Safety Tidbit 4.17 – Local Safety Community
Many of you are safety and health practitioners. Some are credentialed as CSPs or CIHs or maybe have advanced degrees. However, many are folks who have worked on the line and developed a passion for safety and now endeavor to keep your fellow workers out of harm’s way. I applaud all of you and wish to share with you a great resource right in your backyard.
In many places, there are local sections of the national safety and health associations – American Society of Safety Professionals and the American Industrial Hygiene Association. Furthermore, many informal groups meet regularly or at least periodically to discuss a common topic – safety. These meetings and groups are invaluable to practicing professionals for several reasons: timely information, networking, local.
The information shared at the local level are typically timely to the area. Sometimes focused around a particular event or topic but frequently with regional impact. The lessons learned are invaluable to others struggling with a situation.
Similarly, networking that goes on gives the practitioner contacts to confide in when they have a workplace dilemma. Often the safety professional can feel like they are all alone dealing with an issue. When, in fact, others may have already had the problem and can advise as to how they handled their problem.
Lastly, these smaller groups are local. Meaning that the person you are speaking with isn’t across the country or possibly the world but right in your community. I recommend you seek these groups out and volunteer your time. The rewards are well worth it, and the friendships you develop are timeless.
One such group is the Central PA Safety Association. They primarily focus in the State College-Williamsport-Lewisburg area and move their meetings around accordingly. Each spring they host (along with the Central PA Chapters of the American Society of Safety Professionals and the American Industrial Hygiene Association) a Safety Conference at the Nittany Lion Inn at Penn State University. A smaller venue, the conference typically has about 100 or so attendees with local vendors and sponsors. This spring the meeting is set for April 10 and 11, 2019. The half day is the first day and then followed by a full day on Thursday. Registration includes lunch and a vendor mixer after the first day which is always fun.
Hope this was helpful and thank you for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan
P.S. If you have a new safety or health question, please let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment