The World Is Flat—And That’s Okay

Thomas Friedman’s book, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century (2005), discusses how historic and geographical divisions are becoming irrelevant in business. These concepts also apply to our profession. Merhaba! Bon jour! Ciao! Zdravstvujtye! Sannu! Hello! I could fill my message this month just simply saying “hello” in all the languages spoken by our nearly 34,000 members in 75 countries.

The words we use to conduct business, training and develop programs are different, but the concepts that form the core basis for SH&E protection are the same. Even legislation and regulatory requirements are beginning to flatten our world as international harmonization standards are discussed and developed.

Addressing the flattening of the world is critical to better serving our members and advancing our profession. One of our Society goals is to “foster and sustain a global community among SH&E professionals.” According to our member surveys, networking—a sense of community—is one of the greatest benefits of membership.

Networking is essential to our professional growth. Through networking, we develop understanding and increase our knowledge and skills. SH&E is too broad for any single one of us to know it all. We need one another to achieve our goals of protecting people, property and the environment.

In many areas, that sense of community is achieved through local chapter meetings. While those meetings remain a viable tool for networking, ASSE is working to provide opportunities for those who are geographically isolated. And geographical isolation is not necessarily a matter of distance. Many of us live in congested urban areas where traveling 20 miles to a meeting across town can take 2 hours. One way ASSE is facilitating member networking is through our many LinkedIn groups which enable members to share best practices and exchange ideas on real-life problems and solutions.

Networking is not limited to chapter, region and Society events, or even online communities. ASSE also is reaching out to other SH&E organizations around the world to create better understanding, increase the knowledge available to our members and advance the profession globally.

For example, ASSE is a founding member of the International Network of Safety and Health Practitioner Organizations (INSHPO), along with the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering and the U.K.’s Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. INSHPO was formed in 2001 to provide an international network for generalist practitioners in occupational safety and health.

Since then, it has grown as more and more practitioner organizations from around the globe join, including groups in Australia, New Zealand, Italy, South Korea, Russia, Mauritius and Singapore, as well as additional SH&E-focused groups in the U.S., U.K. and Canada.

You can learn more about INSHPO at www.inshpo.org. We are currently working with INSHPO colleagues to define core competencies for the SH&E profession. This will facilitate employment transferability and increase the knowledge and skills of SH&E professionals around the globe.

Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.” ASSE is moving into a future where the world is flat, where we must know more and understand more, must know it all more quickly and must work with a more diverse group of people to accomplish our work.

Stepping Into Our Future

Over the past year, we've been looking back at where we started and how far we've come. In 1911, ASSE was a small group of insurance inspectors in New York City. In 2011, ASSE is a diverse group of more than 34,000 members in more than 70 countries. We've grown from a local group into a global organization. We no longer have "national" committees, we have "Society" committees composed of members from around the world. The term national no longer encompasses who we are or the members we serve. It's exciting to see how far we've come.

ASSE is strong thanks to the foundation laid over the past 100 years. Our history provides us with a road map that guides us toward achieving our vision to be a global advocate of safety professionals and a leading voice of this profession. ASSE emerged in the wake of the devastating Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. The tragic deaths of 146 young workers moved people toward meaningful action and forever changed workplace safety. That was our beginning. Our founders knew that more could be done to protect workers. And it is that spirit which we proudly carry on today.

Many things have changed since ASSE was formed. Our lives no longer resemble those of our founding members. But the fundamental vision that brought them together—the desire to create and sustain safe, healthy workplaces—continues to unite us all. Thanks to the efforts of ASSE and its members, corporations around the world are embracing safety as good business. This has spurred the need for safety expertise across all business sectors and around the world.

Getting where we are today did not happen by magic or happenstance. It took planning and the hard work of thousands of members volunteering their time and sharing their passion to make a difference. It was best said anonymously, "The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created—created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating."

One of our goals for the future is to be the recognized source of SH&E knowledge and resources, to raise the bar on the practice of safety through knowledge sharing. This month, we will take another step toward that goal when we launch ASSE's body of knowledge tool at the Leadership Conference. This tool will compile current knowledge in one location where it can be easily searched and accessed. Think about that for just a moment. How many times have you searched for SH&E information on the Internet only to find yourself drowning in useless information that left you starving for knowledge? Our body of knowledge tool is a life preserver in an ever-growing sea of information.

