too). Remove dead tree branches that extend over the roof, and keep shrubs and branches at least 15 feet away from any stovepipes or chimney outlets. Remove any vines from the walls, and move the grass regularly. Keep a clear 10-foot area around propane tanks and barbecues.
 
For emergency preparation, keep a 72-hour survival kit on hand. I have one in every vehicle, and one in my office. Sign up for local emergency alerts in your area. You may also choose to use a scanner app and follow local emergency management agencies on social media. Make sure you understand the different levels of alerts & warnings. A Fire Weather Watch is issued by the National Weather Service when potentially dangerous fire weather conditions are possible in 12-72 hours. A Fire Weather / Red Flag Warning is issued when conditions currently exist and weather patterns support that wildfires are occurring or expected to occur within 24 hours.
 
During a fire event, a Level 1 is the first evacuation or protection Alert. This indicates a wildfire threat is in your area and be READY in the event an evacuation becomes necessary. Level 2 Evacuation Warning means there is a high probability of a need to evacuate, so be SET to evacuate. Level 3 Evacuation Order asks all occupants of the affected area to leave (GO) within a specified time period.
 
Now is the time for every company in a fire hazard region to complete training on Wildfire Safety to cover site specific plans.  It is also a best practice to monitor smoke conditions, and have a plan in place for how to protect workers when air quality decreases.
 
Thank you,

Loria Holden, CSP
Treasurer

​I am pleased to announce that we will be offering awards for awards for your safety committees and Safety leaders at virtual Safety Conference this October. Take a look at our website to download the applications:  Conference (soassp.org). Please have them completed and turned in by August 27th!
 
It is always a good reminder to make sure that we find time to recognize and show appreciation for our safety leaders. Safety Awards are one way that this can be accomplished.
 
We have a number of awards you and your organization can apply for. The Best of the Best Safety Committee award is highly sought after and the competition is fierce. The Lundberg award for outstanding safety and health program is a prestigious award based on the seven major elements of an effective occupational safety and health program. Don’t forget the new Safety Champion Award, that was first offered in 2019,and is a great way to recognize outstanding individual achievement on your safety committees. Because we know that the tone of safety always comes from the top, we have the Business Leader who gets it (BLWGI) Award. Unfortunately, we will not offer the Bertak award this year because the minimum requirements for safety committees were lifted last year. At this time, we do expect the important Bertak award to return.
 
On our awards website, take some time and click on the Frank Bertak and Randall Lundberg History’s to help us remember the efforts of these prominent Southern Oregon foundational safety professionals that made our Southern Oregon Occupational Safety Conference a success over the years.
 
David Hanson
Awards Chair

​We just had an election this month. Please join me in offering a huge thank you to our outgoing executive officers for our chapter. I won’t say it has been an easy year to be a leader in our chapter, but the unique challenges have been rewarding.
 
These individuals deserve a huge thank-you:
 
Roy Harper: Vice President
Patti McGuire: Treasurer
Chris Lawrence: Past President
Loria Holden: Membership Chair
Dave Spence: Programs Coordinator
Kyle Valley: Communications Chair
Mike Hill: Conference Chair
Ross Olson: Government Affairs
 
Also, we have a new slate of incoming officers. Some of these leaders are familiar to us as they take on new roles. We also have some new leaders stepping up to make our Southern Oregon chapter a great safety resource for our community. Please join me in welcoming our new chapter leaders:
 
Patti McGuire: Vice President
Chris Lawrence: Past President
Loria Holden: Treasurer
Roy Harper: Secretary
Monica Verduzco: Membership Chair
Jen Killpack: Programs Coordinator
Kyle Valley: Communications Coordinator
Mike Hill: Conference Chair
Ross Olson: Government Affairs
Karrie Hyde-Bogart: Operations Coordinator
 
Just because our executive board is full, this does not mean that there are not more ways to be active and serve in our chapter. Please let me know if you would like to help with our events or be on the conference planning committee.
 
