Safety 2013 Scores Big in Vegas

By Anonymous

Proquest LLC

This year's professional development conference (PDG) scored big, boasting more than 4,000 attendees and more than 500 exhibiting companies. With top-notch speakers, sessions and new initiatives, ASSE's annual conference and exposition proved, yet again, to be the profession's premiere event of the year.

Lights. Music. Elvis. It must be Vegas. Safety 2013's opening general session began with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas's marching band's rendition of "Viva Las Vegas" accompanying Vegas showgirls and an Elvis impersonator. But, the lights and action took a back seat to the real reason more than 4,000 attendees gathered for the PDC-to leam, network and help advance the occupational safety and health profession.

ASSE Leadership Provides Encouraging Messages

ASSE 2012-13 President Rick Pollock, CSP, thanked attendees for the opportunity to serve them and the Society this past year. "It has given me a new insight as to what a great organization ASSE is and what an important role it plays in the world. Where we live doesn't define us anymore. What defines us is who we are and what we do professionally." Pollock touched on the Society's global growth, sustainability efforts, and new initiatives and proposed governance changes.

During Wednesday's General Session, Pollock remembered his year as ASSE president, noting that his best experiences were meeting members and seeing them in action. "Last year, I asked you to imagine the energy and creativity we could all create. I've witnessed this in action. It's awesome."

He said the future for SH&E professionals is bright. "ASSE's presidency isn't about the person, it's about the responsibility the position carries. After I'm long gone, this great institution will live on strong and thriving. ... I ask you to always be optimistic and leam to see the future for the good of others ... and always be proud of the work we do."

Incoming President Kathy A. Seabrook, CSP, CMIOSH, EurOSHM, discussed key ASSE initiatives, which include the Center for Safety and Health Sustainability and the new Risk Assessment Institute. "We are in this together, and we must work together to enhance our value. We can do our part by demonstrating our SH&E competence, our business acumen and our ability to develop innovative solutions that elevate the perceptions that business leaders will have on our real value," she said.

Seabrook assured attendees that ASSE is working hard to connect the dots to the business world and to improve the value that safety professionals bring to the table. "We must work together to enhance our value," she said. "I challenge each of you to focus on our ultimate goal-safe and healthy workplaces around the world."

Keynote Speakers Provide Solid Messages

This year's keynote speakers-Peter Sheahan, Richard Rumelt and Mark Scharenbroich-delivered useful messages with key takeaways for SH&E professionals.

Speaking to Change

The opening general session featured Peter Sheahan, who discussed "Creative Strategies for Turning Challenge Into Opportunity and Change Into Competitive Advantage." His lively discussion focused on change and how to navigate it. He started by pointing out three typical reactions to change: 1) lay in the comer in the fetal position and hope it goes away; 2) acknowledge the change but don't do anything about it; or 3) recognize change and take action. Although this third reaction is constructive, he emphasized that "just being open to change is not enough."

Sheahan's message centered around areas to help safety professionals change, evolve and be successful. These included recognizing the assumptions that come with change; having clarity about it and aligning your actions with the new methods; and collaborating to drive engagement throughout the process.

He encouraged attendees to question their assumptions about change, noting, "Change is really slow, until it's not," and that you never find evidence of change in a profession with something that you weren't already fundamentally aware of. "If you want to know what the future of safety looks like, you only have to look at the sessions happening at Safety 2013."

He offered ideas and strategies to help safety professionals recognize when they are making bad assumptions, as these can block any progression in their work.

*Condition yourself to evolve safety practices.

*"Change is bigger than any one professional." Egos block progress, rather than evolve it.

*Don't be too narrow when defining your value.

*"Don't assume you know what the perfect future safety model is. Test in small doses." Test methods and fail fast to leam from the mistakes.

*After success, you may need to let go and create a new process. "The secret to staying at the top of your game is to be able to escape the gravity of success."

Good Strategy/Bad Strategy

Wednesday's general session featured Richard Rumelt, former engineer and current professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Management. He addressed the problems with many so-called strategies and how to formulate valid ones. Rumelt takes an honest approach to the idea of strategies, saying up front that strategy is at the heart of organizational success. "A strategy is a coherent mix of policy and action designed to surmount a high-stakes challenge," he said. It's about focusing your resources to achieve an objective.

With a clear definition in mind, Rumelt stated that wishful thinking is not a strategy. "Writing down candy phrases about how great the world would be" and calling it a strategy doesn't work. He encouraged attendees to really look at some so-called strategies and not be ashamed to think that "fluff" is nonsense. He provided four keys to recognizing bad strategies: when it's all about performance goals; when it's all fluff; when there is no diagnoás; when it's a "dog's dinner."

His overall message was that strategy consists of what he calls the "kernel," which consists of diagnosis, guiding policy and coherent action. Diagnosis is more than identifying the problem; it also includes developing an approach that can be followed to solve the problem. Guiding policy is not the action steps but more the guardrails that facilitate what needs to take place. Coherent action means aligning and coordinating the activities that fit within the guiding policy.

Simplifying your action space allows you to know where you are going. Additionally, a good strategy has a logical structure of problem solving. Breaking out of bad strategies and using the steps to create good ones will help safety professionals reach their business goals.

Nice Bike

The two-word phrase, "Nice bike." was heard in the halls after Thursday's luncheon speaker Mark Scharenbroich finished his presentation. Based on his book sharing the same words, the short phrase packs a lot of meaning. Scharenbroich explained that the saying is supported by three powerful actions: acknowledge, honor and connect. He engaged attendees and illustrated how "nice bike," can be used to improve their personal and professional Kves.

On acknowledgment, Scharenbroich said that you must be present to win. Employees want acknowledgment from their bosses. Everyone has a story, so be genuinely interested in them.

On honor, he said you must have a passion to serve. Be happy to serve others, and honor people by how you serve them. "When you are passionate about who you are, you bring others to you."

On connecting, he said thank you are powerful words. He encouraged connecting with people, listening to them and being present. "As safety professionals, you solve problems, you save lives, you think things through, you make your culture a better place. What you do and who you are matters."

OSHA Update

David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, began the Safety 2013 plenary session by saying OSHA has a huge mission to advance the efforts of SH&E. "We do nail guns to nail salons and everything in between," he said.

Michaels called the Injury and Illness Prevention Program his highest priority. He encouraged attendees to move employers toward this culture of prevention. Instead of a reactive approach that addresses problems after an incident occurs, the SH&E industry should move toward a preventive approach. "I know there are people who don't trust OSHA," he said. But, he urged attendees to submit comments and "tell us what to do to make it work."

Michaels provided updates on existing and new areas of focus at OSHA. Compliance assistance programs, as well as new websites and resources, are being used within the grain and healthcare industries, as well as to promote OSHA's heat prevention campaign. With more than 75,000 downloads, Michaels also encouraged attendees to download the agency's Heat Safety Tool app for smartphones. In addition, OSHA's fall prevention campaign now offers safety resources in multiple languages, including Russian and Polish.

Anew campaign for temporary workers aims to provide the same training for these employees that regular employees receive. "If you see temporary workers, make sure they get the training they need," he said. "Ask if they've been trained in the language and vocabulary that they understand."

Michaels also touched on the OSHA HazCom Standard and reminded all that the Dec. 1, 2013, deadline for employers to train employees on the new GHS labeling system is only about 5 months away. He also announced that OSHA is working with the Canadian government to help it harmonize with GHS and move HazCom forward within that country.

Michaels concluded by noting that the agency has been publicizing more of its inspection enforcement, not conducting more inspections. In addition, he mentioned that the OSHA leadership team has been asked to stay by U.S. President Barack Obama. "Direction will remain the same for the next three and a half years," Michaels said.

All About Risk

With 15 concurrent sessions focused on the topic of risk, and the launch of ASSE's Risk Assessment Institute, risk was certainly a big topic during the conference. In her inaugural speech, 2013-14 ASSE President Kathy A. Seabrook said, "Today, our profession is moving away from a complianceonly focus to the identification and management of SH&E risk to our organizations. That is why SH&E professionals are transitioning to broader language for identifying hazards and controls. Business leaders recognize the term risk to identify any effect on a business or an organization; it is the language of business. CEOs, CFOs, boards of directors, the investment community and the operational side of an organization understand risk."

