Third Quarter 2016

BCSP eNewsletter  


Welcome to this Third Quarter 2016 BCSP eNewsletter.

No matter which certification or designation you hold with BCSP, or if you are in the process of attaining one, we have included news and information that will help you in your professional safety career.

See the In This Issue section to the right to navigate to the stories of most interest to you.

Message from the President of the Board
John Hodges, CSP, OHST    
Safety practice offers a highly rewarding, growing profession. There continues to be great demand for professionals with safety, health, and environmental (SH&E) skills and knowledge, as was outlined in the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's (NIOSH) comprehensive 2011 National Assessment of the Occupational Safety and Health Workforce. As BCSP certificants, we should aim to meet these needs, as well as to identify our greater potential.
 
I anticipate the ideas resulting from Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, Dr. David Michaels' charge that the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety & Health (NACOSH) define what OSHA and NIOSH can do to advance the profession. Key in this will be bringing more people into SH&E practice and identifying the qualities of competent safety professionals. Both goals are well served by accredited, research-driven certifications.
 
Many organizations encourage professional development through certification. The Board of Certified Safety Professionals' (BCSP) Safety Trained Supervisor (STS) and Safety Trained Supervisor Construction (STSC) Sponsors use our certifications as part of building sustainable safety practice in their companies. BCSP is proud to collaborate with our partners and STS and STSC Sponsors to be at the forefront in realizing safety's future.
 
The number of SH&E professionals that employers expect to hire is expected to exceed the number of graduates finishing safety training programs. To support the growth of university safety graduates, BCSP has not only recently expanded our scholarship offerings to include the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America, but we are now reaching out to Graduate Safety Practitioner (GSP) Qualified Academic Programs (QAP) to provide scholarships with them.
 
For those in safety with the experience and leadership skills, we are developing the new safety management certification. This certification will meet the need for assessing the abilities of safety practitioners at the management level, ensuring BCSP certifications cover the full spectrum of those responsible for safety throughout an organization.
 
These initiatives keep BCSP staff hard at work-and just like the profession, our team is growing fast. We will be relocating to Indianapolis in November so that we can better serve the profession. My fellow Board Members, the BCSP staff, and our wonderful volunteers have taken us so far in the time I have served BCSP, and I look forward to seeing our potential realized for years to come.

 
NACOSHBCSP Supporting NACOSH in Growing, Further Developing the Safety Profession
In June, Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, requested the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety & Health (NACOSH) determine how OSHA and NIOSH could encourage more professionals to enter the safety, health, and environmental (SH&E) field. BCSP is providing information to NACOSH as part of this initiative.
 
Professional safety practice is a relatively young profession, and there remains a need to define safety professionalism so it can be better identified as a career choice. This is important for being able to communicate the fact that prevention of harm to people, property, and the environment requires specialized knowledge and skills. BCSP certifications' blueprints and SH&E academic programs' curricula form a body of knowledge that serves the profession in this way.
 
Education and certification also provide new practitioners career paths to the safety profession.
 
If the goal is to grow the profession, encouraging youth or others seeking careers to study SH&E is necessary. Unfortunately, the 2011 National Assessment of the Occupational Safety and Health Workforce revealed a majority of educational institutions, about 57 percent, reported student numbers have decreased or remained the same. Alongside this, 64 percent of educational institutions reported the greatest obstacle to studying safety was financial. For this reason, BCSP has expanded the scholarships it offers.
 
Safety certification provides individuals with a multitude of work experiences and educational backgrounds career paths to safety. Accredited certifications define an occupation's required skill sets and provide objective measure of a person's SH&E competency. Individuals seeking careers in safety have clear goals for developing their practice, specific responsibilities, and employers can be confident in their safety employees' abilities.

IMPACT Labor Co-Chairman, Walter W. Wise;
IMPACT Management Co-Chairman, William W. Brown; and BCSP Past President, Cece Weldon, CSP, CHST, STS
BCSP STS and STSC Sponsors, collaborative partners, and Sponsoring Organizations use both education and certification to meet industry needs for building and developing the SH&E profession. Since the Ironworker Management Progressive Action Cooperative Trust (IMPACT) signed onto the BCSP-IMPACT Partnership Agreement in 2015, IMPACT has certified over 600 ironworkers. The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) has introduced three new, BCSP-sponsored scholarships to encourage those in construction to study SH&E, joining BCSP Sponsoring Organizations like the American Society of Safety Engineers' (ASSE) and the American Industrial Hygiene Associations' (AIHA) in growing the profession.
 
"Education, certification, and association are the three pillars of a vibrant profession," says BCSP's CEO, Dr. Treasa Turnbeaugh, CSP, ASP, CET, CAE, IOM. "BCSP's commitment to workers' safety has always been connected to advancing the profession, and we greatly value the organizations with which we collaborate and the many professionals who volunteer their time to build the future of our profession."