David Hanson, CSP

​President’s Message, May 2021
 
The last twelve months has been strange and difficult for all of us. I’m pretty sure I don’t need to list all of the struggles our region has experienced. Because of the uncertainty around what in-person events will look like in October, we made the decision to hold a virtual safety conference this fall. Normally, we need to make financial commitments in February and March for in-person venues. With the conditions being so uncertain, it simply did not warrant the risk. For those of you that remember our Safety Committee University last fall, we will include it as a track for our safety conference in October. We are planning on holding an awards ceremony, keynotes, and pre-conference PDCs. Our conference chair, Mike Hill, is leading the charge on getting the details put together. Please mark your calendars for this event, which will be held on October 19, 20,& 21. We hope to release more details about the event soon.
 
Another event that is coming up very quickly is the May 12 Total Worker Health 101 Professional Development Workshop. At the time I write this letter, we have about 20 seats remaining. This is a great opportunity. After not holding a PDC last fall because of the unique challenges that 2020 offered, we are glad to offer this event.
 
Also, don’t forget that the Safety Committee University content on our website is still free for the time being. Please take advantage of these resources that our chapter offers you and your organization. Please stay safe and have a great 2021!
 
 
Stay safe!

​David Hanson, CSP
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).

​David Hanson
Southern Oregon Chapter President
 
I wasn’t always in the safety profession. When I was a teenager, I remember working for a sub-contractor during a summer job. One of the sites we were working for was addressing some serious injuries that they had recently. They began to put up signs and a large traffic light that announced how they were doing at safety. I remember a mannequin that had bandages representing the injuries their employees had suffered recently. I think many of their awareness efforts had limited effectiveness, but they had some new rules that I think were potentially very effective. One of these was a new rule requiring eye protection in the aircraft hangars as a condition of employment. I remember thinking this was a wise and practical measure, and even us contractors were given adequate safety glasses that we could use to comply with the new prudent rules. I had no problems wearing them, as required, and appreciated management’s effort to protect my eyes. I bought into the new safety initiatives. You might say, I was an early adopter. So far so good.
 
Generally, in the break room we removed the safety glasses, and they were not required there. There was a long hallway between the breakroom and the hangar. This hallway was basically an office-type hallway and did not contain any acute eye hazards that I could tell. My understanding was that I did not need to wear the glasses until I got to the hangar. I was on my way back to work, heading down this hallway to the hangar. I was wearing my safety glasses on my forehead and fully intended to place them back over my eyes before I entered the hangar. Walking the opposite direction was a manager that had never spoken to me before. He immediately pointed his finger and yelled at me to “get your safety glasses on now!”  I complied with the demand, but this event also signaled the end of my support for his safety program.
 
One big lesson I learned was this: how we present our safety initiatives to employees is just as important as what the initiatives are. To this day, I wonder if that manager ever found out why his approach to managing safety was not as successful as it could’ve been. His intention to make sure employees were using the best practices to stay safe on the job was admirable. His approach was to gain robotic compliance from his workforce by shouting at them and humiliating them in front of others.
 
Our efforts can be so much more effective if we work harder to include front line employees in making these safety initiatives a positive effort. Often, we think about a safety program as being the program implemented by management, and certainly that is true. It always helps to remember that employees are the #1 beneficiary of the safety program. The true owners (stakeholders) of the safety program are the workers that make safety happen every day, every hour, and every second on the front line where work is happening. If we lose cooperation from those key stakeholders… no amount of yelling and pointing will make anyone safer in the long run.
 
David Hanson, CSP

​David Hanson CSP
Southern Oregon Chapter President
 
President’s April Message
 
There are some good things happening in our chapter this spring. On May 12, we are holding a special free three-hour Professional Development Workshop event in conjunction with the Cascade ASSP chapter and the Oregon TWH Alliance. This course is targeted especially to occupational safety and health professionals, although occupational health nurses, physicians, and wellness and human resource professionals will also benefit from attending. Our instructors for this event are Dede Montgomery from OHSU and Liz Hill with SAIF Corporation. Look at the information about this event on our website under the conference tab. Seating for this event is limited, and we expect interest in this event from all over the Pacific Northwest. We are promoting the event to the Southern Oregon region first. After not being able to do our PDC last October, I am delighted that we are able to offer this professional development workshop this spring. Please join us!
 
