Our search for a vice president is complete. Roy Harper was elected to serve as our vice president at our August 4th meeting. Roy has spent years as an outstanding secretary on our executive board. The secretary position does a great job to prepare someone to be vice president. Roy is a solid leader in our chapter and will be a great vice president. 
 
Unfortunately, our long-time membership chair, Amy Stonehill was unable to continue in her role on the executive board. A big thank you to Amy for her hard work in her leadership in our chapter over the years. I served as the membership chair years ago and I can tell you, Amy did an amazing job.
 
Loria Holden, Timber Products Company, has been appointed and approved for the membership chair role on our executive board. Loria is well qualified and has served as president of an ASSP chapter back east. Loria has also volunteered to lead WISE efforts in our chapter. If you haven’t welcomed her to our chapter yet, go ahead and do so. We are very fortunate to have Loria and her experience in our chapter.
 
We still have vacancies on our executive board. The biggest vacancy is the secretary position. This is a lot of work, but it does give the individual a great view of the mechanics of how our chapter runs. The other position is the COMT position. This executive board position works within the Chapter Operations Management Tool (COMT) online to make sure our chapter is doing the things we need to do to be a successful chapter. This is a great position for a new member on the executive board and helps guide the executive board in their efforts. The Chapter Operations Management Tool makes this an easier task. Please let me know if you are interested in either of these positions on our executive board.
 
The new availability of recorded content for visitors to our website has been a great resource. If you missed last month’s chapter meeting or can’t remember how the speaker answered a certain question, it’s still available to watch afterwards. This change in our online presence has expanded the value of our website to you and our community. Our July presentation by Nathan Sweet and Matt Kaiser from Oregon OSHA was thus able to gain statewide audience because the topic included the entire state and our recording of the meeting was available online.
 
What’s on the horizon for you from your Southern Oregon Chapter for the next three months? While it is only available to ASSP members, don’t forget the ASP/CSP study group. This study group is designed for safety professionals preparing to take the ASP/CSP tests but available to any ASSP member. Join us monthly on the third Tuesday evening, 7:00-8:30 pm by virtual web-based meeting. Our next study group will be September 15th.
 
Pay special attention to Jon Sowers’s upcoming presentation on September 1st where he will discuss the 5 principles of Human Performance. This proves to be an interactive adventure into the Human and Organizational Performance principles that are changing the way we talk about safety in the workplace.
 
In October, we are going to host our first ever Safety Committee University which is shaping up to be a great event to provide support for your safety committee members. We are working hard to keep this event free as a special thankyou to the Southern Oregon community for helping make our Occupational Safety and Health Conference a major success over the decades.
 
David Hanson
 
 
Stay safe!

​Everything that happens in your organization, happens because of the systems in place that ultimately determine the outcomes. Successful organizations have more positive outcomes than negative outcomes. Stellar organizations are able to analyze these systems and make changes to get the results they expect. We must always remember that these systems are within our control, either by intention or by default. To be a stellar organization, we must control these systems by intention. To do this, we must first learn all we can about the relationships between these systems.
 
That is the purpose of learning teams. The learning teams approach has been most recently popularized by Todd Conklin, Bob Edwards, and Jim Howe. According to Conklin, Edwards, and Howe, a learning team is a loosely structured group of workers from any level or levels within an organization that has been assembled to learn how a significant event happened. This group adheres to some key principles that ensure team effectiveness:

• The focus is not on finding someone to blame.
• Primarily interested in “how” an event happened. (Not why or who.)
• The primary focus is on what lessons we can learn from the context of the story of the event.

 
Learning teams were originally developed to improve operational learning and make it more effective. There is an important realization that workers have a more complete “contextual understanding” of how work happens in the field. A learning team can harness this understanding to learn more about what is really happening at the task level.
 
We need to try to learn about our systems—failures and successes—before we can make meaningful improvements in our operations. The very things that we do to keep each other safe at work are the very same kinds of things we need to do to be successful in everything we do.
 