She added that promoting broader skill sets, such as risk assessment, helps to dispel the notion that safety profesáonals are only concerned with compliance. "Risk assessment is a way for safety professionals to more effectively demonstrate our value to business organizations," Seabrook said.

ASSE Introduces Risk Assessment Institute

ASSE launched its Risk Assessment Institute (www.oshrisk .org) to facilitate SFi&E inclusion in the organizational risk management process, allowing businesses to "proactively prioritize, resource and mitigate risk in advance of injuries or catastrophe." During the launch reception, Seabrook noted that SFI&E professionals are uniquely positioned to educate executives and the business community on issues related to proper risk assessment within the management process.

"EFIS professionals have the valued expertise and leadership to collaborate with senior managers in the implementation of effective risk assessment and the ongoing oversight of productive risk management," she said.

The institute will support improved risk-related training and education while providing a platform for the SFI&E community to contribute to the development of new evidencebased risk-related policies, processes and solutions. It will also serve as a clearinghouse for risk-related information and the tools relevant to professional SFI&E. "Recent injury and illness trends within companies and their global supply chains indicate that overall incident rate improvement has slowed and rates of fatal and serious injuries have remained steady for a number of years. Clearly, a different approach is required if further improvements are to be made," Seabrook said. "Now is the time for a transformation of safety leadership through proactive, preventive approaches that have the potential to identify risks and enable action in advance of injury, illness or loss."

ASSEF Family Scholarship Fund

Former Assistant Secretary of Labor John Henshaw announced a new program created by ASSE Foundation (ASSEF). The ASSEF Family Scholarship Fund will support families who have lost a loved one to a workplace fatality. "There are so many things a family needs after losing a loved one. But one of the most crucial elements of long-term stability in any person's life is access to a good education," Henshaw said. The fund will offer college tuition support for students affected by a workplace fatality.

Henshaw, who has made the Family Scholarship Fund his primary initiative, has personally contributed $10,000. In addition, both ASSE and the Foundation have matched Henshav/s gift for a total of $30,000 to fund the scholarships, with the first award coming this fall. "We cannot bring the lives lost back, but we can do our part to ease the loss," he said. For more information, visit www.asse.org/foundation/fsf.

Society Celebrates Professional Excellence

Every year, ASSE honors individuals for their dedication of time and expertise to the SH&E profession. These awards and honors are given to leaders who have demonstrated the utmost professionalism and dedication.

ASSE Fellow: Darryl C. Füll, Ph.D., CSP, encouraged members to get involved saying, "Everyone can do more for the profession and the Society."

Edgar Monsanto Queeny Safety Professional of the Year Award: Leo J. DeBobes touched on the importance of educating and training future leaders, "Make sure we continue to have strong SH&E academic programs to train the next generation."

Wüliam E. Tarrants Outstanding Safety Educator of the Year Award: Hamid Fonooni shared his dreams of accreditation for all SH&E programs in colleges and universities and Richard F. Sesek gave credit to Dr. Tarrants for helping define what it means to be a safety professional.

Concurrent Sessions Provide SH&E Expertise

Attendees had more than 250 concurrent sessions to choose from. With topics ranging from sustainability to emergency preparedness and safety management, attendees had no shortage of options. Here are some takeaways from select sessions.

Help Your CEO "Get" Safety

Past ASSE President Terrie Norris, CSP, risk control manager with Bickmore Risk Services & Consulting in Orange, CA, presented on "The Evolution of Safety: What Your CEO Should Know." Here's some advice from Norris:

*Help the CEO and upper management understand management's role in establishing a prevention culture. "First, the safety professional must understand the company's strategic plan and determine where safety, health and prevention fit within that plan as a strategic partner," Norris explained. "It is only through understanding where these functions fit that the safety professional can convince the CEO and upper management that safety, health and prevention are part of the strategic plan and not an expendable operational expense."

*Guide the CEO in "agendizing" safety. "The CEO will look to the safety and health professional to provide the materials to be examined at the staff meeting, to explain the reports and provide recommendations for solutions that include the return on investment data," Norris said. "To meet these informational needs, the SH&E professional must examine the tracked and untracked costs associated with losses and determine how best to track and report them."

*Educate the CEO about regulatory compliance issues. "The larger the geographic area in which the company operates the more information the safety and health professional must be able to supply to the CEO." Norris cautioned, however: "The purpose of educating CEOs is not to try to scare them into regulatory compliance. CEOs are entrepreneurs and risk-takers by nature. Regulatory compliance is way down on their list of worries. It is important to educate them regarding how to use the regulations as a framework for a prevention culture, then how to go beyond compliance for increased profitability."

So what's an SH&E professional's best strategy? "Help your CEOs understand the importance of their leadership in prevention and the benefits of establishing and maintaining a prevention culture," Norris concluded.

Safety & Sustainability

Based on their article, "Safety and Sustainability: Understanding the Business Value," published in the June issue of PS, ASSE President Kathy A. Seabrook, CSP, CMIOSH, EurOSHM, and ASSE Fellow and past president Darryl C. Hill, Ph.D., CSP, presented on the topic. Seabrook and Hill discussed the future of sustainability; integration of safety and sustainability; and the financial implications of sustainability. Seabrook explained that although when most people hear the word sustainability, they think only of the environment, it involves much more. "From a business perspective, it's about business viability, investment return and commitment to stakeholders," she said.

Hill mentioned that he took away two points made by opening general session speaker Peter Sheahan. One point was that change doesn't happen suddenly. "Topics and trends we're seeing today are preparing us for 6, 7, 8 years and beyond into the future," Hill said. "From my background, this is definitely a topic that will catapult us into the future and beyond. This [sustainability] is something that is definitely here to stay." The other key takeaway from Sheahan's presentation was that safety professionals should not want their value proposition to narrow.

Hill also discussed how CEOs are recognizing the business imperative of sustainability and safety. Consider the statistics he shared:

*98% of CEOs say sustainability is critical to an organization's future success

*96% of CEOs believe sustainability must be integrated into company strategy.

*85% of CEOs found a positive correlation between environmental governance and financial performance.

Seabrook ended the session mentioning GRI as an important continuing trend to monitor. Overall, however, Seabrook emphasized the role of leadership within sustainability. "The sustainability journey is all about leadership. Leadership from us," she said. "We can move the needle on safety and sustainability integration. It'll be the key to our success."

Building Effective Relationships Around Safety

The influence of relationships on safety performance has been a growing focus. Judy Agnew and Aubrey Daniels of Aubrey Daniels International examined the critical role of relationships and trust in safety culture.

Here are some building blocks leaders can use to create strong relationships for safety.

1) Set clear expectations. Use "actionable words" to ensure clarity of expectations; avoid assumptions and ask recipient(s) to state an understanding of the expectations.

2) Listen. "Use active listening skills such as maintaining eye contact, using appropriate facial expressions, paraphrasing, and asking questions to demonstrate understanding.

3) Acknowledge good work, not just mistakes/problems.

4) Ask questions to understand problems/issues.

5) Ask for feedback about your own effectiveness and areas for improvement. "Demonstrate that you are listening and working to improve your own actions."

6) Avoid blame. People's behavior makes sense to them, even if it doesn't make sense to you. Uncover what factors led to undesired behavior.

7) Respond fairly to incidents.

8) Admit when you make mistakes.

9) Solicit input and opinions from direct reports.

10) Follow through on commitments.

11) Stand up for direct reports. "Verbally promote direct reports and share their successes with others."

12) Remove roadblocks to set direct reports up for success.

13) Provide feedback that helps direct reports improve. Timely feedback is most helpful.

14) Demonstrate that you trust direct reports. "Give employees appropriate responsibilities and avoid micromanaging."

15) Treat direct reports like people, not just employees.

"These so-called soft skills are well worth developing because they result in greater engagement, more discretionary effort and thus a safer workplace," Agnew and Daniels concluded.

Accountability

Much like risk and prevention through design, leadership and accountability were widely discussed during Safety 2013. C. David Crouch, a senior consultant with Caterpillar Safety Services, shared four steps to creating accountability and three moments of truth in which the leader's behavior is critical.

*Step 1: Define safety activities required for each role-from CEO to frontline.

