The Evolving Safety Professional

Speaking at the American Society of Safety Engineers 2004 Annual Professional Development Conference and Exposition regarding the state of the safety profession, Mr. John Henshaw, then Assistant Secretary of Labor stated, "As a result of our work in this (the World Trade Center) and other high profile disasters, I think more people are more aware than ever before that worker safety is a critical component of domestic emergency preparedness and response efforts. And OSHA's role in homeland security has expanded."

The reality of this statement has certainly had a significant impact on the role of the safety professional. At the recent Safety Executives of New York annual meeting, where the overall theme was "Benchmarking for Safety Excellence," the evolving role of the safety professional to include aspects of security and emergency preparedness was apparent in the topics discussed. A presentation by Guardsmark Security clearly outlined where the role of the safety professional interconnects with security issues. Emergency preparedness was a recurrent theme.

For the first time in NYC, Total Safety Consulting, LLC, in collaboration with the prestigious Rochester Institute of TechnologyÕs OSHA Education Center, has recently empanelled a group of leading safety professionals including Dave Collins of Turner Construction, Bill Ryan of Tully Construction, Gary DiPaolo of Structure Tone and Mary Ellen Sacchetti of Plaza Construction, all of whom were on the front lines at the WTC site and intricately involved in the OSHA Partnership, to deliver the OSHA 5600 Disaster Site Worker Train The Trainer Course.

This OSHA 5600 program is intended to relay the important lessons learned from the WTC recovery efforts. The OSHA 5600 Disaster Site Worker Train The Trainer Course prepares experienced trainers to present OSHAÕs 16-hour Disaster Site Worker Course so that they can instruct their workforce to be ready for any disaster that may arise. Some of the topics covered are to be expected in a construction safety course such as: Safety Hazards, Health Hazards, Respiratory Protection and Personal Protective Equipment. Topics covered which probably would not have been covered prior to September 11 are Incident Command System, CBRNE, Traumatic Incident Stress Awareness and Decontamination.

"It has become apparent that safety professionals in all industries, in addition to their traditional role of identifying workplace hazards and developing control measures, need to be able to apply specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward awareness about safety and health hazards at natural and man-made disaster sites," stated James C. Bifulco, CSP, Managing Member, TSC, Total Safety Consulting, LLC. "They must be versed in the roles and vocabulary of emergency preparedness and response. Hopefully, we will never encounter a tragedy such as the ones of the past, however, as safety professionals we know that out of the past we must learn lessons for the future and share those lessons with as many people willing to listen," he added.

"RIT has long been acknowledged as one of the nationÕs leading providers of high-quality, accredited safety and health degree programs. TodayÕs workplace issues are brought directly into the classroom and relevant examples are used to illustrate key safety and health concepts," said Kitren A. VanStrander, Director, RIT Outreach Education and Training. "These same principles will be employed and embraced under the collaborative effort with TSC for the OSHA 5600 program," she concluded.

TSC is a full-service training provider. Over the past nine years the company has trained thousands of individuals and companies from its state-of-the-art, fully staffed and equipped, environmental health and safety training center in Long Island City, NY. Established in 1996, TSC is a certified Women Business Enterprise (WBE) by New York State, New York City, The Port Authority of NY/NJ, and the NYC School Construction Authority, and is certified as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise by NYS Department of Transportation.

Story ©2005 New York Real Estate Journal.