 
QAPSchNew Scholarships Offered to Students of GSP Qualified Academic Programs
BCSP is offering $5,000 scholarships to students from participating Graduate Safety Practitioner (GSP) Qualified Academic Programs (QAP) accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET-ASAC) or the Aviation Accreditation Board International (AABI).
 
The scholarships will go to one junior, senior, or Master's student from each QAP. Participating QAPs will select recipients based on the scholarship's criteria and applicants' submitted material this October.
 
"Scholarships are important because they attract students to the field, and then to the profession," explains Dr. Magdy Akladios, CSP, PE, CPE, CSHM. Dr. Akladios is an Associate Professor, Department Chair, and the QAP Coordinator at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. "They provide some financial support to those in need, and speak highly of the recipient," he adds. "It is absolutely important to the profession, since it maintains the cycle of giving. A scholarship recipient will in turn seek an opportunity to give back to incoming young professionals, and when the time comes, they will also seek similar opportunities, and so on."
 
BCSP is proud to offer these scholarships to exceptional SH&E students who will represent the profession for years to come .

Opportunities and research at University of Houston-Clear Lake
 
 
BCSP Launches Government Affairs Webpage
Laws and regulations have a significant impact on the safety profession. To provide a place for staying informed of legislation and regulations, networking, and participating in providing law makers the most accurate, up-to-date information about the safety profession, BCSP has launched a new government affairs webpage.
 
BCSP tracks legislation and regulations related to SH&E practice and encourages safety professionals to become knowledgeable of relevant bills and rules. You may now view these conveniently in the StateNet iTrac system, one of the tools linked to from the government affairs webpage.
 
If you find particular legislation or regulations of interest to you, in StateNet's iTrac or from other sources, BCSP encourages you to contact BCSP Government Affairs and Outreach Manager, Erica Poff.

BCSP will coordinate outreach and education where engaged safety professionals share common interest. "Lawmakers should create laws that recognize and empower the work of those that are most qualified to keep America's workers safe-certified safety professionals," explains Poff.
 
The results of BCSP's advocacy to date can be read in the page's news section. These include promoting high standards in California's Injury & Illness Prevention Program, ensuring BCSP certifications are recognized as meeting requirements for an individual to become a qualified accident and illness prevention service provider in Pennsylvania, and supporting service members' in achieving accredited safety certifications in the US military.
 
As SH&E professionals become engaged in government affairs, the list of accomplishments will grow and become a source of useful information for future advocacy.
 
The idea is summarized well with the words "investigate, communicate, advocate."

Visit the new government affairs webpage at www.bcsp.org/resources/government-affairs.

 
Log Recertification Points from Your Conferences  
Conference season is near conclusion. If you hold a BCSP certification and have attended a safety conference it is likely that you have earned Recertification Points. Using your My Profile login, you can record these points in the Certification Management System's Recertification section.

Most safety-related conferences conducted by BCSP Sponsoring Organizations are acceptable for Recertification points. This includes topics offered in lecture halls. Regional, state, local, and many employer-sponsored conferences qualify for Recertification points as well, if at least 50% of the conference program is safety-related.

Points awarded for conference activities are one (1) per one (1) Continuing Education Credit (CEU) or, if the conference does not award CEUs, 0.50 points per day. CEUs must comply with standards set by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET). To receive credit for a day's attendance, time spent at the conference that day must be at least six (6) or more hours.

When you record your Recertification Points it is not required that you upload documentation of your conference attendance, but you should keep such documents. These must include the name of the conference, sponsoring organization, date(s) of attendance, and proof of attendance. Documents that provide this information could include certificates of attendance, registration receipts, canceled checks, hotel receipts, airline tickets, or similar paperwork indicated in the publication Acceptable Recertification Support Documentation. When you are required to recertify and have submitted your online Recertification Worksheet to BCSP, you may be audited, at which point you will need to provide these documents.

Further details on Recertification can be found on the Recertification webpage or in the Recertification Guide.

Enjoy your conferences, learn, and keep on showing others why you are #CertifiedtoProtect.

 
BCSP CMS Tutorial | Recertification

BCSP CMS Tutorial | Recertification

 
SSMAnalyses Conducted for Safety Management Certification
Analyses for the development of a safety management certification began earlier this year when various industry stakeholders expressed the need for a quality certification that includes safety skills, management aspects, and recognition of experience.
 
BCSP organized a job task analysis panel of 12 subject matter experts, certificants and non-certificants with a specific set of knowledge and experience, who met via several organized webinars throughout the summer and who convened in Indianapolis, Indiana from August 9-11, 2016.
 
As a result of the job task analysis, a survey based on its findings was recently sent to a set of safety practitioners with professional profiles similar to those for whom the safety management certification may apply.
 
The results of these jobs task analyses form the basis for BCSP's exam blueprints, which include the domains and tasks covered in each exam.
 
BCSP is currently organizing item writing panels for the safety management certification, members of which will begin to draft questions for the certification's examination. These groups are now being determined.