When the tool launches, it will contain papers gleaned from ASSE professional development conference proceedings, practice specialty newsletter articles, Professional Safety articles and more than 200 articles gathered from other sources. It will also incorporate glossaries from ANSI A10 and Z359.0. To facilitate quick retrieval of pertinent information, it is searchable by more than 2,300 keywords.

This is only the beginning. Our knowledge tool will offer new features as technology evolves. Its value and resources will continue to grow as our members create new materials and as new content is added from other sources.

Back in 1911, our founders probably wondered what ASSE would look like in 2011 and beyond, much like we all wonder what ASSE will be in another 100 years. But as Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, "As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it." Our future is bright, not because of magic or happenstance, but because of each of you and your imagination, passion and commitment.

"The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created—created first in mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating." --Anonymous

One of ASSE's goals for the future is to be the recognized source of SH&E knowledge and resources. This month, we will take another step toward that goal when we launch ASSE's body of knowledge tool.

Universal Goals Provide Unified Direction

We start our next century with new strategic goals designed to carry us well into our new century of fulfilling our mission and vision. These goals are statements of what we visualize we will achieve.

GOAL 1: ASSE will be recognized as the thought leader of the profession by initiating new ideas, innovations and solutions to guide SH&E professionals.

GOAL 2: ASSE will define the standards of professional competency, and be the authoritative resource for SH&E professionals seeking training, education and development.

GOAL 3: ASSE will be the recognized source of SH&E knowledge and resources.

GOAL 4: ASSE will be the voice of the SH&E profession.

GOAL 5: ASSE will foster and sus­tain a global community among SH&E professionals.

GOAL 6: ASSE will expand its sphere of influence through diverse and responsible Society growth.

“Thought leader” sums up our first goal. We aim to be recognized as leading the profession by raising issues and stimulating discussion. We envision that ASSE will lead by asking wide-ranging, forward-thinking and thought-provoking questions, and engaging in international discourse.

Through goal two, ASSE will promote the value our profession brings to employers and to our communities. Defining the standards of professional competency is critical to expressing our profession’s value and to protecting our future.

Goal three recognizes the importance of our body of knowledge initiative. Over time, we will establish comprehensive and accessible knowledge tools while still allowing growth and expansion of the definition of knowledge and resources.

Advocacy characterizes goal four. We strive to be the voice of and advocate for the profession in order to increase awareness of and to advance our profession.
Goal five summarizes our desire to meet member needs for networking and a sense of community regardless of where members reside or the branch of the profession in which they practice.
Goal six expresses our desire to grow globally and across all SH&E practices. Diversifying our membership adds richness and depth to our members’ experience and resources.
These are lofty goals and they will be challenging. As we developed these new goals, one member told me he thought they were too high. My response is that striving for anything less would be to strive for mediocrity. Doing so would be a disservice to our profession, our members and the people we protect each day. As Ovid said, “I attempt an arduous task; but there is no worth in that which is not a difficult achievement.”
In the past, you may have seen or heard our councils and committees take ownership of specific Society goals. However, isolating goals and objectives to specific groups, whether in our Society’s strategic planning or within our own organizations, wastes resources through duplicate efforts and lost opportunities.

Our new goals and objectives are universal. They do not belong to any one council or committee, and they are not isolated to those units at the Society level of governance. They belong to us all. We all have a role to play in their achievement. To make the best use of our resources and to accelerate our progress toward achieving our goals and objectives, we will work cooperatively across all segments of our Society and membership. (You can review our goals and objectives at www.asse.org/about/strategic_plan.php.)

I challenge each council, committee, region, chapter, section, practice specialty, common interest group and task force to examine their individual strategic plans to determine how their goals and objectives align with the Society’s goals and objectives. How will each of our Society units work in support of our goals? What units do they need to work with in order to better attain their goals and objectives?

And I challenge each of you as individual members to examine your personal strategic plans. We each have a role to play, we each are valuable, in helping ASSE achieve its mission, vision and goals. What will your actions be? How will you support our goals and objectives over the course of the next year, the next 3 years or the next 5 years? How will you be involved? William James advises, “Act as though what you do makes a difference, and it does.” I challenge you all to make a difference.

