What is the Safety Profession? (And Why it Matters Now More Than Ever)? Sponsored by

What is the Safety Profession?

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Jill James Chief Safety Officer Vivid Learning Systems Todd William Loushine, Ph.D., P.E., CSP, CIH Associate Professor, Dept. of Occupational & Environmental Safety & Health Coordinator of Internships and Fieldwork Experience University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Quality manager Compliance officer Salesperson Middle management Purchasing agent IT professional

Traditional (Sovereign) Professions Foundational body of knowledge Accredited degree programs Accredited licensure (CEUs) Code of Ethics Professional organization

U.S. Industrial Revolution, late 1700s to mid 1800s, changed the design and function of work

U.S. Occupational Safety History From 1911 through 1997, approximately 103,000 miners died at work. During 1911-1915, an average of 3329 mining-related deaths occurred per year among approximately 1 million miners employed annually, with an average annual fatality rate of 329 per 100,000 miners. In 2014, BLS.gov reported 4,821 workplace fatalities (all sectors) yielding an annual fatality rate of 3.4 per 100,000 FTE. Since 2009, the US fatality rate has been 3.3-3.6. If today's workforce of approximately 130 million had the same risk as workers in 1933 for dying from injuries, then an additional 40,000 workers would have died in 1997 from preventable events (CDC, unpublished data, 1999) Occupational safety and health has always been a trial and error initiative, and in some cases a luxury instead of a human right

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 3/25/1911 PBS American Experience released a documentary in 2011 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/ americanexperience/films/t riangle/ This is a MUST WATCH for all safety professionals

Post-Triangle Fire Changes In New York City on Oct 14, 1911, the United Association of Casualty Inspectors was created in response to the Triangle Fire on March 25 th of that year. It initially consisted of 62 members. In 1914, they changed their name to the American Society of Safety Engineers. Today, ASSE is headquartered in Park Ridge, IL and has over 36,000 members In 1912, First Safety Congress met in Milwaukee, WI to discuss American Workers safety. This group grew and evolved into the National Safety Council (founded Sept 24, 1913) Today, NSC is headquartered in Itasca, IL and has over 50,000 members

OSH Act of 1970 Signed by President Richard Nixon on Dec 29, 1970 Section 5(a)(1) employers are required to provide their employees with a place of employment that is free from recognizable hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious harm to employees." OSHA, housed under the US Dept of Labor, came into existence in April 1971 Regulations were primarily promulgated from consensus standards, at the time It is estimated that in 1970 around 14,000 workers were killed on the job. That number fell to approximately 4,340 in 2009. At the same time, U.S. employment has almost doubled and now includes over 130 million workers at more than 7.2 million worksites. Since the passage of the OSH Act, the rate of reported serious workplace injuries and illnesses has declined from 11 per 100 workers in 1972 to 3.6 per 100 workers in 2009.

Accomplishments of the Profession Since 1970, reduced fatalities by over 80% and non-fatal injuries by over 66% Although US business still lose over $170 billion per year on costs associated with injuries and illnesses, Imagine what it COULD BE if we weren t around By adopting social-psychology and organizational management, we re finding new and innovative ways to not only improve safety, but improve organizational communication, labor-management relationships, job satisfaction, improve productivity by limiting disruption, and improve profits by limiting unpredictable losses

Functions of the Safety Professional (Based on ANSI Z590) Anticipate, identify and evaluate hazardous conditions and practices Develop hazard control designs, methods, procedures, and programs Implement, administer and advise other on hazard controls and hazard control programs Measure, audit and evaluate the effectiveness of hazard controls and hazard control program

What is the Safety Profession?

Eliminate or reduce CHANCE or ODDS

Identify and Prevent Natural Occurrences Odds of injury: 1 in 100 Odds of injury: 1 in 1,000

Identify and Prevent Natural Occurrences Odds of injury: 1 in 10 Odds of injury: 1 in 5,000

Identify and Prevent Natural Occurrences Odds of injury: 1 in 30 Odds of injury: 1 in 10,000

Identify and Prevent Natural Occurrences

Work System Model for Safety System deficiencies increase exposures and failures to reach desired outcomes Organization No Exposure Environment Task Perceived Job Person Exposure No Injury Technology Exposure and Injury

Safety is an Attribute of Work

Workers want to do a Good Job

Workers don t want to get hurt

Workers want to be Treated Fairly Distributive Justice Fairness of outcome Procedural Justice Fairness of outcome process Interactional Justice Being treated with dignity and respect Organizational Justice Overall perception of what is fair in the workplace

Organizations are only as successful as the success as each individual

Organizations are as unique as individuals

Companies need to realize value in Safety Attempting to justify based on OSHA fines is not enough Improve the design of work, communication, measures, perceptions and the result is an efficient, agile, happy, and profitable organization

My Philosophy/Guiding Principles Safety is an attribute of work Workers want to do a good job Workers do not want to get hurt Workers want to be treated fairly Organizations are only as successful as the success of each individual Organizations are as unique as individuals Companies need to make a profit

A relatively young, informal and developing profession that s been able to show impressive performance without much attention or appreciation. There s still a lot more work to do, but the future is bright and the outlook exciting

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