I have seen these principles in action. When I was a supervisor, the best solutions we ever found were when we included employees in the information gathering and decision-making process. When frontline employees were part of the decision-making process, they had buy-in and saw the benefit of the solutions we were implementing. As a supervisor, it was so much easier to manage a system that was established with input from all levels of an organization and that considered the experience and viewpoints from frontline employees. Remember, frontline employees are experts on the frontline day-to-day context of how your operation works. The employee that offers a suggestion that is accepted becomes personally motivated to participate in the implementation of that solution.
 
That is the challenge that the learning team principles ask us to confront: Let’s get better, and let’s do it together.
 
David Hanson, CSP

​The last four months have changed our safety profession in startling ways. The sobering decision we had to make to cancel the Southern Oregon Safety and Health Conference is still a shock for me as I consider what it means for our region. Losing this sensational event for 2020 has caused me to reconsider how our chapter can serve our region in the upcoming year. Social distancing requirements have forced our monthly events to a virtual setting. One of the benefits of this has been an increase in availability to ASSP members throughout our area. Members who once could not sacrifice the hours it would take to attend our monthly meetings are able to attend on our web-based meetings.
 
Another change that is significant is that the need for safety professionals has not decreased. Safety professionals are not only needing to implement new policies, but assure that safe practices are being practiced.
 
In a world where safety and health best practices are changing almost daily, it is even more important that we stay connected to each other as safety professionals. The Southern Oregon Chapter of the ASSP is still one of the best organizations for you to do this. Keep a close eye on our chapter website as we offer additional resources, meeting, and videos. While we may not be holding our annual safety conference this year, we are committed to provide you with a Safety Committee Academy learning opportunity that you can use to supplement safety committee member training. Look for that opportunity to be available in the fall.
 
Stay safe!
 
David Hanson
 
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).

​In our August 4th, 2020 Chapter meeting, we will be holding a special election for the position of chapter vice president. This position went unfilled in our last election on May 5th. We have a very capable member of our executive committee, Roy Harper, who has decided to put in for this position, and we are thrilled to see his nomination.
 
Based on our chapter bylaws, in order to fill the position of vice president before mid-term, our president must appoint a special nominations and elections committee. Our new president, David Hanson, appointed this committee on July 9th. That committee consists of Patti McGuire, treasurer, Chris Lawrence, past president, and myself, Michael Hill, conference chair. Our committee discussed the nomination of Roy Harper and decided that he would be a very suitable candidate. The second thing required in our bylaws is to publish the nomination at least 15 days prior to the election. This article serves that purpose both on our website and in the newsletter. The third thing required is to receive at the chapter meeting any additional nominating petitions as may be rendered and signed by the number of members required in Article VI, Section 3. We would welcome any additional nominations. The fourth thing required is to conduct a vote of the membership at the chapter meeting if there is a quorum. We will take this vote by Webex poll as allowed by Society during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lastly, if voted in favor, Roy Harper would assume office immediately.
 
Please let me know if you have any questions or would like assistance with the requirements of submitting an additional nominating petition. Here is a link to the current bylaws found on our website:
​ https://www.soassp.org/uploads/2/5/8/5/25852043/southern_oregon_assp_bylaws_signed.pdf.
 
Here is also a description and bio of Roy Harper for your review before the election:
 
Roy Harper
 
Roy has served as our Southern Oregon Chapter secretary for the last two years, and he has done an excellent job keeping all of our chapter documentation in order, including the chapter meeting minutes.
 
Roy is also completing his bachelor’s degree in Occupational Safety and Health and working in the construction industry. Upon completion of his degree, Roy is looking forward to working full-time in safety and health management. Formerly, he served as the facilities site supervisor for seven elementary schools within the Medford School District. Roy is passionate about safety and is determined to effect change through education and demonstration.He loves working alongside safety teams to help develop safety solutions and support engagement in safety programs. Outside of work he enjoys spending time with his beautiful family, camping, fishing, hunting, and sometimes being still, while listening to the quiet.
 