*Step 2: Train everyone on those activities to ensure that they know how to do them correctly.

*Step 3: Measure performance with periodic spot checks and conversations to ensure that activities are being performed correctly. According to Crouch, companies must make sure they have the right combination of leading and lagging indicators at each level.

*Step 4: Recognize employees when they perform their safety activities correctly-and coach to improve their performance when needed.

So what are the three moments of truth in a relationship?

1) Beginning. Establish what's expected and how it will be measured.

2) Each day. On a daily basis a leader must reinforce safety activities and behaviors. "Positive recognition is much more powerful and effective in influencing behavior than criticism or correction," Crouch says. "The emergent leader must administer both, but positive reinforcement should be used at a ratio of at least 7 to 1 over correction or discipline. The more you recognize good behavior, the less you have to address poor performance."

3) Periodically. Meet regularly to gain clarity and make adjustments.

In addition, David Maxfield of VitalSmarts delivered a session that focused on ways to build a culture of accountability. Maxfield offers these steps for building accountability into organizational culture:

*Recognize the central role accountability plays in achieving every priority.

*Begin with workplace safety. High-accountability leaders often take "special care to connect accountability to the personal values related to workplace safety."

*Define the vital behaviors involved in accountability. "These are the two or three clearly defined actions that capture the essence of what accountability means," Maxfield explains.

*Focus on a handful of crucial moments-times and circumstances when it's especially important to speak up and hold others accountable.

*Marshal a critical mass of all Six Sources of Influence. "The high-accountability leaders we studied aimed all Six Sources of Influence at improving the two or three vital behaviors in the handful of crucial moments," Maxfield explained.

New This Year to the PDC

*Concurrent session video recordings. For the first time ever, those interested can get 3 months of access to most of Safety 2013's concurrent sessions. Users can instantly access topics they may have missed or information they want to recap. Visit http://asse.peachnew media.com.

*Interactive research poster sessions. Participants could view and vote for the top video poster session provided through SafetyNet and the Safety 2013 app. The top video, "Developing 24-Flour Noise Exposure Profiles & Determination of Shipboard Task Contributions to Overall Noise Dose," by Gary A. Morris, Commander Jennifer Rous, Commander Michael Stevens, and student authors Justin Bryant, Amanda Dean and Carrie Stindt of Murray State University, is available in ASSE's Body of Knowledge.

*Attendee Choice Awards. ASSE and ISHN teamed to provide this award for the most innovative product/service, voted on by Safety 2013 attendees. More than 70 products were entered and displayed in the Exposition Flail on site. For a list of the winners, visit http://goo.gl/ cU32Ct.

*Online Silent Auction. ASSE Foundation's Silent Auction, which raised about $9,000, went digital at this year's conference. Using the site Handbid.com, participants could place bids and proxy bids, and receive real-time alerts on the status of their bids.

"I know there are people who don't trust OSHA.... Tell us what to do to make it work."

Risk Assessment

In one of his posts, Safety 2013 guest blogger Steve Minshall wrote about the new Risk Assessment Institute:

You can check out more about this launch at www.oshrisk.org. There you'll find these two descriptive statements:

"ASSE's Risk Assessment Institute was established to become the gateway for ASSE members to develop new risk assessment core competencies, share best practices, and access the latest risk-based information, metrics, tools, and research for both career advancement and the improvement of organizational effectiveness."

"The ASSE Risk Assessment Institute aims to help SH&E professionals find and implement both standardized and alternative risk-based approaches and measures to lead their organizations to pro-actively prioritize, resource and mitigate risk in advance of injuries or catastrophic events."

These are lofty objectives and ones that the Society is wellsuited to lead.

In the final analysis, though, risk assessment has to work for the people who are exposed to the risk(s). If the risk assessment has no relevance to the maintenance mechanic or the production worker who has to deal with those exposures on a routine basis, how effective can it be?

The terms employee participation and engagement spring to mind. Let's hope those are meaningful elements of the Risk Assessment Institute's charter.

Safety 2013 Gets Social

Social media was no stranger to Safety 2013. The Safety 2013 app was available, the EHS Works blog provided live posts and attendees used various outlets to enhance their experience. Guest blogger Pam Walaski observed how technology played a part in Safety 2013. Here is an excerpt from one of her posts.

