Why would we change the name of a magazine – Occupational Hazards – that is celebrating its 70th anniversary in October? Well, we got the idea from you.
For the past 20 years (at least), we’ve been documenting the changes going on in the occupational safety and health field. Corporate staffs were slashed and the lines between various professional specialties started to blur as companies structured their programs around generalists. While their duties varied, many of them reported in our National Safety Survey that their responsibilities included safety, industrial hygiene, occupational health and environmental management.
What were these people called? All kinds of acronyms have popped up – OEHS, SHE, etc. - but the one that is most prevalent is EHS – meaning Environment, Health and Safety. That’s the one we settled on. So while our roots are in safety, we’ll be devoting additional resources to reporting on ways to improve health in the workplace and create (yes, I’m using that word) green (or at least greener) operations.
We also liked the sense of timeliness that “Today” provides in the title. We’ve been providing daily news online for nearly 7 years so we long ago recognized the need to report news when it happens, not when our magazine schedule permits. EHS Today reflects our continuing commitment to provide news in a timely way.
This blog is just one small part of our completely redesigned Website. It presents not just a new name but many new features built around the idea that this site represents a meeting place for a community of people across the United States and around the world who share a passion and profession for safe, healthy, environmentally responsible workplaces. We want to hear from you. Let us know about changes in standards, best practices, innovative ideas, new products, meetings and conferences, the outstanding and outrageous. We’ll do our best to accommodate it.
We’ve enjoyed bringing you Occupational Hazards for 70 years. And, with your help, we look forward to making EHS Today part of the fabric of the EHS community for at least that long in the future.