Chapter News

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – AUGUST 2021

Greetings Safety Professionals!

Welcome to a new Chapter year. My name is Robin Barfield, and we have an exciting year of activities planned that will be beneficial for all. Most of our schedule will be virtual and we hope you can join us during our monthly EC meetings and technical presentations.

One major announcement that our Chapter has for you, for the 5th consecutive year, we achieved the Platinum Level recognition for our annual COMT report. Special Thanks to our 2020-2021 EC Team for their guidance and Pat Reagan for leading us to the Platinum goal. Thanks Pat! It was indeed a year with so many new twists from routine normalcy. 

While we have tried to provide face to face options, we have been challenged with the new Delta variant’s increase in cases both here in NC as well as all the US. Unfortunately, more variants will most likely emerge as new strains continue to develop. For now, the direction we are headed is to remain virtual for at least the first part of the year and continue to make assessments as trends develop. We have an excellent plan for our Virtual Technical Meetings via Teams live. Our social media chair Bryce Lawlor and our Communications Team will be coordinating all the logistics to pull this together. We plan to archive our presenters and have them available for future use. Details are available on the NC Chapter Webpage under the News and Events, Events tab. https://nc.assp.org/event/. Here is our next quarter’s schedule:

September 9th, 2021 (12:00 pm – 1:00 pm) Sam Fabolo, from FDR Safety, will be with us to discuss interview and hiring practices during a pandemic. What has changed is the question?

September 13-15, 2021. Safety 2021 ASSP Annual Conference in Austin Texas. In person and virtual is available.

On October 14th, 2021, (12:00 PM – 1:00PM) Caleb Syvester will be with us from Boston Dynamics for a safety use case of the SPOT robot.

On November 10th, 2021 (12:00 PM – 1:00PM) Eric Hendman will be presenting the SuitX, innovations in Exoskeleton technology with an emphasis on MSDs.  

On December 9th, 2021 (12:00 PM – 1:00PM) Commissioner Josh Dobson will address the NC ASSP Chapter and share with us his vision for worker safety during the next several years.

We are excited about this new Chapter year and some new faces to assist us to continue to excel for our membership. Thank you for being a member and please reach out to anyone on our Team if we can support you in any way.

Information from ASSP

NC just completed the Safe and Sound Week, August 9-15.  We hope you were able to take advantage of this annual initiative to move your efforts forward.

Chapter Leadership Notices:

New face and new roles this year,

President Elect- Ogaga Jonathan Tebehaevu

Membership-Doug Gaylord

Program Chair-Monte Simpson

Communications-Eric Waagner

Academic Recruiting-Mike Conner

Communications Mentor-Anthony Dohmann

Member at Large- Jeff Medlin

Chapter Member Spotlight: If you know of a NC ASSP Member Safety Professional with a career path that might be an inspiration or validation to other safety professionals, please let us know.  We are looking for our October Member Spotlight and would love for current members input on a safety professional that deserves this recognition. 

Thanks all,

Robin

US Department of Labor announces new members of Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health

Please see the announcement from OSHA below announcing new members of ACCSH (Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health). We are also pleased to note that the two public representatives are members of ASSP.   A number of ASSP members are on ACCSH overall and we also believe that is positive for our society.

Department of Labor, United States of America
News Release

U.S. Department of Labor  |  May 27, 2021

US Department of Labor announces new members of Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh has appointed 15 individuals to serve as members on the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health, which provides advice and assistance to the assistant secretary on occupational safety and health in construction standards.

Members will serve two-year terms and represent the interests of the public, employers, employees, and state and federal government. The committee generally meets two to four times a year. The appointed members include the following:

Five employee representatives:

  • Cheryl M. Ambrose, United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the U.S. and Canada.
  • Christina Trahan Cain, North America’s Building Trades Unions.
  • Wayne J. Creasap II, International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers.
  • Ryan Papariello, Laborers Health and Safety Fund of North America.
  • David Wysocki, International Masonry Training and Education Foundation.

Five employer representatives:

  • Kevin Cannon, Associated General Contractors of America.
  • Julie Carter, Roy Anderson Corp.
  • Fravel E. Combs, M.A. Mortenson Company.
  • Greg Sizemore, Associated Builders and Contractors.
  • Wesley L. Wheeler, National Electrical Contractors Association.

Two public representatives:

  • Christopher Fought, Merck.
  • Ronald Sokol, Safety Council of Texas City.

Two state government representatives:

  • Christopher Scott Mabry, North Carolina Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Division.
  • Charles Stribling, Kentucky Labor Cabinet Department of Workplace Standards.

One federal government representative designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary:

  • G. Scott Earnest, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Christina Trahan Cain will serve as the ACCSH chair.

Learn more about the ACCSH.

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Media Contacts:

Denisha Braxton, 202-380-8259, Braxton.denisha.l@dol.gov

Release Number:  21-964-NAT

2021 NAOSH Week in North Carolina

North Carolina Governor, Roy Cooper, has declared May 2-8 as Occupational Safety & Health week and May 5 as Occupational Safety & Health professionals day. To read more about the proclamation click here to see the signed proclamation.

NAOSH Logo.

NAOSH Week presents an excellent opportunity to focus, reinforce, and strengthen commitment to occupational safety and health. Participation and involvement in NAOSH Week has been shown to:

  • improve attitudes towards safety
  • increase understanding of the importance of occupational health and safety
  • foster a safety-minded culture
  • increase cooperation and
  • raise awareness about occupational safety issues