I would like to thank our local sponsors that help us provide great programming. This includes our annual safety conference, safety committee university and other events throughout the year. Our sponsors are Boise Cascade, Timber Products Company, Asante, Knife River, Redwood Safety Association, Oregon SHARP Alliance, Oregon Columbia Chapter of AGC, D2000 Safety, Oregon OSHA, Light Symphony, EHS Maven, SAIF Corporation, Sweed Machinery, Duro-Last Roofing, Rogue Valley SHRM, Concepts in Advertising, First Response CPR Training, Mallory Safety Supply,& Providence Medical Group. Without contributions and support from these sponsors, our efforts would be severely hampered. If you know anyone with these organizations, take a little time to thank them again from all of us at Southern Oregon ASSP.

To Register for the Free Total Worker Health Professional Development Workshop, click below:
Total Worker Health Workshop Registration
 
To download the flyer for the event, click below:
Total Worker Health Marketing Flyer

Sincerely,
David Hanson
 
 
Stay safe!
 
David Hanson, CSP
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).

​  As we do each year, the chapter holds an election to place volunteers into positions that help the chapter run according to the ASSP guidelines.  We are very grateful for these volunteers because many hands make light work and, quite frankly, our chapter has a lot of resourceful members who bring great ideas to the direction of our chapter.  The slate as posted in this month’s newsletter is put together by a committee of volunteers and is submitted for your review.  The committee nominates candidates for the open positions on the board and it includes movement of persons already on the board.   In the month of May, at the chapter meeting, the membership will be asked to vote on the slate.  If the slate is confirmed by the members, it becomes final and the candidates assume the slated positions on the first of July.  If you have any questions about the slate, please contact Chris Lawrence via the chapter website or directly. 

​A healthy organization does a better job of solving and preventing problems. One of the best ways to measure the health of an organization is to look at how it responds to failure. When a strain is placed on an organization, its ability to be proactive, flexible, and achieve better solutions says everything about how successful the organization will be. Consider some concepts that I think are key attributes of a healthy organization.
 
An organization that fails well:
 

• Understands that human error is normal and predictable.
• Understands that the organization shares the responsibility for failures.
• Succeeds as a team and fails as a team.
• Seeks to understand the mistakes and learn from failures before trying to fix them.
• Looks at the organizational context surrounding a failure for opportunities to understand what happened and how to improve.
• Does not allow one person or department to shoulder the entire responsibility for a failure or mistake.
• Does not ignore problems out of fear of making people feel bad.
• Encourages and thanks team members who speak up when there is a problem.
• Does not hesitate to support employees that need more help to be successful.
• Is introspective about the messages that are sent to employees and supervisors and how they will be interpreted.
• Looks for ways to be resilient to human error.
• Does not blame and punish individuals that make mistakes.
• Does not use inadequate policies and documentation as an excuse for failure.
• Provides positive feedback to employees and supervisors when things go well.
• Does not wait for a failure to provide constructive feedback and is not afraid of tough conversations.

 
 
I hope there are some things here that can help you and your organizations. Some of these things take a lifetime to keep working on. It’s hard work, but it is worth it.
 
David Hanson, CSP

​David Hanson CSP
Southern Oregon Chapter President
 
Our next chapter meeting will be a special treat. Because of our virtual meeting platform, we are able to invite speakers from farther outside of our chapter area. Jose Perez will join our chapter meeting and provide a presentation for us. Jose Perez was a speaker at the ASSP National Leadership Conference a couple years ago on resiliency and being tenacious. He is providing a special program just for our chapter on leadership and being adaptable. I am really looking forward to this. I hope you are as well.
 
In April, our very own Mark Hurliman will provide information for those of you thinking of pursuing a SHARP or VPP certification for your site. Even if you are not, this presentation will have valuable information about building a world-class safety program and what it takes.
 
Watch for updates and information about a new professional development course we are working on offering in May. This will be a 3-hour morning PDC on Total Worker Health topics with Dede Montgomery from OSHU and Liz Hill from SAIF. This PDC will offer .3 CEU credits. Currently, we are looking closely at holding this event during the second week of May. Keep watching our website for updates on this event as we get closer.
 

Stay safe!
 
David Hanson, CSP
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).