Message from the President of the Board

Leslie Stockel, CSP, SMS

When the public thinks of safety in action, they might envision something like the following – a firefighter in full gear running toward a blaze, an environmental professional in a hazmat suit remediating a chemical spill, or a nurse in an N95 mask tending to a sick patient. Yes, personal protective equipment (PPE) has become a familiar phrase to everyone over the past two-plus years.

Yet safety, health and environmental (SH&E) professionals know that PPE, while it may be the most visible, is actually the last control against hazards. It is far better to eliminate a hazard altogether, to replace it with a safer alternative, or to modify equipment or processes to alleviate its risk. The ultimate goal is not to protect people in the midst of dangerous situations but to keep those situations from ever occurring.

That’s why initiatives such as OSHA’s Safe + Sound Week over the summer and the NFPA’s Fire Prevention Week coming up Oct. 9-15 are so vital. They encourage us to be proactive in spotting potential dangers and dealing with them, both on the job and at home.

Safe + Sound Week again reminded us that, regardless of industry, it is critical to develop safety plans for the workplace and maintain them with regular reviews. It highlighted the importance of an integrative approach, involving management and employees in identifying and mitigating hazards.

Fire Prevention Week – celebrating its 100th anniversary this year – offers educational materials to help reduce the chances of a home fire and emphasizes the need for developing an evacuation plan in case one does occur. We encourage you to participate and to visit the NFPA’s online toolkit for flyers, social media artwork, and ideas for promoting fire prevention.

As we enter the final quarter of 2022, we thank you as always for your dedication to health and safety. If you have not yet achieved a BCSP credential or begun using certification to strengthen your safety program, we encourage you to make that commitment at BCSP.ORG.

Now we invite you to read up on the latest BCSP news and to see how credential holders are making a difference in the latest edition of our eNewsletter.

President

Leslie Stockel, CSP, SMS

Vice President

Bruce K. Lyon, CSP, SMS, P.E., ARM, CHMM

Treasurer

V. Raymond Ferrara, CFP

CEO, Secretary

Christy Uden, CAE, IOM

Directors

Teresa A. Cole, CSP

Ashok Garlapati, CSP

Jay R. Harf, PhD, CSP

Mary Hjorth, SPHR

Bruce D. Hollcroft, CSP

Patricia A. Kagerer, CSP

Regina McMichael, CSP, CIT

Daniel G. Hopwood, CSP, SMS

Donald A. Robinson, PhD, CSP, P.E., ARM-E

Examining the Impact of Safety Professionals

“Examining the impact of safety professionals on safety performance for companies with and without safety professionals.” That’s the task for a group of experts selected over the summer to evaluate the value of safety professionals in the workplace.

The team for the 12-month study includes:

• Sam Wang, PhD, P.E., CSP, Texas A&M University
• Michael Larranaga, PhD, P.E., CIH, CSP, FAIHA, REM Risk Consultants LLC
• James McIntosh, CSP, CIH, Marshall University
• Miaozong Wu, PhD, CSP, ARM, University of Central Missouri

BCSP and the BCSP Foundation teamed up as part of a collaboration with The International Network of Safety and Health Professional Organizations (INSHPO), the Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals (BCRSP), and the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) to organize the study.

Research will include defining the present role of safety professionals, narrowing the scope of performance evaluations through safety performance indicators, and data collection from six or more countries, from varying industries.

Click here for more information on the research team and study at BCSP.ORG