Please join us in supporting Roy Harper’s nomination for the position of chapter vice president.
Thank you,
Michael Hill, Conference Chair, and Special Nomination and Elections Committee Member

​Years ago, I was a student in the Forestry, Wood Products program in college. A couple of our university professors organized a five-day field trip to businesses in the Midwest. The trip included a visit to the worksite of a prominent alumni named Gregg, who was a site manager at a wood products manufacturing company. Our hosts were gracious and introduced us to some of the best wood products manufacturing techniques and provided tours of the sites and answered questions we had about the Forestry, Wood Products profession.
 
Four years later, while I was working in a wood products manufacturing facility as a supervisor, hundreds of miles away, I heard the tragic news that Gregg died in a major fire event at the plant-site along with two other co-workers. During a construction project on the site, a conveyor belt got sparks in it and transferred the fire to multiple places in the facility. This caused at least one dust explosion. Employees at the site made heroic efforts to stop the fire. Over 100 firefighters responded, and many of the workers were trapped and had to be rescued by the firefighters. At least seven other employees were injured in the fire and dust explosion that occurred.
 
This event saddened me on multiple levels. I want to focus on one of these levels. The fact that I worked in a similar industry with comparable hazards and potential exposures was not lost on me. In the years since the incident, I have endeavored to better understand and study the causal factors of this incident.
 
I have identified several key areas that could have helped prevent the fire and the tragedy that followed based on the news reports and investigation findings of this preventable disaster. I offer some of these lessons for you to consider as you work to prevent similar serious incidents at any worksite in all industries:

1. Management of contractor activity onsite
   1. Are the contractor safety policies and procedures compatible with the host facility?
   2. Does your contractor understand your fire prevention procedures?
   3. Does your contractor have specific hot work procedures that involve posting of alerts, fire watch, and site inspections?
   4. Does your contractor provide training and basic firefighting equipment to their employees that will be on your site?

 

1. Emergency response planning
   1. Does your emergency response planning cover every potential emergency that could occur at your worksite?
   2. Do you perform periodic evacuation drills and simulated emergency events?
   3. Are your local emergency responders familiar with your site and the potential hazards?
   4. Do employees have specialized training and equipment required for dealing with anticipated emergencies?
   5. Do employees understand what kinds of fires they can safely fight?

 

1. Hazard Identification and controls
   1. Is your organization recognizing and reporting hazards that can contribute to serious disaster events?
   2. Consider hazards such as dust, inadequate non-code electrical components, and hot work procedures. Consider the locations and sources of heat, electricity, and fuel that could contribute to an emergency.
   3. Does your operation implement controls that focus on eliminating the possibility of potential immediate causes?
   4. Are these controls inspected and evaluated on a regular basis?
   5. Do you have systems in place that could tell you when these controls are not being used?
   6. Are you performing regular preventive maintenance to assure that a mechanical problem won’t cause a dangerous condition?

 

1. Are routine housekeeping efforts at the facility sufficient to prevent dangerous conditions?

 

1. Pre-task planning for non-routine tasks
   1. Do employees have pre-task discussions as a group about the challenges posed by tasks that are not routine?
   2. Is enough time allocated to non-routine tasks to prevent workers from trying to do a sensitive task in a rushed manner?

 

1. Management of change
   1. Does the change planning process for significant repairs or additions include potential safety problems that could arise?
   2. Does the change project create additional hazards that we can plan on mitigating before construction or re-organization?
   3. At the beginning of your project, can you engineer integral bypasses, containment, and emergency detection systems that can help isolate a serious problem before it spreads?

 
A thorough study of these concepts and considerations by your work team can prevent heartbreaking events that are difficult to live with. Using these techniques can prevent a multitude of hazards and injuries. Here are some resources that I have found that are good guides to help you in your efforts:
 
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/emergencypreparedness/index.html
 
https://www.saif.com/safety-and-health/topics/prevent-injuries/combustible-dust-and-flammable-materials.html
 
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/evacuation/fire.html
 
https://osha.oregon.gov/OSHAPubs/pubform/Fire-prevention-plan.pdf
 
 
David Hanson, CSP
Vice 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).

