Ralph,
Thanks for opening a conversation on "emerging issues in occupational health and safety".
How about the greater acceptance of safety and the greater openness to talking about safety. In academia, and also in industry, there has been not only a huge change in safety practices, but also a major change in how safety is viewed. The major lab accidents of the last twelve years and how they were addressed in the press and how institutions responded catalyzed a positive change in researchers attitudes. Ok, maybe not 100%, but a dramatic shift.
Craig
Craig A. Merlic
Professor of Chemistry, UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Executive Director, UC Center for Laboratory Safety
http://cls.ucla.edu
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1569
•ÈÀOn 4/12/20, 1:44 PM, "ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety on behalf of Stuart, Ralph" I am teaching a class this semester for undergrad safety majors with the title "Safety and Health Standards". ---
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I have interpreted this title broadly to include all of the environmental factors that help an organization prioritize its EHS program relative to other opportunities the organization is interested in pursuing. Unfortunately, due to the change in venue from classroom to electronic meetings, I am not able to offer the field trips I had hoped to in the second half of April. It occurs to me that one topic that I could substitute for the field trips is "emerging issues in occupational health and safety".
Topics that come to mind under this heading include:
- Firefighter exposure to emerging chemical concerns, both in fire settings and fire fighting foams
- The connection between safety culture and workplace power relationships
- Connecting the EHS program to the organization's mission
- Emerging training media, both for safety professionals to continue their education and to provide training to workers
- Responding to performance based standards (e.g. ISO standards, VPP, etc.)
- The emergence of the intersection of biological and chemical safety issues in the public sphere and the impact of the differences between these two paradigms on public policy
It occurred to me the DCHAS members may be able to help identify trends that I have overlooked. I am interested in emerging topics will impact of careers of safety professionals over the next 15 to 20 years. So, I'd appreciate any suggestions of other topics that I could include in this catalog, and even better, references where someone interesting in more information about this topic this suggestion could go to find out more.
Thanks in advance for any help with this.
- Ralph
Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
Environmental Safety Manager
Keene State College
603 358-2859
ralph.stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu
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