 
Updates to CSP and STSC Examinations Coming Soon   
BCSP has completed beta testing for the CSP9 examination and will release the new version to safety, health, and environmental (SH&E) professionals on October 31, 2016 (12:00 AM CST). All CSP Exam Authorizations purchased on or after that date will be for the CSP9.
 
The STSC6 beta test has been completed as well, and the new exam will be released before the end of the year, the exact date  to be announced .

Information gathered during beta testing is used in the validation of examinations' items by a third-party psychometrician, ensuring the quality.
 
"We appreciate everyone who participates in our beta testing," says Susan Gould, CSP, ASP, OHST, CHST, STSC, Examinations Director at BCSP. "Those who sit for beta examinations, volunteers on our job task analysis panels, and participants in our item writing workshops and passing score activities are absolutely invaluable to our maintaining quality safety certifications."
 
The CSP9 and STSC6 examination blueprints are available on the certifications' webpages.

 
In This Issue
» Message from the President of the Board
» BCSP Supporting NACOSH in Growing, Further Developing the Safety Profession
» New Scholarships Offered to Students of GSP Qualified Academic Programs
» BCSP Launches Government Affairs Webpage
» Log Recertification Points from Your Conferences
» Research Conducted for Safety Management Certification
» Updates to CSP and STSC Examinations Coming Soon
BCSP
Board of Directors

John E. Hodges, CSP, OHST
(President)

C. Christopher Patton, CSP, ASP
(Vice President)

Patricia A. Cruse, CSP, CET
(Treasurer)

Treasa M. Turnbeaugh, PhD, CSP, ASP, CET, CAE, IOM
(Secretary and CEO)

Cece M. Weldon, CSP, CHST, STSC
(Past President)

Jack H. Dobson, Jr., CSP

Joshua J. Franklin, CSP, CET

James A. Gentry, DBA, MBA

Cheryl L. Marcham, PhD, CSP

Linda F. Martin, CSP, ASP, OHST, CHST, STSC, CET

Richard A. Pollock, CSP


Mario A. Varela, CSP


Subscribe to Unique BCSP eNewsletters
BCSP offers unique eNewsletters: The Partners eNewsletter, designed for sponsors, business persons using our certifications, collaborating agencies; and the Collegiate eNewsletter, for university faculty and students.

Click to subscribe to unique BCSP eNewsletters.

Current Changes Index
Over the course of the year, a range of policy changes, procedure updates and other modifications occur. We want to make everyone aware of these changes on a regular basis, as well as keep an archive of the announcements.

Visit the Current Changes Index page on our website to find the most up-to-date policy and procedure information.


CMS Tutorials
If you will be using the BCSP Certification Management System (CMS) for the first time, you may want to view our CMS video tutorials.
Your Source for
Safety Expertise
A Who's Who listing over 1,000 safety professionals, eSafetySource helps individuals and companies find certificants that can assist them with their particular safety needs.

Enroll in or search eSafetySource. 

Mentor Program
The BCSP Mentor Program recognizes certificates who assist the career development of other safety practitioners.

Credential holders who are interested in mentoring an applicant, should visit the BCSP Mentoring webpage.

Those currently mentoring are honored in the Mentoring Honor Roll.


Promoting the
Value of Certification

BCSP will be exhibiting at the following conferences in 2016:

NSC Congress and Expo
Booth 2296
October 15-21
Anaheim, CA 
 
Please stop by our booth. We'd love to meet you!

BCSP's Toolkit for Advancing the Safety Profession
Banner displays are a great way to promote BCSP certifications and earn Recertification credit. A display is available to any certificate holder for use at chapter meetings, regional or local conferences, career fairs, and other safety-related seminars, meetings, and presentations. BCSP ships to and from any U.S. venue and provides literature at no cost.

If you would like to reserve a display, fill out a Banner Display Request. Displays are first come, first serve, and must be returned.

Presentations on safety certification can also be done for Recertification points, and BCSP has many resources that can be used for presentations, including pre-made PowerPoints, on our Articles and Presentations webpage.

Item writing illustrates your safety knowledge, earning you Recertification points as well. Find out more on our Item Writing webpage.

Unauthorized Use of Our Credentials
BCSP pursues cases of individuals claiming to hold our credentials without permission. We pursue those cases in which there is clear evidence of the unauthorized use and the individual has a clear responsibility, control, or knowledge of the use. Evidence may be a business card, resume, letter, website, or other publication. If there is no clear evidence, BCSP cannot act on the case.

BCSP 2015 Certificants
Congratulations to everyone who achieved certification last year! 
 

Share News of Your Achievement

If you achieved a BCSP certification and are proud to be #CertifiedtoProtect, share your pride with the world using the #CertifiedtoProtect hashtag on Twitter or Facebook.


Career Center
The BCSP Career Center connects job seekers with prospective employers in the safety, health and environmental industry. Results are just a click away!

The Career Center allows job seekers who hold any of our credentials to post an anonymous resume in our resume bank for free.

For companies looking to hire individuals who hold our credentials this is your direct route to qualified individuals.