The biggest increase in social media usage I observed was through Twitter. The hashtag #Safety2013 was established well in advance of the PDC and there were isolated postings starting as far back as May. As the PDC neared, the traffic heated up and if you followed the chatter, hundreds of Tweets were posted every day as many of us microbloged, shared bits of wisdom from sessions and posted photos. In fact, ©fieldID posted a list of favorite Tweets that showcases the varied posters from attendees to vendors to ASSE staff and beyond.

I know that thousands of EHS pros are not yet socially connected beyond possibly a personal presence on Facebook (there are roughly 1 billion monthly account users on there so you have lots of company). I write this blog not to suggest anyone needs to jump on board as I know many will not. But for many of us who are and see the value in this form of communication, the uptick in social media usage during Safety 2013 makes us think that EHS pros are going social in a big way. It's exciting to be a part of it!

Thanks to ASSE's Centennial Sponsors!

*ABB

*Cintas

*CLMI Safety Training

*ClickSafety

*SafeStart

Executives Provide Sound Advice

The 2013 Executive Summit featured a panel of top leaders from various industries to provide insights and advice to occupational safety and health professionals. The panel discussion offered attendees the opportunity to gain a perspective on the value of SH&E from top executives, and gain insight on how they can do their jobs better. This year's Executive Summit panel included:

*Bob Zaist, president, energy and construction, URS Corp.;

*Beth Rosenberg, CSB board member;

*Lester Gray, senior vice president of operations, Perdue Farms;

*Stephanie Buchanan, vice president of United Airlines, Houston Hub;

*Virginia Valentine, president of Nevada Resort Association.

The panel touched on a range of topics. Here are some key thoughts from the discussion.

Safety as an organizational value

"It's important that it becomes a part of your DNA as a company. If it's something you have to think about, it's not something that will just happen. Get it ingrained in your company." -Stephanie Buchanan

On safety culture

"Employees need to feel like they will be supported. A big part of the culture is the tone we set. You have to create opportunities for communication." -Virginia Valentine

Skills for safety professionals

"One of my favorite cliches is, 'Bad news doesn't improve with age.' You want to be able to express yourself in a tactful way. Be a good communicator, be diplomatic, be able to think through the consequences." -Virginia Valentine

"We ask our safety professional to do three things: 1) Be a technical resource ... 2) Be safety cheerleaders and communicate effectively... 3) Be the safety conscience." - Lester Gray

How safety professionals can advance their careers

"You need to be proactive with your careers. You need to be thinking ahead of where you'd like to be taking your career. What are the experiences you haven't had that would help you attain your goals?" Take advantage of opportunities." - Bob Zaist

"If I encourage you guys to do anything, it's to own your careers. It's easy to let yourself and senior managers pigeonhole you. It's important for you to express interest." - Lester Gray

"Be an empathetic engineer. Empathize with the people you're dealing with." -Beth Rosenberg

Global Highlights

Global participation for Safety 2013 grew more than 30% compared with Safety 2012. Representatives from 35 countries and delegations from such new locations as Azerbaijan, Costa Rica, Israel and Russia were in attendance. The largest delegation outside of North America came from the Nigeria Chapter with 50 members.

New activities this year included:

*Outgoing ASSE President Rick Pollock signed an MOU with NACOT's (Russian Association for Centers for Occupational Safety) Executive Director Nikolay Novikov to promote bilateral cooperation, including best practices and technical information exchanges.

*ASSE organized a networking reception for attendees from Latin American countries (with 10 countries from the region represented) attended by incoming ASSE President Kathy A. Seabrook.

*ASSE's Nigeria Chapter sponsored a networking event attended by both U.S. and global members.

*Hafiz Mustafayev, chair and president of Rovshan Oguz Group from Azerbaijan, received a President's Award for his contribution to the safety profession in Azerbaijan and for successfully conducting the country's first International Conference on Safety in Baku, Azerbaijan, in December 2012.

*Officially kicked off the first meeting for ASSE's Ambassador Program.

Copyright:	(c) 2013 American Society of Safety Engineers
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