Greetings Safety Colleagues,

Welcome to the Fall of 2021 and the continuation of the pandemic. The Delta variant is still wreaking

havoc across the country. This has created staffing issues, shifts in business operations, and logistical challenges for all. Please remember to take care of yourself and your family as we continue the bold effort to press forward.

Many of you are leaned on more these days than ever before in your roles. Safety has risen to the top of most all Corporate Organizations and Governmental entities. Our voices are called for more frequently and just like earlier today, even here in my role, we were asked to weigh in on a CV-19 billing issue with testing. What will it be next?

Locally, we still do not have a certified budget from the General Assembly. We are operating on a continuation budget. While many North Carolinians never think too much about it, this process continues to slowly creep forward on Jones Street. The State Government does not face a shut down, however the items in one of the longest budget proposals in our state’s history most likely will not be dealt with until October. Safety does have some skin in the proposal, but we won’t know until it is formally certified.

Nationally, the House passed a package of seven appropriations bills in Washington, that would give significant budget increases to worker safety agencies. H.R. 4502 allocates $691.8 million to OSHA which begins Oct 1. Included in this portion is $45 million in OSHA’s enforcement budget and $11 million in compliance assistance. Parts of the new appropriations also fund MSHA and NIOSH. This could mean much more enforcement in the coming year as the shift from employer Covid safety moves toward employee Covid safety responsibilities. This will be an entertaining transition for us to witness.

Many of you may have heard about the ASSP National Safety 2021 Conference that was held in Austin, Texas this month. From the North Carolina Chapter, Jon Wallace attended in person, and Frieda Sanders attended virtually. It was a great conference, and we were fortunate to review some excellent content. Others from our Chapter may have also attended. Let us know if you were able to participate.

We will be sharing more next month about the proposal for the house of delegates that is up for vote in early 2022. To review our ASSP governance page, click here.

Please join us for our next presentation pertaining to Robotics on October 14^th, 2021 (12:00 PM – 1:00PM). Caleb Sylvester will be with us from Boston Dynamics for a safety use case of the SPOT robot.

Thank you for being a safety professional and helping to make sure our employees return home safely to their families each day.

Robin

The Survey Says….

Soon you will be asked to complete the annual NC Chapter Member Feedback Survey. Unlike many opinion polls, we really do want and need to know what you think of and want from your NC ASSP Chapter.

Every year we learn many things from this survey that we use to shape the services we try to provide.  Most of the Technical Meeting Topics come directly from these surveys.  Admittedly 2020 and 2021 have had some non-survey driven topics about the Covid-19 issue.  We felt the need to adjust to that important changing unpredictable event.  The majority have however still been in line with feedback given in early 2020.

Consider this Chapter Survey to be your opportunity to vote for things you would like to see continue or change with our chapter.  Keep an eye on your email form the chapter and take the time to let us know how to better meet your needs.  In doing so improve our collective efforts to keep people from being hurt.

It is also a great time to take a look at your member profile.  The information in your profile is used for many ASSP related issues.  For instance, we use this information to know where to send the Annual Feedback Survey, monitor membership milestones, target geographic and industry areas that might need more attention.

Our members are the life blood of our professional organization.  If you know other safety professionals that are not yet members, please talk to them and suggest they give our chapter a look.  There is no better time to invite your friends, colleagues, and associates to ASSP than now that we have an ongoing Member-Get-A-Member Campaign Program.  The more of you r friends you get to join ASSP as Full members, the more you get rewarded in prizes.  For more details, please check out the… Member Get a Member Offer | ASSP

If you are working on getting your CSP.  NCDOT will begin offering study sessions for the CSP Examination starting in January 2021.The prep sessions can be tailored to specific needs or a general review. Please contact Mike Heminuk at mheminuk@ncdot.gov or via phone at 919-814-4904.

If you have had an important achievement or milestone let us know.  Published a paper, won an award let us know and we will get it up on our web page. Perhaps even be next month’s Safety Professional Member Spotlight.  Check it out…. Member Spotlight – ASSP North Carolina Chapter

Length of Service Recognition Awards – NC ASSP Chapter

45 Years of Service: Edward Moore, Albert Weaver, Philip Ulmer

25 Years of Service: David Meister, David Machles, Don Buckman, Frank Haag, Gerald Hodge, John Tassitino, Christopher Lott

15 Years of Service: Chad Schilling, Douglas Arndt, Jeffrey Hanson, Jeffrey Huneycutt, Jose Granillo, Lisa Foster-Morrow, Simon Tanner

5 Years of Service: Christopher Hinson, Daniel Gilleski, Darren Deonarine, Garnett Blackburn, Julio Delgadillo, Kelley Brown, Marc Bitner, Marcus Ingram, Ogaga Tebehaevu, Steven Strokis, Trevor Barrick, Tyler Nelson

Other benefits I would like to bring attention to in this month’s Message. 

• Don’t forget that we have a Job Opening and Resume Posting spot on the webpage.  If you are look for a job or need one to be filled check it out.  The more people that use it the more valuable it will be. Under the Jobs tab at the ASSP North Carolina Chapter – American Society of Safety Professionals page
• We also have a spot for Consultants to post their business and services.  We also think this is an important service for Safety Professionals that might be looking for those support services.  If you are a consultant or know one you think does a good job, please get the information on the tab.  It does carry a small fee ($50/yr.) but is well worth the exposure to 400+ other safety professionals.  https://nc.assp.org/local-ehs-consultants/

Thank you for choosing to be a safety professional.  The work is hard work but so important and rewarding.

Please do me a favor.  I am interested in getting a feel for how many people read this monthly document.   Please just send an email … president@nc.assp.org …letting me know you read this month’s President’s message.  If you want to provide comments or suggestions, I would appreciate that also.

Best Regards;

Patrick Ragan, MBA, CSP

NC ASSP Chapter PRESIDENT
president@nc.assp.org