ISHN 50th anniversary: Challenges and Opportunities - thought leader essays

“Exciting risk control strategies are on the horizon”

Fifty years ago when Industrial Safety & Hygiene News printed its first issue, worker fatalities, injuries and illnesses were more frequent than now. Statistics about worker fatalities, injuries and illnesses were sparse until the passage o the Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969 and the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. In the early 1970s, around 14,000 workers were killed on the job. The number of fatalities fell to 4,821 in 2014, while the rate of reported serious workplace injuries and illnesses has declined from 11 per 100 workers in 1972 to 3.2 per 100 workers in 2014. Although the combined efforts of unions, worker advocates, management, academia, occupational safety and health practitioners, safety equipment manufacturers and others can take credit for these reductions, there is still work to be done.

Exposure to chemical carcinogens, respirable crystalline silica, construction falls, electrocutions, lacerations and workplace violence still persist. Newer hazards like exposure to nanomaterials are emerging and require our attention. Newer ways of working using nonstandard work arrangements like agency work, contract work and gig work may pose health hazards to workers. The close collaboration between human and robotic workers will also pose new hazards.

While these persistent and emerging hazards need our attention, exciting risk control strategies are on the horizon which will present new opportunities to better protect workers. The combination of wearable monitors and biosensors, global positioning systems, advanced biomarker detection methods and analysis of 24/7 exposure assessment data will provide capabilities never before available to practitioners. Real-time exposure information permits the rapid abatement of hazards versus current technologies that require sampling, shipment, and later, laboratory analysis. These and other new growth opportunities will exist for technology-savvy safety and health professionals who can make use of these new data streams.

On behalf of everyone at NIOSH, Happy 50th Anniversary to Industrial Safety & Hygiene News!

Dr. John Howard

Director The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Centers for Disease Control and Prevention U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Growing the next generation of professionals

The occupational safety and health community is small in relation to the size of the field of public health overall and, like many professional disciplines, it has an aging workforce that is experiencing an increasing number of retirements. Consequently, there is growing concern about how these gaps will be filled and whether the necessary steps are being taken to grow the next generation of occupational safety and health professionals. OSHA recognizes the shortage of younger occupational health physicians and nurses, safety professionals, industrial hygienists and ergonomists. The agency is working with stakeholders to determine what steps to take to enhance and encourage the growth of professionals in the field of occupational safety and health.

Dr. David Michaels

Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety & Health U.S. Department of Labor

Can we change the regulatory system to reward results?

Innovate! EHS professionals – and I include people who design, manufacture, test and distribute PPE as well as those who run safety programs – labor under pages and pages (or pixels and pixels) of regulations, standards and protocols that prescribe how to do everything. Not just what the result should be, but how to get  there. I understand they’re based on science, proven practices and long experience (we’re a standards developing organization, after all). But are there other ways to achieve the results we’re seeking  that aren’t in the book? Can we find new work practices that minimize risk of injury? Can we get away with doing things differently under the current regulatory system, or change the system to reward results?

I’d like to think there are opportunities for people willing to take that chance.

Dan Shipp

President, ISEA – the International Safety Equipment Association

“Using our technical skills to identify risk…”

In the future of the practice of occupational safety and health the role of safety and health professionals must continue to move beyond compliance with regulatory standards.

Leading organizations understand that the key to injury and illness reduction and greater operational efficiency lies with the need to identify, assess, manage and communicate workplace risk. Senior management understands the concept of managing risk. They do it all the time, whether operational risk, financial risk, reputational risk or market risk.

Global leaders in safety also understand that safety and health professionals can contribute significant organizational value by using our technical skills to identify risk and our business skills to develop and communicate solutions that both protect workers and contribute directly to the success of our organizations.

Our biggest challenge the safety and health profession has is to reach those employers that fail to see safety as being able to contribute to their competitive advantage or to be critical to mission success. And reaching those employers is our biggest opportunity.

Congratulations to ISHN on its 50th  Anniversary. ASSE looks forward to ISHN helping spread the message about the importance of  managing safety risks to all organizations.

Tom Cecich, CSP

President 2016-2017, American Society of Safety Engineers

Turning massive amounts of data into actionable information…

AIHA has established key priorities to ensure occupational hygienists are prepared to do their jobs today, and in five and ten years from now. Occupational exposure banding will re-shape the larger OEL process. Sensor technology will enable us to rethink how we characterize exposure and risk, but turning massive amounts of data into actionable information must be navigated. Finally, both the workplace and workforce has changed and is changing – unprecedented global migration will continue to transform the composition of worker demographics. Another forward-looking opportunity is to talk to young people about work-related health hazards before they join the workforce – the AIHA/NIOSH Safety Matters initiative is a great model.

Steve Lacey, Ph.D., CIH, CSP

President 2016-2017, American Industrial Hygiene Association

“OSHA should stick to what it does best, and outsource the rest”

How will OS&H be perceived in 5 to 10 years? Will there be changes to how OH&S is regulated?

I would find it a complete reversal if OSHA was allotted a substantial increase in appropriations in the next 5-10 years. Because of this the agency needs to determine “what does it do best” and stick to that. The rest should be outsourced.

• Do we really need two distinct Assistant Secretaries of Labor for OSHA and MSHA? Have one, reduce the number of managers, consolidate duplicative functions and use the savings to really address the needs of OH&S. Yes, there are a few regulations and rules specific to OSHA or MSHA but we could save by consolidating many functions.
• Compliance assistance should be the first thing to be outsourced. OSHA should consider turning over to the private sector compliance assistance and the consultation program. CIHs, CSPs, etc.are more than qualified to assist and educate employers on workplace hazards.
• My most radical shift in what OSHA should not do; it may be time for OSHA to get out of the business of standard setting. Turn it over to the non-profit sector. Before you throw this idea out consider – the agency is barely conducting standard setting now. Look at silica; the agency started working on this some 40 years ago. Allow the non-profit private sector (ANSI, NFPA, etc.) to set standards. Come up with a way for OSHA to oversee the process and provide for some type of enforcement oversight.

These ideas may or may not work but perhaps it’s time to take a serious look at “another way of doing business.” The OSHA Act has never had any major change since enactment in 1970. I doubt if any other agency has gone so long without major change. Would these changes work? I have no idea. But remember, it really doesn’t make any difference what OSHA or Congress does or doesn’t do because workers will still be protected because of the thousands of OH&S professionals who go to work every day and do their jobs to make sure workers go home at night safe and healthy.

Aaron Trippler

Director of Government Affairs American Industrial Hygiene Association

“Just when we think we know what a safety and health professional does…”

ASSE members report the opportunity to demonstrate even greater value to organizations than they already do. Future growth opportunities for the occupational safety and health profession will mirror growing organizational demands that practitioners have expertise in areas beyond safety, including health, human resources, environmental management, disaster management, security, and risk management.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) reports that 1.9 million workers die each year from occupational diseases, yet most safety and health professionals work only on the fringes of occupational health. An expanding focus on total worker health, workers’ wellbeing, workplace stress and other psychosocial issues, workplace violence and fatigue present new opportunities for the safety and health professional.

As occupational safety and health continues to gain recognition in the financial community as a material sustainability-related issue for many industries, safety and health professionals will be able to grow their influence in the management of human capital and the supply chain. This includes areas such as human factors, operational performance, and policies to humanize the workplace.

Occupational safety and health professionals should also expect to see a trend towards an integrated approach to the management of modifiable risk in the workplace, which will present opportunities to expand into disciplines such as security and grow their influence in risk management.

Just when we begin to think we know what a safety and health professional does, the future requires change, and that presents great opportunity.

Dennis Hudson, JD

Executive Director, American Society of Safety Engineers

On becoming a strategic value

The biggest opportunity/challenge I see for the future in H&S is for H&S professionals to convince senior line management that H&S is a strategic value to their enterprise and not just some regulatory necessity. For this to come to fruition H&S pros must learn to speak in the language of the customer where the customer in this case is senior line management. This requires them to be able to express H&S outputs in terms that directly relate to the critical outputs of their enterprise e.g. cost, productivity, sales equivalent dollars, customer service, etc. When this is the case, excellence is the outcome.

I was honored when Dave Johnson, editor of ISHN, asked me to write a brief essay on the future of H&S for the 50 Year Anniversary edition of the magazine. I have valued ISHN over the last 50 years of my 55 years in the H&S field. Mr. Johnson has been a true gift to those of us in H&S. He has shared his prescient views with us in many modalities, not just print. We are indeed fortunate; to have a “trade” publication of the quality of ISHN. Actually, I consider it a professional publication and continue to value its content.;Thanks Dave, and carry on!

Dr. Rick Fulwiler, CIH, CSP, CSHM

President, Technology Leadership Associates

Developing a brother/sister keeper’s culture

“If you see something, say something.” This contemporary slogan reflects a widespread debilitating fear of interpersonal conflict, abuse, and violence that is jeopardizing human welfare world-wide — the peace and freedom U.S. residents take for granted. It seems human discourse these days is more about hate, mistrust, and revenge than love, trust, and kindness.

What will it take for a dramatic paradigm shift? How can the opening quotation become a social norm? Not only that people everywhere notice and report potential threats to safety, health, and security on a routine basis; but they are continuously on the lookout for actively-caring-for-people (AC4P) behaviors to reinforce with positive recognition and appreciation.

Many safety pros, consultants, and line workers have practiced the very procedures that can bring the opening slogan to life, and thereby cultivate a culture of interpersonal empathy, compassion, and AC4P behavior. While these safety processes have many labels, designed to market an “original” approach to prevent workplace injuries, the essential ingredients are the same for each—peer-to-peer behavioral observation, feedback, and coaching. This interdependent process operationalizes the opening quotation and could save the world if practiced effectively on a large scale.

This is easier said than done, of course, but the industrial safety and health (IS&H) world has addressed the human dynamics of safety and security with AC4P coaching, leading to brother/sister keepers’ cultures. Safety pros know what it takes to make this happen. The challenge: spread the evidence-based principles and procedures of this AC4P process beyond the workplace.

This is a potential future and positive legacy of IS&H in America. Show the world how to cultivate a culture in which AC4P behavior becomes the norm—expected at work, at school, at home, and throughout the community. The result: organizations without personal injuries, schools without bullying, families without abuse, communities without violence, and nations without wars.

Dr. E. Scott Geller

Distinguished Alumni Professor Department of PsychologyVirginia Tech

“Our image to management is a weakness and holds us back”

I am not an advocate of events as having direct impact on the safety profession. Certainly, they can if management teams that employ safety professionals are influenced by these to take a closer look at how they are managing safety. But that is hard to pin down.

You just don’t seem to hear any outcry: where were safety professionals in these events? In most cases they fade from view rather quickly and seem to rarely invoke legislation or regulation that would require safety professional staff support.

I like to consider the entire history of ASSE as a mirror. It started as an association of safety staff at workers’ comp insurance companies who had these professionals on staff to visit their insureds and see how they were doing in terms of safety management. Eventually, the larger companies elected to have their own safety and health staff. ASSE continued to grow.

Obviously OSHA was a growth influence. However, I recall some years ago seeing a plot of ASSE membership. I noted that there was a noticeable increase in ASSE membership around the time of OSHA’s inauguration. My recollection was that it was not large.

I think an important point is that there are 35,000 ASSE members and probably another 12,000 AIHA members. The standard number of workplaces that OSHA has under their jurisdiction is typically reported at 7.5 million. So the number of sites with safety and health professionals on their staff is minor.

I think that the evolution during more recent years of going beyond compliance issues, developing management techniques for safety and health, and focusing on sustainability for safety have increased the attractiveness of having safety and health professionals on staff.

I believe that our professional associations could promote this profession more by being strong public advocates for safety and health professionals as value add-on staff supporting management teams and fellow employees. The image projected has been over many years that safety and health professionals are extensions of OSHA in the workplace and are more a servant to OSHA than a supporter of our management teams.

So, the safety and health profession has improved in technology understanding but our image to our management teams is a weakness and holds us back. The safety profession has improved and advanced but there are abundant opportunities to be greater.

Some years ago at an ASSE PDC Management Forum a company manager said this in response to the question: What advice can you give to the safety and health professionals listening to you today. He said: “We know that you know safety and health. We need for you to know us.”

Tom Lawrence, P.E., CSP

Society Fellow, American Society of Safety Engineers