“Who aims at excellence will be above mediocrity; who aims at mediocrity will be far short of it.” -Burmese saying

Grow Your Leadership Skills

Leadership abilities are a critical skill for SH&E professionals. Because few of us have direct line responsibilities, we achieve our goals by convincing others to follow our lead willingly.
There are many leadership theories. The “great man” theory suggests that leadership skills are inherent—we are born with them. The “trait” theory posits that leaders inherit certain traits and qualities which give them the potential to be leaders. The “behavioral” theory suggests that great leaders are made, not born.

Whether you are a natural-born leader, have leadership traits or need behavioral training, you still must grow those skills. This can be achieved in several ways with varying degrees of success. For example, you can take classes at a local college; most degree programs offer leadership as an elective course. Hundreds of leadership courses are available online. Various organizations offer leadership symposia as well.

Books are another resource. Barnes & Noble alone offers 70,101 books on leadership. That’s a lot of reading. But Jeb Blount, keynote speaker at ASSE’s 2010 Future Safety Leaders Conference, provides a road map for absorbing the knowledge in books. He says most leadership and management books can be read in 1 week by devoting just 15 to 20 minutes per day to reading. That means you can read 52 books per year.

When it comes to hands-on opportunities, getting involved in your local ASSE chapter or section is a great way to build your leadership skills. Volunteering in your ASSE chapter/section provides an opportunity to learn and practice leadership skills in a safe environment—you don’t have to worry about getting fired or demoted. Many leadership roles are available within the chapter and section structure, so you can start small and build. I started as my chapter’s newsletter editor.

Many employers look for areas where job candidates have exhibited leadership skills outside the workplace. Your ASSE leadership experience can bolster your chances of landing a job or getting a promotion. Your chapter/section experience is especially valuable when you have a limited work history.

Another way to grow these critical skills is to attend ASSE’s annual Leadership Conference. Each fall, chapter, section and practice specialty leaders gather for this free conference. Over the years, the conference has transitioned from a focus on how to complete chapter officer duties to a focus on leadership skills that can be applied at work as well as at the chapter, section or practice specialty level.

When selecting who should attend the conference, I encourage you to send your future leaders—those rising through the ranks—to ensure that they are equipped with the necessary leadership skills before they become president-elect and president. Consider the great example set by the Midnight Sun Chapter. Several years ago, the chapter sent a student member to ASSE’s Leadership Conference. That student became a full member after graduation and eventually became the chapter’s president.

This year’s Leadership Conference will be held Oct. 13-15 in Lombard, IL (Chicago area). Registration will open this month. Who will your chapter, section or practice specialty send to the conference? (Remember, CSPs and CIHs earn CEUs for attending.)

ASSE also hosts the Future Safety Leaders Conference for student members each year. This year’s conference will be Nov. 3-4 in Rosemont, IL. During this free conference, student members receive guidance on preparing resumes, interviewing, career building and leadership.
Attendance is limited, so students who wish to attend must complete a selection essay sheet and worksheet, located at www.asse.org/membership/student_fslc.php. All essays and worksheets must be sent to chapterservices@asse.org by Sept. 12, 2011.

Our main role as SH&E professionals is to convince others to do what is needed to preserve life, property and the environment. You can’t drive them to it, but you can lead them to it.
As Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” Make sure you have that skill.

“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”
Jack Welch

Our Values Remain Unchanged

We are standing on the brink of our next century of protecting people, property and the environment. We’ve come a long way from the small group of insurance inspectors who on Oct. 14, 1911, founded the United Society of Casualty Inspectors. We changed our name in 1914 to ASSE. Our first chapters were formed in New York and Boston in 1924. Today, we have 34,000 members in 75 countries. We have 151 chapters, 28 chapter sections and 58 student sections.

During our history, our mission and vision have changed focus, but our core values have remained the same. These values are the foundation of our Society. They are the foundation on which we work and conduct business. These values are so primary, so important, that throughout the changes in the global society, government regulations, politics and technology, they remain the values to which we abide. 

Service to humanity:
- We are dedicated to protecting people, property and the environment.
- We reach out globally, providing opportunities to collaborate with and engage anyone involved in SH&E.

Value of the profession:
- We believe a safe and healthy place to work is a fundamental right.
- We believe that sound SH&E practices are both socially responsible and good business.
- We value employers’ commitment to sound SH&E practices.
- We are committed to advancing the profession through innovation, thought leadership, and objective, unbiased, science-based approaches to SH&E practices.