Where did Chapter Year 2019/2020 Go?
What an interesting time this has been. There are so many things going on in our world that it seems like time is just a blur. We had a great safety conference last October and then it seems like paths of life started to go in all different directions—at least it seemed that way when we watched the news.   

By now, this is a common discussion point around the watercooler—albeit the conversations may be occurring while working from home or while maintaining 6 feet of separation from others. It has been a difficult time, and it has gone so fast. In fact, I will have completed my term as chapter president in the month of June. I did not complete nearly anything I set out to do as the president. In fact, we even had to cancel the safety conference for 2020! Yep, the end of 2019 and so far in 2020, there have been upsets, letdowns, resets, and operational changes.  

Despite the challenges and not being as successful in my position as I wanted to be, I will hold my head up and march on because that’s what safety professionals do!Actually, the real reason I will march on is because I know the chapter is in great hands with the brilliant and committed team that will keep us going into the future, whatever it looks like! People like David Hanson as the incoming chapter president.  Mike Hill will still be doing meticulous work on the 2021 safety conference, Patti McGuire will keep being the incredible treasurer that amazes with her work, Roy Harper will stay on diligently producing meeting minutes while staying after his education, and David Spence is staying at the helm of bringing quality technical programing for our general meetings. We will see new board members coming on board as well: Ross Olsen, from Linde Group, will be heading up governmentalaffairs and Kyle Valley, from Boise Cascade, will be doing his part to help the chapter’s communications be delivered in a timely and accurate way as we are accustomed to because of Mike Hill’s efforts! What about Amy Stonehill? Well, she has done an amazing job with membership activities, and we hope she can continue as she makes changes in her job outlook!  

I am truly blessed to have served and worked with such outstanding people of action.We are in great hands, and I can hardly wait to see what this team brings in the 2020/2021 chapteryear. I will still attend the board meetings as the past president, so I will get to see the team in action as they lead the way!

In these challenging times, keep your heads up and look for the exciting efforts and leadership that is taking place around you—and then join in!
 
 
Chris Lawrence
President, ASSP – Southern Oregon Chapter
 
​With over 20 years in occupational safety and health, Chris Lawrence is a retired US Air Force Safety Professional who is the Regional Safety Manager for Boise Cascade.

20 years ago, when my husband, myself and our two kids were at Bandon Beach on a family vacation, I learned the hard way how dangerous beaches can be for children.
Back then, our daughter, Hailey, was six years old. At the beach, this high-spirited little girl turned into an exuberant water nymph, kicking and frolicking at the edge of the waves. She was in her element and I always breathed a sigh of relief because, finally, here was a wild energy that matched her own.
Our son, Kai, was a new walker — a sweet chubby toddler — who we had thoroughly bundled up against the elements. He was happily walking along, with stiff arms and legs, as best he could.
With so much space and a long view, we relaxed and gave the kids free rein to run around.
But when we turned around — Kai had disappeared.
We heard Hailey screaming from a short way down the beach. Next, we saw our beautiful fearless daughter plunge into a deep moat circling a large rock and fish little Kai out by his coat collar, dragging him onto the sand. He had gone in over his head – and sunk like a rock.
We ran over, bundled up our two soggy kids in beach towels and carried them up to the car. For a moment, my husband’s and my eyes met — sharing a silent terror – the grim knowledge that, had Hailey not seen Kai, we might not have found him in time.
This is not one of those stories that you laugh about later. This is the story that you don’t want to remember because it leaves you chilled to the bone with “what ifs?”
I offer this to you as a cautionary tale.
We are lucky in Southern Oregon to be able to visit and enjoy beautiful beaches so close to home. Although we don’t usually think about it, those beaches can be surprisingly dangerous. My husband and I thought we were good attentive parents, but it only took a moment on a beach for it to nearly claim our son’s life.
I have culled some Oregon Beach Safety Tips from several sources listed below for more extensive and comprehensive lists.
​

