Out Loud Blog

If you read this blog, you’re probably familiar with Jason Townsell’s blog posts. Jason has written about construction safety, accident investigation, chemical safety, hazard control and more. He provides his expertise not only as a safety professional, but as the 2010 Future Leader in EHS scholarship recipient. Now, college students around the country have the chance to apply to become the next Future Leader.

The Future Leaders in EHS program, launched by PureSafety and EHS Today in 2010, was created to support and encourage EHS students as they respond to the challenges of the 21st century workplace and lead the way in keeping tomorrow’s workers safe, healthy and on the job. The Future Leader in EHS winner receives a $5,000 scholarship, access to PureSafety’s safety and health information solutions and the opportunity to serve on the EHS Today editorial advisory board for 2 years. The winner also will be featured in a forthcoming issue of EHS Today.

To qualify as a Future Leader in EHS, applicants must be enrolled as a junior, senior or graduate student in an EHS-related program at an accredited U.S. college or university; must be an American citizen; and must have a minimum GPA 0f 3.0 overall, with at least a 3.25 in EHS-related courses. Interested students must submit a completed application and provide three recommendations and three documented examples of outreach within their local or EHS communities.

The deadline for all Future Leaders applications is September 30. Visit the Future Leaders in EHS page for more information and to download the application.

If you’d like to follow in Jason’s footsteps and become the next Future Leader in EHS, please apply by the end of September. We look forward to receiving your application, and may the best leader win.

Every year, our America’s Safest Companies (ASC) award ceremony and reception earns its place as one of my favorite work events. And it’s not the food and champagne that make me look forward to this event – it’s the opportunity to meet the people who make their organizations some of the safest in the nation.

When Executive Editor Sandy Smith and I read through the ASC applications every year and make our determinations, it quickly becomes apparent that some companies just “get it.” As we sift through the many fine entries, some companies rise to the top because their applications express a sincere, whole-hearted dedication to fostering a safe, healthy and productive work force.

At the ASC reception, we get the chance to meet some of the leaders and employees responsible for these stellar safety and health programs. This helps me develop a more complete picture of how and why safety is valued within these organizations. Plus, it’s wonderful to see how honored these recipients are to be recognized for their dedication to safety.

The November EHS Today podcast celebrates America’s Safest Companies. Representatives from four winning companies share some of their secrets to safety success and express what this award means to them. The podcast even includes some of the sounds from the 2010 ASC awards ceremony and reception, which took place Oct. 4 in the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego (reception space pictured above). The November 2010 issue of EHS Today includes profiles of all ASC winners.

Finally, stay tuned for an upcoming blog entry that will share some tips and words of wisdom for the ASC applicants. After all, it’s not too early to start preparing for next year’s application season.

2010 America’s Safest Companies

2010 America’s Safest Companies Podcast

Roughly 10,000 EHS professionals are in attendance – a 12 percent increase from last year – at the 2010 National Safety Council (NSC) Congress and Expo in San Diego, which features the theme “Journey to Safety Excellence.” EHS Today is on site to report on the latest news and insights from the conference.

“To us, the journey is more than a theme for the Congress, it’s really the way we think about safety and safety excellence,” said NSC President and CEO Janet Froetscher during the opening session. “It’s always a continuous journey.”

The opening session also served as a somber reminder of how workplace injuries and fatalities impact family members. Froetscher pointed out that 3 million serious injuries – all preventable – and 100,000 fatalities occur in the United States alone every year.

Kent McElhattan, incoming chairman of the NSC board and chairman and CEO of Industrial Scientific Inc., stressed that his company strives to make safety “personal and emotional.”

“I can’t think of anything more important,” he said. “To be effective leaders, you have to be emotionally engaged.”

Be sure to visit EHSToday.com this week to read the latest reporting from NSC. And visit the EHS Today Facebook page for photos from sunny San Diego – including photos from the America’s Safety Companies awards ceremony at the Hotel del Coronado (coming soon).

Why would we change the name of a magazine – Occupational Hazards – that is celebrating its 70th anniversary in October? Well, we got the idea from you.

For the past 20 years (at least), we’ve been documenting the changes going on in the occupational safety and health field. Corporate staffs were slashed and the lines between various professional specialties started to blur as companies structured their programs around generalists. While their duties varied, many of them reported in our National Safety Survey that their responsibilities included safety, industrial hygiene, occupational health and environmental management. more