Members:
- We believe our Society is driven by our members.
- We strive to meet member needs for training and development, networking and community.
- We believe in the strength of diversity and reach out to include all members.
- We believe students and new professionals provide a pipeline to the future.
- We believe that mentoring and growing our member base is critical for the continuity of our profession.

Professional development:
- We believe growth of our body of knowledge and the professional development of SH&E practitioners advance the profession.
- We believe that continuous learning is critical for the development of the safety professional.

Ethical behavior:
- We aspire to the highest degree of professional conduct, ethical practice and integrity.
- We resolve to provide prudent stewardship of Society resources.

These values underlie our mission, our vision, our work, how we interact with each other and the strategies we employ to fulfill our mission. They are the ideals we use in everything we do each day.

As we move into our next century of service to humanity, we will focus on the future of the SH&E profession and the competency of the SH&E professional.

In Race for Relevance, Harrison Coerver and Mary Byers discuss the limited discretionary time available to today’s workers. They reference The State of Working America 2008-2009, which reported that Americans worked 568 more hours in 2006 than 1979. More households are two-income. Technology allows work to follow us home and on vacation. This shift is not isolated to the U.S. With the time demands of jobs and family, finding time to improve professional skills is increasingly difficult. Yet, failure to do so threatens our vision of the future.

As we move into the next century of safety, we will utilize technology to service members in ways that are respectful of their valuable time. For example, we will launch our electronic body of knowledge, our “safety-pedia” during the coming year. This collection of SH&E resources and information will save our members valuable research time. We will continue to offer educational opportunities in the form of webinars that members can view from their offices, saving time and travel expenses. We will use technology to improve the way we conduct Society business, engaging our governing body via websites and other technological tools to increase our ability to act nimbly in the advancement our mission.

The needs of ASSE members are changing. The ways in which we conduct business are changing. And that change is occurring at an ever-increasing pace. In the whirlwind of change, it’s good to know that our values remain unchanged.

The Future Is Bright

It has been a long journey since Dr. John (Jack) Beno at Iowa State University advised me about a safety career as well as since my first Greater Detroit Chapter meeting in May 1988 when Frank Cleary, P.E., CSP, outgoing chapter president, mentioned that the chapter needed help with its newsletter. But, as I complete my 23rd year of ASSE service, I reflect on this past year as ASSE President and know that the future is bright. Let me share a few highlights:

• Center for Safety and Health in Sustainability. To raise awareness of the importance of workplace safety and health in the business community, add recognition to the SH&E profession and add value to SH&E professionals, ASSE established the Center for Safety and Health in Sustainability. The center will provide a strong voice and comprehensive leadership for safety and health in shaping sustainability policies; educate the business community on the importance of safety as part of good corporate governance and corporate social responsibility/sustainability; and recognition as a thought leader for sustainability and corporate social responsibility.

• Body of Knowledge. The Body of Knowledge (BOK) goal is to be the premier resource for practicing professionals. The BOK is a single point of entry to access SH&E information and will be a knowledge exchange platform that uses the latest technology to bring SH&E professionals together on a global stage and improve value. The project is progressing and we are building content for select areas.

• Professional competencies. A short-term action is publishing the Employer’s Guide to Hiring a Safety Professional to help a company hire a competent professional to manage its safety and health risks. A long-term action item is to collaborate with professional associations to define our practice and develop core competencies for the SH&E professional.

• Professional organization and membership. Membership is the largest in ASSE history with 34,000 members. The member profile includes: 87% having college education; 46% having an SH&E certification, with the CSP designation being held by 25%; 42% having a job title of safety engineer/specialist or director/manager/department head/chief, safety; and 33% being professional members.

• Global presence. The Society continues to expand its international influence. The delegation to China was very successful and a similar delegation to Brazil is scheduled for November 2011. The Board of Directors approved the charter of the Philippines Chapter and memorandums of understanding were approved between ASSE and the Nigerian Institute of Safety Professionals and the Abu Dhabi EHS Center. Furthermore, ASSE will collaborate with the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, Canadian Society of Safety Engineering and Safety Institute of Australia to pursue projects of mutual interest that will advance the SH&E profession.

In addition to the Society highlights, the profession continues to build momentum. Money Magazine (Nov. 2010) identified the environmental health and safety specialist and risk management manager as two of the top 18 jobs in terms of 10-year growth. Also, the SH&E profession was among a “dozen hot careers for college graduates” (University of California San Diego Extension, 2009).

The volunteer leaders, members and professional staff have made our 100th anniversary a memorable year. The contributions and commitment of many people are the reason ASSE accomplished much during 2010-11 and will continue to be relevant for many years.

I want to express special thanks for the support, hard work and accomplishments of the 2011 President’s Award recipients: Wayne Jones, James Ramsay, Kathy Seabrook, F.E.K. (Felix) Nakpodia, Abdullah Ghamdi, Anil Mathur, Enrique Santacana, Terry Wigfall, Tom Cecich, Pam Walaski and Chris Patton. I am also appreciative of ABB’s support over the years and the understanding of my family, Kimberly, Oneka and Desmond.

The Board of Directors will continue to identify benefits and services that provide value to the membership. The strength of ASSE during the past 100 years is its focus to be a member-driven professional organization. I encourage each of you to begin or grow your ASSE involvement and support Terrie, Rick and Kathy during the upcoming year. ASSE’s future is bright.

Looking to the Future: ASSE 2020

It’s fun to think about the future isn’t it? As kids, we imagine what life will be like when we “grow up,” as we dream of futuristic cars and similar flights of fancy, or ponder what career we will pursue. As adults, we wonder about things such as where we will be in 5 years, what our kids will do and the next great breakthrough in technology.

As president during ASSE’s 100th anniversary year, I have thought often about what the future holds for ASSE. What issues and topics will SH&E professionals and our Society face during the next 5, 10 or even 20 years? How does our work today ensure ASSE’s continued growth and prosperity?

Scenarios about the future are many, but one thing is certain. To advance ASSE’s mission and vision, we need your active participation. Whether it’s volunteering at the chapter, region or Society level, contributing articles to Professional Safety and the practice specialty publications, participating in projects such as the Body of Knowledge, or engaging in dialogue with colleagues at conferences, webinars and through social media, you drive ASSE.

Last year, I posted this question on ASSE’s LinkedIn site: If you had to choose a single area of focus for ASSE in the next 10 years, what would it be? The question was intentionally open-ended to allow for diverse responses. I wanted to encourage idea exchange and critical thinking that would generate feedback about future strategic directions for ASSE.

You exceeded those hopes through more than 110 responses that exhibited tremendous breadth and depth of thought. ASSE members clearly have a passion for the SH&E profession.
Let me share just a few examples:

•Mario Varela, M.S., M.B.A., CSP, stated, “There is a need to lure new membership from active SH&E professionals, as well as from engineering, SH&E, science and related disciplines. Also, it is important to generate more interest [among] high-school students to pursue the SH&E profession.”

•Todd Loushine, Ph.D., P.E., CSP, CIH, agreed with the need to attract high-school students to SH&E degree programs. He added, “I would like to see more support for faculty/researchers at universities.”

•Similarly, Jim Leemann, Ph.D., said, “There is a need to figure out how to encourage undergraduates to pursue curricula that will prepare them to become safety professionals.”

Many comments addressed certification and licensure. Currently, states do not require safety professionals to be licensed, but through BCSP, the profession has established its own process to provide a means of professional competency.

In his response to my question, Barry Spurlock, CSP, outlined a case for moving beyond the certification/qualification mentality toward licensure. But David Anspaugh cautioned, “Business over the next 10 to 20 years [will] change so drastically and rapidly that the need for safety professionals will become a luxury as opposed to an essential element unless we totally rethink what our contribution is going to be to the enterprise. The more we concentrate on certifications and licenses, the greater the luxury we become.”

Other popular topics included corporate social responsibility, sustainability, promoting risk assessment as a value-added activity, business of safety and continuing/improving marketing of the SH&E profession.

ASSE also will continue to pursue strategic alliances, partnerships and delegations to support its vision and mission. For example, ASSE’s Human Resources Branch reached out to the Society for Human Resource Management to propose a partnership between the two organizations. On the international front, a People to People delegation is planned for Brazil during November 2011, following our successful delegation to China in November 2010.

The year 2020 is less than 9 years away. ASSE is committed to providing products and services to support you and help advance your careers, which, in turn, will advance the SH&E profession. We also will keep an eye on the future to ensure that we add value to our stakeholders and position ASSE and the SH&E profession for growth and prosperity into 2020 and beyond.

To advance ASSE’s mission and vision, we need your active participation. You drive ASSE.