• Never take your eyes off children while on a beach. Supervise them closely. (A lesson I learned almost too late!)
• Beware of sneaker waves. Sneaker waves can appear suddenly without warning and they roll up onto the beach quickly and with a deadly force.
• Don’t turn your back on the ocean.
• If you see a log in the surf or on wet sand, stay clear of it. The ocean can roll a log on top of you and even tiny logs can weigh tons because they are waterlogged.
• The ocean in Oregon is normally 55 degrees Fahrenheit or colder.  Wear a wet suit when swimming to avoid hypothermia, which can set in within minutes.
• If bonfires are allowed, never extinguish them by covering them with sand. Fire can smolder unseen under the sand and later beach visitors can fall through into them and burn their feet and legs.
• Avoid climbing on rocks, jetties and headlands. Tides and waves can sweep up, knock you over and carry you out to sea. Be especially careful during storms.
• Standing at the base of overhanging ocean side cliff can be dangerous because of the chance of slides and collapse. Don´t climb on bluffs and eroding hillsides.
• Know your tides. Here is a tide table website.
• Rip currents are strong currents of water that rush out to sea. They are stronger than even the best swimmer. They can sweep unwary beachcombers and waders off their feet and out to sea. Any time you see debris and foam floating out to sea, chances are you have found a rip current. Avoid the area. If caught in a rip current, don’t panic . Swim parallel to the beach until you are out of the current, then head for the beach.

Here are some resources with comprehensive beach safety tips:
Oregon Coast Visitors Association:http://visittheoregoncoast.com/beach-safety/
Oregon Parks and Recreation: State Parks:https://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/PARKS/Pages/beach_safety.aspx
American Red Cross:http://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/water-safety/beach-safety
 
Betsy Lewis

I hope this article finds the safety community doing well in our region.Including at home, family, friends, work, and in all that you do, my hope is that you are safe, well, and looking forward to a prosperous return to day-to-day life.
In the meantime, stating the obvious, we have all had to make adjustments, but most seem to be doing well with the situation. We did our first Webex for a chapter training meeting. Lenny Reierson, OR-OSHA, presented on the Top 18 OSHA Violations. It was very informative, and you could still tell, even through a Webex meeting, that Lenny has a heart for the safety of all workers. He is an outstanding safety consultant, and he was willing to give this Webex process a try to share his message. We had a few technical difficulties, but Mike Hill, who was hosting the event, was prepared for these “hiccups,” and the meeting went off without a hitch as we say in Eagle Point. Thanks to everyone involved in the Webex, we had a very productive meeting. We will be doing a similar event in June.
As you may have heard, Safety 2020 in Orlando has been changed to a virtual 3-day conference. We will now see how attendance at a 3-day virtual event plays out next month. This is a monumental task, but the ASSP is up to it. Numerous training opportunities are now coming available on-line in a virtual setting. As a result, we are seeing some positive responses to the changing work atmosphere.
We have canceled the Southern Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Conference this year as the planning and execution would not line up due to the restrictions in place and the unknown conditions for the remainder of this year for such events. We will be looking at doing a Safety Committee Academy in the future where we will put on classes for Safety Committee Operations, Hazard Identification, and Accident Investigations.  
As noted, there have been a lot of changes in our daily lives and the way we operate, but like a strong America has always done, we are finding our way through this and turning challenging situations into positive outcomes. This is what safety professionals do!

Stay safe and healthy.
 
Chris Lawrence
President, ASSP – Southern Oregon Chapter

​With over 20 years in occupational safety and health, Chris Lawrence is a retired US Air Force Safety Professional who is the Regional Safety Manager for Boise Cascade.

​​With so many changes occurring lately, many of us have had to adjust to a new workspace: a home office. What was once an occasional occurrence, became much more regular. This has caused so many of us to reevaluate our workspaces to make them work for us without them harming us. While it is not always realistic to expect them to be as nice as the office workspaces that we were accustomed to, we can make small changes that will make a big difference. Let’s looks at some simple solutions and guidelines we can consider: