November 22, 2016 Volume 3, Issue 1 News and Notes from the ASSE East Carolina University Student Section American Society of Safety Engineers East Carolina University Student Section Editor s Note: President s Message *Hello, and welcome to our new students and congratulations to our new officers. It is my pleasure to release our year s first issue of the ECU ASSE Student Section newsletter. In This Issue: *President Message *Introducing new Students and officers * Raising awareness for Workers Memorial Day *Summer Internship experiences Hello! I m Kevin Johnson and I am excited to be the president of the East Carolina University ASSE Student Section for the 2016-2017 academic year. Last year, I was able to assist with the section s leadership as Vice President under the leadership of Stacy Freeman. We have already started the year off with a bang as we sent 6 of our members in September to compete in the research competition at the ASSE Region VI PDC, taking 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd respectively. We are also sending 7 Student Section members to the ASSE Future Safety Leaders Conference in November to learn and network with the nation s brightest students and most influential safety professionals. I, along with Faculty Advisor Dr. Mike Behm, are thrilled with the group we have and look forward to accomplishing our many goals this year as we aim to make a difference not only at ECU, but nationwide. I will do my best as President of this Student Section to ensure our group takes advantage of as many opportunities as possible with the gracious support of our local ASSE Chapter so we may continue to network and grow to become the next great generation of safety professionals. Thank you all for this opportunity and GO PIRATES!
Welcome To Our New Students! Francis Bly (on-campus) I started my Masters in Occupational Safety at East Carolina University in the fall of 2016 and anticipate graduating in spring of 2018. My background in safety includes over four years as a United States Coast Guard Marine Safety Instructor. This opportunity has allowed me to travel around the southeastern United States instructing commercial fishermen on onboard safety and open water survival. As a private contractor for the Coast Guard I have been responsible for running my own small business while also completing my Bachelors as a full time student at the University of South Florida. Kevin Ogoegbunam (on-campus) I am Kevin Ogoegbunam of Nigerian decent, a second semester graduate student of East Carolina University in the MSOS program. I acquired a BSc in Biochemistry as an undergraduate from my home country. I stumbled into the safety field as an intern with an oil and gas firm. My attraction to safety as concept grew stronger and I decided to push further to make a career out of it starting with a degree in Occupational Safety. I am a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers student chapter at ECU and the newly appointed Secretary. I look towards a future in the safety field. Moien Kiani (on-campus) I remember as a kid, I always wanted to help people in different situations and this deep sense of caring about the others was originated from my parents who always encouraged me to help the others. I got the high school diploma in physics and mathematics discipline. Therefore, I decided to choose associate program in Industrial Safety and subsequently, I received my bachelor degree in Workplace and Industrial Safety Engineering. Moreover, I worked on two papers about safety climate and safety culture in electrical power distribution industries. I am also working on two other papers to assess and compare two significant factors of patient safety climate and patient safety culture in public and private hospitals. Regarding considerable time and energy that I have spent within these years in English, French and Spanish languages, I have been able to participate in professional courses in relation to teaching such as Teacher Training Course (TTC) in English or Formation de Formateur (FDF) in French. Therefore, I started to teach and translate in these three languages. And now, pursuing my strong interest in specializing in the field of safety, I am in my first semester as an MSOS student at East Carolina University.
New ECU ASSE Student Section Officers! President Kevin Johnson Vice President Francis Bly Secretary Kevin Ogoegbunam Treasurer Moien Kiani Editor in Chief Jack Ward
Summer Internships Kevin Johnson: Keihin Carolina System Technology I had the privilege of working this summer as a full time EHS Intern at Keihin Carolina System Technology (KCST) in Tarboro, NC. KCST, a branch of Keihin North America, is a leading manufacturer in electronic components for Honda vehicles and has a very strict safety policy. As an EHS Intern, I was responsible for assisting the EHS Manager with safety audits, inspections, training, job hazard analyses, updating of the safety data sheets, ergonomic assessments, accident investigations, and various other tasks. I also worked with the facility, engineering, quality control, human resources, security, warehouse, and assembly line associates in various roles to better understand everyday tasks performed throughout the plant and to strengthen their relationships with the safety department. I am proud to say they have continued to allow for me to work on a part time basis while in school and I definitely recommend KCST to all who may have the opportunity to work there. Hamidreza Shaki: ABB Electrical During the last summer I had the opportunity to work at ABB Electrical as an EHS Intern. It was my second internship since I have been in the MS, Occupational Safety program. The opportunity didn t finish when the school began in August and I am still involved as a part-time intern. ABB is a Swedish-Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, operating mainly in robotics and the power and automation technology areas. The facility that I am working with is in Pinetops, NC. We produce medium voltage electrical instrumental equipment such as Current and Voltage Transformers. The plant has more than 600 employees working in two shifts in different areas from Research and Development department to Assembly lines. I have been engaged in variety of activities as the internship projects and I have had this benefit to select ABB, as one of the largest conglomerates in the world, for doing my thesis project there. Risk assessment, Job Safety Analysis, chemical inventory, industrial hygiene monitoring are just part of the projects that I have accomplished during this summer. I cannot explain how beneficial would be to have an internship while in school, but I would definitely encourage everyone to take advantage of the opportunities that MSOS program offer them while they are in school. Jack Ward: Key Risk This summer I had the pleasure of being a risk management intern in the risk management department at Key Risk. Key Risk is a mono-line insurance company that specializes in workers compensation and its headquarters is located in Greensboro, North Carolina. During my time with Key Risk I created company branded safety pamphlets called safety connections. The topics for my safety connections included machine guarding, electrical safety, proper use of fire extinguishers, and more. I helped conduct safety presentations and researched various worker safety, environmental health, and ergonomics topics for clients of Key Risk. While at Key Risk I also traveled to various client businesses around North Carolina and Virginia, where I helped with safety inspections and learned the ins and outs of what it takes to be in workers compensation risk management. Working with Key Risk was truly a pleasure and a great stepping stone to begin my career in safety.
ECU-ASSE Student Section Increasing Awareness of International Worker s Memorial Day International Workers' Memorial Day takes place annually around the world on April 28, an international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured or made unwell by their work. It is an opportunity to highlight the preventable nature of most workplace incidents and ill health and to promote campaigns and union organization in the fight for improvements in workplace safety. On April 28, 2016 our ASSE Student Section advisor Mike Behm and student members hosted an online video conference session to increase awareness of this important day. Students, faculty, and professionals were invited to attend and hear presentations from a great set of speakers from all over the world. These speakers included: 2016 ASSE President, Tom Cecich; 2015-16 ECU ASSE Student Section president, Stacy Freeman; Ulster University (Ireland) professor Ciaran McAleenan; author Kevin Jones (Australia); and Stephanie Benay of the Canadian Society of Safety Engineers. Speakers highlighted what International Worker s Memorial Day means to them and in some cases, what it means to their countries and how they differ from the way we in the U.S. observe this day. Despite of the time difference obstacle that the participants from overseas were faced, the 45- minute lecture and discussion session was highly successful and the ECU ASSE Student Section can t begin to express how grateful we are to our speakers and guests. Although we feel we accomplished a great deal with this meeting, our long term goals have only just begun. We are currently in the process of organizing an event for the next go-around in April by hopefully organizing a live speaker/discussion session with online recording capabilities to increase face to face interaction as well as have distant guests attend live online. Our Student Section aims to further increase awareness each and every year and are really looking forward to what the future holds for International Worker s Memorial Day. - Kevin Johnson Contact Us! Phone: (252) 328-9653 E-mail: mstechsystems@ecu.edu Web: www.ecu.edu/msos